Hello. I'm the person who made the post that heavenlybody is referring to (and let me add a thank you to heavenlybody for trying to clear this up). I'm normally chudP over on TOW, and I come here in peace. I'm using an old account that I registered with back when I was going to post a question for a friend elsewhere on MB. I only came wandering over here because of heavenlybody's very nice message posted over there. My stats are: I am not an OW, I have never had an affair, and I am married. But, I was originally born as an OC (although my parents did marry soon thereafter). I'll spare you the other details of how/why I actually landed at TOW, but that's why I sometimes hang out over there.
Heavenlybody hit it best with the word "evolve". Words evolve. Language evolves. Yes?
If you look up the word troll in a dictionary,
(here, try this link
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=troll )
you'll find a verb definition of "to fish by trailing a bait", and a noun definition of "nasty fairytale monster under a bridge".
Back in the internet's infancy ... back before the WWW had expanded much beyond government computers, and back before the average Joe had a "browser", the main public area of the internet was the newsgroups ... uunet groups. (Want to see them? Go to
www.google.com and select "Groups".) Back then already, some people got a kick out of going into a group where they didn't normally belong, and posting messages just to cause a fight. They were "baiting" the regulars. "Fishing" for a fight. The verb definition of the word "troll" was put into play and used to apply to those people and what they were doing. They became some of the first internet "trolls".
Since then, people who try to "fish for a fight" (usually done in a hit-and-run style) anywhere on the internet are called "trolls".
Now the word "troll" has the misfortune of having multiple definitions. Correct? So, yes, it is true that as the years have gone by, some people have also incorporated the second meaning into this label ... that of "nasty monster".
BUT ... and this is a BIG BUT ... (and why I'm posting here in the first place) ... even with that usage of the word, the perpetrator is only being called a "nasty monster" BECAUSE HE IS PICKING FOR A FIGHT. In this way, the definition can be expanded to "troll = someone who is "trolling" or fishing for a "fight", OR a nasty monster who only comes out of his hiding place under the bridge IN ORDER TO PICK A FIGHT, then crawls right back under the bridge." Remember, trolling is traditionally done as hit-and-run ... or near-hit-and-run.
The point I'm trying to make is that when someone comes to the TOW board and purposefully posts something nasty just to start a fight, they are being called a "troll" NOT BECAUSE they may be a BW or from MB, but because they are trying to pick a fight.
BW does-NOT-equal "nasty monster under bridge". The insult is NOT being used to say that a BW is mean, or lives under a bridge, or has the wild neon-colored hair that those little naked plastic troll dolls have. A BW is NOT a troll JUST BECAUSE she is a BW.
However, someone who goes to another board JUST to start a fight ... whether they're a BW, or an OW, or the king-of-Siam ... IS a troll SIMPLY because they're trying to pick a fight ... and no matter which definition of the word troll you want to use: "fishing for a fight", or "monster who comes out from under the bridge to cause a fight, then quickly slinks back under".
Is this making sense? I sure hope so. It's late where I am.
The reason I posted what I did at TOW is because I was getting the impression (from a couple posts) that some people were under the impression that the attitude at work was that "all MB people, and all BWs, are nasty monsters under a bridge JUST BECAUSE they post at MB or are BWs". That is patently incorrect, and the word "troll" is *NOT* being used simply as an insult to any and all MB people or BWs. What it *IS*, is an insult to people who go looking for a fight on another board, whether that board be TOW, MB, or The-Joy-of-Cooking, and regardless of if the perpetrator is OW, BW, or king-of-Siam.
Finally, a reference for the internet word "troll":
http://www.advicemeant.com/flame/10define.shtmlIf you want to see more, I suggest going to any of the main search engines ...
www.yahoo.com ...
www.google.com ... and do a search on combinations of these words: troll, internet, lingo, slang, definitions. Believe me, you'll find more than you'll ever want to read, because this truly is nothing more than internet lingo.
Thank you for hearing me out, I hope this is clearing some things up, it's been a pleasure meeting you heavenlybody, and I bid you all a peaceful adieu.
chudP (friendofk is old account I never used)
editing because I'm just full of typos tonight.
editing once more to add this:
When heavenlybody says this:
>So, if members of TOW posted here just to get people upset and to start fights, they would be "trolls" on MB.
She is exactly right. "Troll" has nothing to do with who you are, it has to do with what you do on the internet (ie. pick fights where you don't belong). And to anyone who originally thought that Joshmom was using the word "troll" as merely an insult against ALL MBers ... please go back up and REREAD her response again, this time using the correct definition of the word.
<small>[ December 11, 2002, 11:17 PM: Message edited by: friendofk ]</small>
