Trolls
From Wikinfo
trolls are disaffected users, angry with Wikipedia, other wiki websites and discussion forums, who troll such sites in search of an audience. The role of trolls is unclear: There is not even an agreement on what a troll is. Some use the term as an insult, and others take pride in being called trolls. If you find "Trolls believe..." or "Trolls request..." or other use of "trolls" as a pronoun, it is a sure sign you are dealing with someone who self-identifies with trolls, and uses the term as a username. Such people can be assumed to share IP addresses to get around blocks, to freely offer passwords to each other, quote each others texts without any attribution, and to generally foment ambiguity and anger toward them in ways which make it simply impossible to tell just whom wrote what, or why it mattered.
Because this group, or person, discounts identity but usually claims to represent or protect someone, trolls will usually cluster around something they wish to protect. Those who disrespect such basic elements of troll culture can expect to be driven off by trolls in disgust. The impact of such collective anonymous trolling is ambiguous as well.
Flashpoints for Trolls:
- free circulation of fiction and ambiguity
- staying anonymous or ambiguous
- free speech - which trolls usually support
- reputation - which trolls feel leads to stupidity
- authority - which trolls do not like
- libel - which some trolls do, but which others try to avoid being done to them
See also
References
- Adapted from the Consumerium article, "Trolls" http://consumerium.org/wiki/index.php/Trolls, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
