internet trolling kicked off around 9 years ago with the influence of jeffk
trolling is "tricking people" in a nutshell. a real troll takes pleasure from NEVER BEING DISCOVERED.
an oldschool troll will act a part, often as outlandish as he can get away with, and try to interact with others without them realising that its an act
trolling has always been able to be considered "good humour/jesting/teasing" , however what sticks out in peoples minds is the maliciousness of trolls that put on an act to intentionally wreck havoc in a community or to an individual.
trolls love to push boundaries, to see what they can get away with without it being discovered that exactly what they're doing is trying to push the boundaries and get a reaction out of people. real trolls are explorers, many of them on a dark journey, sadistic, righteous, or thrill-seeking. these are the trolls people remember and loathe
a troll tricks people to generate a reaction from them. this could be something like being rude because you know they hate rudeness, or suggestion something silly because you know you can convince them to do it. if a troll successfully tricks someone it is very enjoyable and satisfying for the troll
"accidental trolling" is when a person ends up provoking reactions from people when he didn't ultimately or primarily intend to do that. a person who finds himself an accidental troll quite often will often enjoy the experience and begin to think of ways he can develop that part of his personality, through humour - albeit it is often humour is often not detected by many other people as they dont see the joke infront of them
examples of great IRL trolls:
Ali G / Borat - Standing uncomfortably close to another person and pretending not to notice David Brent from The Office - trolls people without realising it (but we viewers can see it) Alan Partridge - trolls people with awkward, unbelievable or shocking situations and dialogue whilst pretending it isnt unusual
i agree that it seems trolling is dying, but thats only because 95% of people have forgotten what real trolling means.
the nature of today's games makes it harder to troll (you'll see it in MMOs where people can chat/type a lot to one another and have more chance to develop more complex personalities), and you wont see much of it on tlnet anymore because people are more often than not afraid to say anything with a bit of flair incase it gets them banned.
trolling as a griefer is also very attractive, and once a troll discovers this it is easy to lose them in it. (trolling as a griefer would be putting on acts of being a bully and superior to another person - you might be the nicest guy IRL but online you will make people fear and loathe you). there is a subtle but vital difference between calling someone a cunt in an online game because you hate or disagree with them and calling them a cunt because you specifically desire to provoke a reaction from them
there are various levels of trolling as you can see - from high-level clever, convincing, subtle and secretly-hilarious trolling to low-level mindless griefing to get a quick and powerful reaction
if i were to add a poll to this thread "Do you agree with me?" i would hope now all of you would answer "No"
If you think trolling is dying, then you might be getting trolled without your knowing. Also, I don't think trolling needs such a specific definition. For all I know, you could just be trying to troll readers with this.
You've nailed the definition of trolling that I've been looking for. The problem these days is people just get offended so damned easily. It's like people just prowl Team Liquid looking for something they can point at and go "my GOD, I've never been so offended in my entire life" and then proceed to shoot each other's posts down like internet dog fighting. I suppose that's the preferred way for people to amuse themselves these days.
On January 01 2012 04:22 Lucumo wrote: All "trolls" deserve to die, the difference doesn't matter.
In my belief, no one deserves to die. no matter what their actions are, who they hate or how they hate, death is something that robs you of your personality and knowledge, and i don't think anyone should deserve that...
On January 01 2012 05:01 Mr. Wiggles wrote: I've never heard of some of those people. Makes me wonder how good they actually are at trolling. Who's jeffk?
Jeff K Jeff K is basically a very thorough parody of internet stupidity.
Borat IMO is a great example of trolling done right. It offends a few people, amuses many, and makes a point beneath all of it.
On January 01 2012 04:22 Lucumo wrote: All "trolls" deserve to die, the difference doesn't matter.
Case in point on people being easily offended/pissed off. People like Hot_Bid have done infinitely more to entertain Team Liquid through their trolling alone than what you've ever done in your two years and three thousand posts.
On January 01 2012 04:22 Lucumo wrote: All "trolls" deserve to die, the difference doesn't matter.
In my belief, no one deserves to die. no matter what their actions are, who they hate or how they hate, death is something that robs you of your personality and knowledge, and i don't think anyone should deserve that...
