Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FaultLine who wrote (78172)	2/27/2003 10:30:30 AM
From: Ilaine	Respond to of 281500

Well, if it were a total fabrication, would that not also prove the point?

To: FaultLine who wrote (78172)	2/27/2003 10:31:11 AM
From: JohnM	Respond to of 281500

Actually, there is a lot of mileage to be gotten (to wit) from a total fabrication such as this may be. My thought when I read it. Thanks for posting that.

To: FaultLine who wrote (78172)	2/27/2003 10:41:46 AM
From: Win Smith	Respond to of 281500

SirFishalot, indeed. From urban75.com Section 1: What Is A Troll? The WWW gives this as a definition: troll v.,n. To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames. Derives from the phrase "trolling for newbies"; which in turn comes from mainstream "trolling";, a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. The following extract is from a broader expansion of the defining comments given above: In Usenet usage, a troll is not a grumpy monster that lives beneath a bridge accosting passers-by, but rather a provocative posting to a newsgroup intended to produce a large volume of frivolous responses. The content of a "troll posting generally falls into several areas. It may consist of an apparently foolish contradiction of common knowledge, a deliberately offensive insult to the readers of a newsgroup, or a broad request for trivial follow-up postings. There are three reasons why people troll newsgroups: People post such messages to get attention, to disrupt newsgroups, and simply to make trouble. Career trollers tend for the latter two whilst the former is the mark of the clueless newbie and should be ignored.