[at-l] Trolling

["David F Hicks" <daveh@usit.net>]

To "troll" in e-mail terms, not fairy-tale terms is the same as in fishing
terms -- to pull some bait through the water to see what bites.

In e-mail it usually is a "hot button" posting to get lots of responses.

The less sophisticated, just get a lot of flame back on the original
poster -- like posting on a bird watching or environmental list a question
about what is the best poison to get rid of an annoying mocking bird.  The
real troll artist lurk or check digest then re-ignite old flame wars.  That
way it is not everybody against the originator, but subsets of the group
against each other.  Some trollers get a kick out of keeping the flame war
from dieing out -- post and lay back and watch; then pour more gas on the
embers as the site starts to cool down.

Chainsaw



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