User Support & Resources - troll??

ive seen the term "troll" used around the site and i dont have a clue what people mean when they use it. ive checked the vocab lists and done some searching but cant seem to figure it out.

can anyone fill me in?

An "Internet troll" or "Forum Troll" is a person who posts outrageous message to bait people to answer. Trolls delight in sowing discord on the forums. A troll is someone who inspires flaming rhetoric, someone who is purposely provoking and pulling people into flaming discussion. Flaming discussions usually end with name calling and a flame war.

A classic troll tries to make us believe that he is a skeptic. He is divisive and argumentative with need-to-be-right attitude, "searching for the truth", flaming discussion, and sometimes insulting people or provoking people to insult him. A troll is usually an expert in reusing the same words of its opponents and in turning it against them.

While he tries to present himself as a skeptic looking for truth ... his messages usually sound as if it is the responsibility of other forum members to provide evidence that what forum is all about is legitimate.

]He (and in at least 90% of cases it is he) tries to start arguments and upset people.
Sometimes, he is skeptical, trying to scare people, trying to plant fear in their hearts. Sometimes, Internet troll is trying to spin conflicting information, is questioning in an insincere manner, flaming discussion, insulting people, turning people against each other, harassing forum members, ignoring warnings from forum moderators.

Trolling is a form of harassment that can take over a discussion. Well meaning defenders can create chaos by responding to trolls. The best response is to ignore it, or to report a message to a forum moderator. Ubuntuforums moderators usually move troll messages to the jail and may even ban trolls after a few unheeded warnings. Negative emotions stirred up by trolls leak over into other discussions. Normally affable people can become bitter after reading an angry interchange between a troll and his victims, and this can poison previously friendly interactions between long-time users.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1032102

LMAO^^^ you should never take negative comments from anyone on the internet seriously, period!! Its freaking internet, not in person :lol: some people just get butthurt for no reason nowadays...

i got all that from the link i posted... but yeah, this is the internet... :)

Also DFTT = dont feed the trolls meaning dont respond or instigate because it usually only makes things worse and it's what the aforementioned troll was trying to accomplish anyways.

gotcha thanks for clearing that up for me

:cheers: