What is a "Troll"

[Horst]

I have read of individuals being called a troll. I thought it meant someone who looked at the site (forum) but never contributed, but that definition doesn't seem to fit.

[RussZHC]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29

your definition was of a "lurker"

[BMW Rider]

You're thinking of a "Lurker".

A troll is some one who post something with the intent of stirring the pot or leading a thread off topic. Usually the poster has nothing useful to contribute to the given thread, they just try to bait others into an exchange of increasingly heated posts. Hence the term, "Don't feed the Trolls", which means, don't take the bait, don't help them grind their axes.

[Horst]

Thanks guys

[Ggerg1186]

You obviously have no clue how the internet works...

[Horst]

You obviously have no clue how the internet works...

So then the proper response to Ggerg1186 would be "DNFTT"

[lazlo]

You obviously have no clue how the internet works...

Fabulous!

[dp]

So then the proper response to Ggerg1186 would be "DNFTT"

You're a quick study.

[Mcgyver]

A troll is some one who post something with the intent of stirring the pot or leading a thread off topic. Usually the poster has nothing useful to contribute to the given thread,

see post 4 here for an example

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/showthread.php?t=52173


....or maybe even this post

[dp]

You're thinking of a "Lurker".

A troll is some one who post something with the intent of stirring the pot or leading a thread off topic. Usually the poster has nothing useful to contribute to the given thread, they just try to bait others into an exchange of increasingly heated posts. Hence the term, "Don't feed the Trolls", which means, don't take the bait, don't help them grind their axes.

It is also applied wrongly to people who are not part of a local consensus. Go along with the crowd or be deemed a troll, as it were. When this tactic works it strengthens the consensus without improving the population of participants.