I obviously don't mean in real life, physically...
On January 01 2012 05:12 Newbistic wrote: Case in point on people being easily offended/pissed off. People like Hot_Bid have done infinitely more to entertain Team Liquid through their trolling alone than what you've ever done in your two years and three thousand posts.
I'm not here to entertain anyone, why would I? Creating threads for BW games being played was the most I did and that's fine, in my opinion. Also, it's completely besides the point.
On January 01 2012 05:12 Newbistic wrote: Case in point on people being easily offended/pissed off. People like Hot_Bid have done infinitely more to entertain Team Liquid.
Indeed.
Hot_Bid is a good example. There are many on staff who have as well.
I've tried. Didn't always get away with it though. o:
On January 01 2012 05:01 Mr. Wiggles wrote: I've never heard of some of those people. Makes me wonder how good they actually are at trolling. Who's jeffk?
Jeff K Jeff K is basically a very thorough parody of internet stupidity.
Borat IMO is a great example of trolling done right. It offends a few people, amuses many, and makes a point beneath all of it.
On January 01 2012 04:22 Lucumo wrote: All "trolls" deserve to die, the difference doesn't matter.
Case in point on people being easily offended/pissed off. People like Hot_Bid have done infinitely more to entertain Team Liquid through their trolling alone than what you've ever done in your two years and three thousand posts.
I don't know, that jeefk guy doesn't seem very funny. Why's he a good troll?
internet trolling kicked off around 9 years ago with the influence of jeffk
Who is jeffk and what makes you think trolling didn't exist before 2001? (edit: oh, you explained who he is... that's not really inventing it so much as it is imitating a typical 12 year old with internet access)
trolling has always been able to be considered "good humour/jesting/teasing"
Also wrong. Trolling has always been about people with anonymity on the internet trying to get a rise out of people by denying the holocaust or something stupid so that someone would waste their time writing a huge essay about what a disgusting human being they are.
There have been funny forms of trolling, like blood ninja, but for the most part it was never elegant. It's on par with throwing bits of paper at someone to see if you can make them mad enough to shout at you in the middle of class. 99% of trolls never get beyond that level of tedious 'haha I did a thing and he got mad.'
I thought this was going to be a thread about fishing, but I guess I was wrong.
People who do RL "trolling" are usually pretty dumb, it is pretty easy to achieve a troll when you do it towards people who have no clue what you are going on about. It is great to the internet for the most part, but really an inside joke in the real world that you and the people who view your "awesome" trolling video on the internet get.
The only trolling I ever did was in an mmo way back in time, when I would "Troll(fishing term)" around a zone and catch little fish and take their items.
There's only a point to trolling (if there's ever a point to trolling) when you're clever about it.
A lot of people seem to think that acting stupid is trolling. Well, yes, it annoys people. The thing is though, that when you do something a stupid person could do just as well that's not something to be proud of. Good job, you managed to act stupid. Congratulations.
If Deezer was a normal person he would have been the greatest troll of Starcraft history. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that's legitimately his personality.
internet trolling kicked off around 9 years ago with the influence of jeffk
Who is jeffk and what makes you think trolling didn't exist before 2001? (edit: oh, you explained who he is... that's not really inventing it so much as it is imitating a typical 12 year old with internet access)
trolling has always been able to be considered "good humour/jesting/teasing"
Also wrong. Trolling has always been about people with anonymity on the internet trying to get a rise out of people by denying the holocaust or something stupid so that someone would waste their time writing a huge essay about what a disgusting human being they are.
There have been funny forms of trolling, like blood ninja, but for the most part it was never elegant. It's on par with throwing bits of paper at someone to see if you can make them mad enough to shout at you in the middle of class. 99% of trolls never get beyond that level of tedious 'haha I did a thing and he got mad.'
Trolling isn't just about being stupid. People are perfectly capable of being (sometimes extremely) stupid without trolling. It doesn't help that stupid people also try to mimic trolling, but hey, what can you do? Trolling is a very effective way of pointing out such stupidity.
Nono, that's called mocking someone. If someone doesn't understand they're being mocked, that doesn't necessarily mean the person mocking them is trolling (deliberately trying to trick them).
