r.g.pbm Incredibly Unofficial Troll Mini-FAQ

From: PJ Killian <pkillian@NMSU.Edu>

Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 00:00:00 +0000

REC.GAMES.PBM INCREDIBLY UNOFFICIAL TROLL MINI-FAQ v1.0

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0. Introduction

I threw this together recently trying to cure my persistent insomnia. I
hope it does someone some good.

It's highly derivative of several other ng-specific Troll FAQs, especially
these:

http://threnos-media.com/prune/low/trollfaq.html - alt.gothic troll FAQ
http://www.lowdown.com/~dakal/troll.html - alt.aol-sucks troll FAQ
http://digital.net/~gandalf/trollfaq.html - alt.syntax.tactical FAQ -
Dealing with Trolls, Crossposting and Flames

Permission is hereby granted to post this on a web page, incorporate this
into one of the many r.g.pbm FAQs (in whole or part), or plagarize this
for any other groups you frequent. A very poorly HTMLized version of this
FAQ is located at http://members.tripod.com/~naisu/troll-faq.html.

My apologies to the 95% of the group that already knows this stuff--feel
free to ignore this document. If you do read it and wish to spot an error
or contribute something, send mail to pkillian@nmsu.edu.

1. What is a troll?

The dictionary tells us that the noun "troll" refers to a little beastie
in Scandanavian folklore who lives under bridges and commits various acts
of unpleasantness. The dictionary also tells us that the verb "to troll"
refers to fishing by running a baited line behind a slow-moving boat. This
second definition is the origin of the Usenet term "troll," though the
first is surprisingly accurate as well. The Usenet definition (more or
less):

A troll is someone who posts primarily for the purpose of drawing
attention to himself (or herself), usually negative attention. Trolls
are also known to post solely to disrupt a newsgroup, thus defeating the
group's purpose. They frequently post from anonymous or forged accounts.
(from the alt.aol-sucks Troll FAQ)

2. Why do people troll?

Your average troll is just a Usenet vandal--they simply enjoy attention,
negative or otherwise. People who devote serious time to trolling are
generally either emotionally immature or seriously unbalanced--usually the
former. Most trolls are young and unfamiliar with normal social
interactions and tend to overestimate the degree to which their behavior
bothers people.

3. What are the characteristics of a troll?

Some typical characteristics of troll posts: excessive vulgarity, use of
sexual or racial epithets, typing in ALL CAPS, posting via anonymous
remailers, using throwaway and/or anonymous from: or reply-to: headers,
generally being annoying and contributing nothing to the newsgroup. Simply
being annoying or offensive is not enough to make a person a troll. All of
us are annoying or offensive to SOMEONE. To be a true troll, one must be
deliberately posting things that will cause a signinificant chunk of the
traffic in a given group to be devoted to one's antics.

4. So we should flame trolls to a crisp, right?

No. Any negative action you take against a troll is merely validation of
their ability to distract and annoy you. If you simply MUST flame them,
please do it in private e-mail, but bear in mind that this action is
highly unlikely to accomplish anything. Posting responses, however clever,
is doing EXACTLY what the troll wants you to do, is annoying for those
who use the group for a practical purpose, and will likely cause people to
tell you (in the nicest possible way, of course) to cut it OUT already.

5. What are some practical ways to improve my existance in a
troll-infested newsgroup?

A. Ignore them. Many trolls are one-shot deals, posting something
offensive or annoying ("soccer sucks" in rec.sport.soccer, "Macs suck" in
comp.sys.mac.*, "Get a life" just about everywhere) then leaving. The
group spends weeks yelling about this person who doesn't know them or care
about them. Assume until further notice that a troll's post is like a sex
spam or a pyramid scam--the poster doesn't read the group and is not
interested in your clever riposte.

B. Killfile them. Some trolls stick around. They WANT your responses, the
more vulgar or indignant the better. Their posts are specifically designed
to get a rise out of as many people as possible. Every response you make
just makes the troll laugh harder and further validates (in their minds)
their sad little life. The best way to deal with this type of person is to
killfile them. Unfortunately, there are many different kinds of
newsreader programs and no accepted standard--check your docs for
instructions.

C. Complain to their postmaster. Don't overdo this one--news admins,
postmasters, and abuse guys are terribly busy people and don't need
complaints about every annoying customer they have. However, it is against
the AUP (Acceptible Use Policy) of most civilized Internet Providers to
make a total pest of oneself on Usenet, and at the very least will result
in someone higher-up giving them a sharp crack over the head with a
clue-by-four. Forward the message with FULL headers to the abuse
department at their ISP. (Usually but NOT always this address is abuse@
their ISP. There are exceptions--AOL's abuse address is abuse@aol.NET (not
.com) and other ISPs do it in different ways. A little research can go a
long way here. Bear in mind that headers can be (and often are) forged on
abusive posts--a very helpful document called "Figuring out Fake E-mail
and Posts" is located at http://digital.net/~gandalf/spamfaq.html and is
worth reading at least once before you complain to any administrators or
abuse guys.

D. Be amused by their antics. Best done in conjunction with A, B and/or C.
Generally, trolls aren't much fun to laugh WITH, but they can be great fun
to laugh AT. We all know that trolls are people who need to get out more,
but if they upset you so much that you boil over with impotent rage, you
might need to get out more, too. As annoying and worthless as trolls
generally are, they *are* a sort of validation that no matter how deeply
and passionately you care about e-mail gaming, there is someone in the
world with less of a life than you...

Thanks, and DON'T FEED THE TROLLS!

"You mean you'll put down your rock and I'll put down my sword and we'll
kill each other like civilized people?" -The Man In Black

PJ Killian (pkillian@nmsu.edu)