Usenet troll

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Usenet suffers from more than its fair share of Internet trolls, perhaps because of its Anonymity. Most Newsgroups tend to have one or more "resident trolls". Sometimes one or several trolls will get together and attack various newsgroups, before disappearing. There are also several major historic incidents of trolling on usenet.

Contents

Alt.bigfoot

Alt.bigfoot is credited with the first troll post. A message about smoking, originally posted to alt.smokers, was crossposted with a forged header to several pro- and anti-smoking newsgroups in a successful attempt to start a Flamewar.

Meow Meow Crew

A group of college students who took over the empty alt.fan.karl-marden.nose started (they insist accidentally) the largest flamewar in Usenet history, when they crossposted an article to alt.tv.beavis-n-butthead from some college newsgroups suggesting that they attack the group and insulting its members. Another member of the crew posted an anonymous angry response, and more people gleefully joined in, adding extra crossposts to an estimated 80 newsgroups. The resulting Cascade had an estimated 10000 posts, almost all of them flames. This took place just before the establishment of the Deja News archive, so we cannot be certain. Several groups were totally destroyed, and the college newsgroups have been moved to internal servers so only members of the colleges can use them.

After this incident, the crew began invading various newsgroups more or less at random. There are also several newsgroups devoted to them, such as talk.meow.

The crew has since dispersed, having left college.

Alt.syntax.tactical

Alt.syntax.tactical was the home of the best-known group of organised trolls. They have a complete organised plan of attack, described in their faq. However, the alt.syntax.tactical crew has not been seen in some time.

External link

References

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