Trolling is luring someone with bait (saying something dumb, offering something weird, etc). It's debatable whether the goal is to get them to write a bunch of stuff in anger, or if it's just to somehow make them the ass of a clever ruse, but the idea is that they must be tricked and you must be trying to trick them.
To clarify, when I say 'deny the holocaust' I mean that the troll him or herself does not believe the holocaust never happened, he or she simply says it didn't to provoke someone. I used to tell my cousin Franz Ferdinand was just a band and wasn't based on anything so that she would get angry enough to start shouting at me about how WWI started. Which was funny because we both knew I know a heck of a lot more about history than she does, but for some reason she would rather think I'm an idiot than joking. Often when someone doesn't get a joke/sarcasm, it can turn into trolling. But that's still different from mocking.
Hot_Bid isn't a troll rofl, he's just a person with a good sense of humor.
There is a difference. The difference being whether or not deceit is intended. The only real trolls we have are the occasional t-dot and various GAMER GURL and girlfriend blogs.
Seriously this post is thread is so fail of fail that the OP is probably trolling himself lol. Jeffk the first troll? Seriously? Even Wikipedia will tell you that it is wrong. How can someone even troll in a scripted sitcom, when he is playing the part of an unintentionally awkward person.
Seriously this post is thread is so fail of fail that the OP is probably trolling himself lol. Jeffk the first troll? Seriously? Even Wikipedia will tell you that it is wrong.
Seriously this post is thread is so fail of fail that the OP is probably trolling himself lol. Jeffk the first troll? Seriously? Even Wikipedia will tell you that it is wrong.
I don't agree with the OP so much. A troll is someone who intentionally causes trouble and gets a reaction out of folks. It doesn't matter if they are a known troll or not. The success of their trolling is not measured as such either. For instance, two of the most successful trolls in all of SC2 are Deezer and CombatEX. Few people would argue with that. Their trolling in this game is nothing short of legendary. They don't trick people, pretend to be something else, or use any sort of clever mind games at all. Just thought I would add that in their.
Also, and I think this needs to be said to, someone who has a sense of humor and fucks with people from time to time is not a troll. To often the term troll is used as a term of endearment for someone they like. They aren't trolling, they are just being funny.
Let me tell you what trolling truly is. It's a word. Now go ahead and keep arguing over that word. I'm sure it's time well spent if you enjoy it so much.
well trolling IRL, like pranking, can be as malicious or light-hearted as you like.
you might wonder what examples there are of "light hearted" pranks or trolls. idk any pranks but my fav IRL troll so far has been going up to random strangers as they pass by in the street and telling them they have a bit of toilet paper stuck to their backs, then walking away from them. you can watch them keep looking with embarrassment for the toilet paper for quite some time before they give up an continue their journey. harmless, hilarious.
why is it so good? you invoke an unusual reaction - embarrassment! a bit like the old "your flies are undone" but it lasts for longer
i guess if you feel like you can explain the troll/prank to the target and know he'd find it equally funny/clever/amusing and whatever problem or inconvenience is involved is easily remedied then you can consider it in good humour. telling someone the wrong directions to the post office is, however, neither clever nor particularly funny; a malicious troll. you can still get off on it because you're successfully tricking someone.
british culture has a history of good-humoured troll comedy (back to the Goon Show which used puns or play on words and accidental-troll characters such as the elderly Minnie , Eckles, Bloodnok, actually pretty much all of them were trolling each other. monty python - trolls, from the Vagina song to the man who made a xylophone out of live mice. british comedy culture is way beyond anything else.
i guess that explains why a lot of people will say "all trolls must die". if your country culture take on trolling is just being an obnoxious twat then you're missing out on the real thing, and thats what my thread is all about.
try listening to The Goon Show (hundreds of episodes of varying awesomeness) or watching Alan Partridge to see real british comedy gold
troll breakdown: 1. creating a deception ("You have toilet paper on your back") 2. hiding the deception (Its hard to check your back to see if someone is stuck there) 3. invoking a reaction (Embarrassment that toilet paper is there) 4. hiding the deceiver (You can be long gone before the target can confront you again, or the target has walked away, or the target assumes the paper has come off at some point, etc etc etc)
EPT
