Trolling

Posted on July 8, 2002 in IRC/Chat

Trolling is seen by many people as a crime. The lack of decent definitions have prevented many channel ops and newsgroups moderators from taking action against the people who engage in it, who are called trolls. The term comes not from the little fat faces who hide under bridges, seizing unwary goats as they pass over, but from fishing. The troll casts his line out into a channel, repeatedly if necessary, until someone bites. He derives his greatest pleasure from seeing people take him seriously when he is not.

I perceive that trolling, like murder, can be defined in much the same way as a matter of degree as this table shows:

1st degree trolling	You arrive on a channel for the express purpose of causing disruption with the ridiculous things you say. You probably don’t believe the outrageous things that fly off your fingers, but that’s all right: you’re there to make people react. You never chat. You bait.
2nd degree trolling	While holding a conversation on a channel or news group, you say something that someone else finds annoying. You see their weakness and go for the jugular by saying similar things, over and over, chortling each time they react.
3rd degree trolling	You happen to say something pretty much for the shock value in passing. One reaction tickles you. You move on to other things.

The best way to deal with trolls is to /ignore them, which is impossible if you are a system op. Wise trout neither op on large channels nor suck up the bait when it is presented. Some people call any killing argument against their position a troll. These same people often feel justified in owning guns that they use to shoot at the neighbors for coming home late at night.

Laughing at the futility of trolls is another way to shame them. Calling someone a “troll” either makes them laugh harder or infuriates someone who had no intention of trolling. You only want to do the latter when you, too, wish to be a troll.