Rules question re trolling

[97th Signalman]

I have enjoyed being a member of a number of forums for some years now and I often hear people mentioning their disdain for trolling. You may not believe this, but I don't actually what that term means in the context of a forum. So, here is my stupid question: What actually is trolling? Can someone define this much criticised activity for me so I will know it when I see it?

[jlpskydive]

An example: "Cetmes SUCK and anyone who would collect evil guns must be a right wing psycho killer waiting to happen!!!!!" (This statement when placed in the contest of this board would be trolling) On a Hillary Clinton board ... not so much....

Trolling - Verb - Making an inflammatory statement to illicit an equally inflammatory answer for the mere pleasure of pissing someone off. Trolls have to be feed with inflammatory responses or they will die. I.E. don't feed the trolls. :thumbup:

[bullseye]

Someone posting stuff just to stir the pot and get sh!t started for no other reason than their own enjoyment. That would be like someone new only posting the many virtues of Indian ammo and how all the others suck. They just wanna get folks riled up. Or someone coming here claiming to be something their not, like if I said I was a force recon marine with 125 confirmed kills just to "be all I can be" in your mind, even though you know it is not true. Trolls are usually someone with nothing productive to add and are heroes in their own minds. Please just ignore them and they will eventually go away.

[k98k792]

Don't worry,they won't last long here.

[Geilt]

Another function of the Troll is to collect e-mail addresses of board users to include in Spam mailings.

There is another, older, meaning to Troll and that is someone who just reads the boards but never contributes. The meaning has since been transitioned in to the term "lurking" or being a lurker.

Can also be used to refer to drunken guys at a bar looking for an equally drunken woman. (Usage: "I was trolling Standup Franks the other night looking for an easy score".) So I hear, not that I have any point of referrence in this usage. No... really.

[Grasshopper]

Yes, trolls are good if cooked well.:thumbup:
We at the RCG forums were trying to get a troll cook book going a few years ago. It didn't go far but it was nice to vent about "them".
Yes, if you don't feed them they go away. Some of the trolls are politically motivated and are just waiting for a reply like: "Listen you A$$mole, if I ever see you in real life I'll rip your head off and $8@t down your throat....." so they can be victimized by the forum and thus possibly cause trouble.
At the RCG forums we had/have a few, they were/are feds trying to gain evidence for prosecution of fellow board members. These board members were/are under ATFE investigation for not committing crimes, but were part of a fishing expedition.:nonono: Be careful of how you handle trolls.

[The Great 308]

There is one member that is on this board, HKpro and HK weapons. He has very low posts counts on all of these boards and all of the posts that he does have are bad mouthing a certain rifle. However I am not sure if he is a troll or if he is legit and just got a lemon. Only time will tell I guess

[NavajoNPaleFace]

Let's not confuse someone who will "tell it like it is" or someone who strongly voices his/her opinion as a troll.

I've seen that in the past.

If you say a person who continuously stirs up chit is a troll I'd agree.
But for someone to occassionally disagree (and which incites, let's say a "know it all" or or others) then I wouldn't categorize the person as a troll.