On Mon, 17 Feb 2014 08:24:15 +0000, Peter James wrote:

An interesting web site in view of recent post here.
I'm not trying to inflame anyone, just posting this for interest.

http://tinyurl.com/kpnbo7u

Peter

Just to note that I think the term 'Troll' has been hijacked by the media.

Back in the day, at least a portion of Usenet trolling fell into the
category of gentle (or robust) teasing.
AFAIK it derived from a fishing technique where a bright shiny lure was
dragged through the water in the hope that it would prove irresistible and
something would bite.

On Usenet most people are (or were) anonymous and there was a phrase "It's
only Usenet - nobody dies" used to remind people that this in the end it
was all just chatter, and if you didn't want to engage then all you had to
do was step away. As in "Don't feed the trolls."

Trolling was not generally personal - just idle amusement for most.


The term is now being applied to targeted personal abuse on social media
where the target is clearly identified as a real person and is being
abused because of something they have done and/or said in real life.

This is totally different from traditional Usenet where anonymity is/was
the norm.

So studies of "Trolling" may not be directly relevant to Usenet especially
with the definition creep.

May I recommend the kill file to my learned friends?

Ignore the trolls (don't feed them, don't snap at the lure) and they will
usually go somewhere else.

Responding and complaining just shows a reaction - which is what trolls
(malicious and benign) are really looking for.

Cheers

Dave R