A83: For he's a jolly good fellow...
[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]
A83: For he's a jolly good fellow...
Some people (plural) might have something to learn from this. It's from the
Jargon File:
troll: v.,n. 1. [From the Usenet group alt.folklore.urban] To utter a posting
on {Usenet} designed to attract predictable responses or {flame}s; or, the post
itself. Derives from the phrase "trolling for {newbie}s" which in turn comes
from mainstream "trolling", a style of fishing in which one trails bait through
a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that
induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless
than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced
that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get
to be in on it. 2. An individual who chronically trolls in sense 1; regularly
posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion
list, or in email for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a
discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that the have no real interest
in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like
the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no redeeming
characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of life on the
net, as in, "Oh, ignore him, he's just a troll." 3. [Berkeley] Computer lab
monitor. A popular campus job for CS student. Duties include helping newbies and
ensuring that lab policies are followed. Probably so-called because it involves
lurking in dark cavelike corners.
Some people claim that the troll (sense 1) is properly a narrower category than
{flame bait}, that a troll is categorized by containing some assertion that is
wrong but not overtly controversial. See also {Troll-O-Meter}.
Troll-O-Meter: n. Common Usenet jargon for a notional instrument used to
measure the quality of a Usenet {troll}. "Come on, everyone! If the above
doesn't set off the Troll-O-Meter, we're going to have to get him to run around
with a big blinking sign saying `I am a troll, I'm only in it for the
controversy and flames' and shooting random gobs of Jell-O(tm) at us before the
point is proven." Mentions of the Troll-O-Meter are often accompanied by an
ASCII picture of an arrow pointing at a numeric scale. Compare {bogometer}.
Linus
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
An error? Impossible! My modem is error correcting.
References: