Theos-Talk Archives (December 1996 Message tl00337)

THE DEFINITION OF A 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", as style of fishing in which one
trails bait through a likely spot.  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 convening 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 overly controversial.

(Taken from The New Hacker Dictionary, Third Edition, compiled by
Eric S. Raymond, published by MIT Press.)

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