Imbecile question about trolling...

[outspacer11]

Ok, I have no doubt this has been covered in a sticky somewhere, but I've noticed some people seem to have mentioned trolling in their sigs and, to cut to the point, I've never had any idea what this is.

I looked this up on google and the general impression I get is that trolling involves making inflammatory posts in order to get a reaction (what we in Australia like to call sh*tstirring). Is this more or less what people mean?

Example that brought this to mind: some guy posted in the tickling discussion forum recently with some sort of idiot scheme to find a stranger to tickle his wife, the general idea being that she'd hate it but would be too embarrassed to report this to the police as an assault (it's here: http://www.tickletheater.com/showthread.php?t=19984). I hate to give this garbage any more attention than it's had already but I noticed recently that the post was closed - is this an example of the mods acting on an incident of trolling? Or was it just closed due to general obnoxiousness?

Sorry if this is a stupid question - I'm still not really up with the whole net forum lingo.

 

[outspacer11]

(and if this wasn't an incident of trolling, can someone point me towards one? Or have they all been deleted?)

 

[gila67]

Ok, I have no doubt this has been covered in a sticky somewhere, but I've noticed some people seem to have mentioned trolling in their sigs and, to cut to the point, I've never had any idea what this is.

I looked this up on google and the general impression I get is that trolling involves making inflammatory posts in order to get a reaction (what we in Australia like to call sh*tstirring). Is this more or less what people mean?

More or less, that's the definition of trolling.

Example that brought this to mind: some guy posted in the tickling discussion forum recently with some sort of idiot scheme to find a stranger to tickle his wife, the general idea being that she'd hate it but would be too embarrassed to report this to the police as an assault (it's here: http://www.tickletheater.com/showthread.php?t=19984). I hate to give this garbage any more attention than it's had already but I noticed recently that the post was closed - is this an example of the mods acting on an incident of trolling? Or was it just closed due to general obnoxiousness?

Sorry if this is a stupid question - I'm still not really up with the whole net forum lingo.

I think it was more a case of general obnoxiousness; the guy who posted that seemed serious enough to me.

 

[Low_Roads]

Not a stupid question at all. I'm glad someone asked... I was unclear on the concept myself.

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

A troll is not a grumpy monster that lives beneath a bridge accosting passers-by, but rather a provocative posting intended to produce a large volume of frivolous responses. The term can also refer to someone making such a posting ("a troll") or to the action ("trolling", "to troll").

The content of a troll posting generally falls into one of several categories. It may consist of an apparently foolish contradiction of common knowledge, a deliberately offensive insult to the readers of a newsgroup or mailing list, or a broad request for trivial follow-up postings. The result of such postings is frequently a flood of angry responses. In some cases, the follow-up messages posted in response to a troll can constitute a large fraction of the contents of a newsgroup or mailing list for as long as several weeks. Troll threads also frustrate people who are trying to carry on substantive discussions.

People post such messages to get attention, to disrupt discussion, and to make trouble. The best response to a troll is no response. If you post a follow-up message, you are contributing to the resulting clamor and most likely delighting the troller. Before posting a response, consider the following questions:

* Have responses already been posted by others?

* Will my post add any information that others are not likely to be aware of already?

* Is the issue resolvable, or will discussion turn into name-calling?

* Should I send private email instead of posting publicly?

* Will I later regret the contents of what I am posting?

Please deal with trolls constructively, and do not participate in trolling. You will help make forums more enjoyable for all this way.

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Since flames and trolling are connected, heres what a "flame" is for people who don't know:

In Internet parlance, a flame is a posting to a newsgroup, mailing list, or similar forum that attacks another person or group of people, usually in response to an earlier posting.

People post flames for a variety of reasons. Sometimes discussions of emotional issues in newsgroups degenerate into angry name-calling. Sometimes new users posting to a newsgroup are flamed for not being familiar with the content of the discussion or not showing proper netiquette (Internet manners). And sometimes people flame one another because they are aggressive, rude, or short-tempered.

You should resist the temptation to post flames. Because flames often involve personal insults, they can destroy the possibility of further constructive discussion. Ask yourself the following questions before posting a flame:

* Will you later regret posting this?

* Are you sure you haven't misinterpreted what the previous poster wrote?

* Was the person you are responding to trying to get attention or provoke angry responses from others? (This is usually called "trolling".)

* Would you be insulted if someone responded to one of your own postings in this way?

* Is this a personal matter in which other readers will have little or no interest?

* Should you resolve the issue by personal email instead of posting?

Because exchanges of flames usually turn into pointless name-calling, they waste network resources and frustrate people who are trying to carry on substantive discussions. Responses to flames may also take other unpleasant forms, such as email harassment or complaints to system administrators.

If you insist on flaming another poster, be as restrained as possible and redirect follow-up postings to forums dedicated to this purpose, such as a "flame forum". (However, be forewarned: the inhabitants of these types of groups/forums are skilled at insulting one another and may direct their energies towards flaming you for posts they consider uncreative.)

(In this case of this site, the TickleTheater Community a flame forum would be pointless, fruitless and against the rules, because flames are already not tolerated as individual threads or posts alone.)

Please try to deal with flames constructively, and in general avoid flaming others. You will help make the Internet a much more enjoyable forum for discussion.

 

[morgandee]

<--no regrets 😀

 

[a1532b]

You hit the nail on the head, man. It's just making posts to get people rilled up.

 

[Timewarp]

Flamming is good. I like to stir up controversy. Very entertaining.