An article about trolling since someone asked what it meant

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The Trolls Among Us

They interview several dedicated Internet trolls, and discuss the actions of others. Which have extended into the realm of stalking, harassment, cyberbullying, death threats, extortion, hacking, etc., far more often than most people realize until they end up the target of this crap, or know someone who is. Which is the reason that many people who've been on the net awhile can become extremely wary about people who might be trolling.

hey thanks i asked that question because i've seen it on this site and it was being used in a different way.

there's another thread on the same piece:

http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt73213.html

Oops thanks.

thanks, anbuend. Most of the time people think a 'troll' is that pointy hatted guy that sells travel tickets. But that is a 'gnome.'

back in the covered wagon days of the internet, it was called "trolling for suckers." Those who 'bit' at the bait were mostly gullible literalists that did not know they were being played. By some amazing twists of fate I help moderate a board that is 99% gullible literalists, so I tend to become protective of my member's learning curve.

I always use this as my measuring stick for a 'troll.'

[A troll] someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.


Merle

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81OwP7RJ3BI[/youtube]
Oh no the Travelocity Gnome Troll is going to nibble our bums

Ahh, anyone who loves rock and roll can't be all bad - can they?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT9I1fPmMJg[/youtube]

I didn't like the article. They really seemed to imply that troll = hacker, when in reality most trolls just know how to press a few keys and the "submit" button.

Most "hackers" don't even know what the word means! I knew one person that thought HE was a "hacker". He got to be FAMOUS by laying stupid traps for naive students, and parlaying that into crashing the systems. Meanwhile, the person he knew that told him how to do the little he did ended up in JAIL because the supposed "hacker" got in trouble with the law for creating REAL senseless trouble, and stayed away from jail by turning in someone that was a hacker just looking for a challenge!

BTW That supposed "hacker" was one I considered a friend of sorts, but he kept wiping out my program, that I was going to submit for a scholarship! The NEXT YEAR the winner used the SAME concept!

BTW Where are they now? Last I knew...
1. The "hacker" is but a FOOTNOTE! 655 references in Google, and none in wikipedia. Last I saw of him, he was deshoveled and waiting at a bustop.
2. The other guy has 745000 references in Google, one in wikipedia, coauthored 2 books, and runs his own computer security company.
3. I only have 127 references in google, and am not in wikipedia, but I have done OK, in spite of #1s antics.

A lot of trolls will cross over into hacking if dedicated and irritated enough, but a lot of the time they're just essentially script kiddies (people, usually but not always teens, who hack using software they didn't write to do the hacking for them). And they're talking, it seems like, about the trolls who are the most organized and dedicated, rather than the most random. Not all the ones they featured were hackers though.

Trolls crave off attention and reactions. If you totally ignore them that's what gets rid of them eventually.