Posted by TheJargon Dictionary [NewLight2] on April 06, 1999 at 21:35:50 {JK6FUAMFdMRAvYFzVWfgdjzMzbEzAc}:
In Reply to: Why keep upseting the friends? posted by Elder's Wife on April 06, 1999 at 19:48:15:
The Jargon Dictionary - http://www.netmeg.net/jargon/terms/t/troll.html
The Jargon Dictionary : Terms : The T Terms : troll
troll
troll /v.,n./ [From the Usenet group alt.folklore.urban] 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.
Some people claim that the troll is properly a narrower category than
flame bait, that a troll is categorized by containing some assertion that is
wrong but not
overtly controversial.