What is 'trolling'?

Been thinking a lot about the T-bomb lately. It gets tossed around here quite a bit, though I think the 20-80 rule applies, i.e. 20 percent of posters drop about 80 percent of the T-bomb references.

I've been accused of being a "troll" here when I feel like I'm just using dry wit or needling someone in a good-natured way. I saw a reference to "trolls" yesterday in a Tweet about an Eddie Lacy feature. To me, making fun of someone's weight isn't being a "troll." It's just being a dick.

To me, it's very specific: Someone on the Internet who makes an argument they don't really believe in, or invent an anecdote that they know isn't true (often about a racial minority), just to watch people react is "trolling."

 

It's a stupid fucking term bandied about by people with gorgonzola for brains.

 

Defense lawyers would be the biggest trolls of all based on making an argument they don't believe in.

 

I'm not a defense lawyer.

Nice try, though.

 

Couldn't he have been needling you in a good-natured way?

 

Probably. I know he doesn't think highly of me. I deleted the post, though. I'll take him at his word.

 

My two cents: This is where you often earn, at least partially, the T badge. While it is good-natured on your end, it isn't always easy to tell on a message board post, as seen above. And when the good-natured part of your needling is gone, even if it is only in perception, all that is left is needling. And I don't think it is a big jump from needling to trolling. Both are used to get a response from the recipient for the enjoyment of the needler/troll.

Also, who the fuck cares if some anonymous avatar on a silly message board calls you a troll? You take that shit way too seriously.

 

I'm actually 99 percent OK with it, with one particular poster being the big exception.

 

I guess in my day we called it "being a smartass."

One of the problems is that by nature I'm a pretty sincere/earnest guy who has forced myself over the years to take myself and life less seriously. And so when I'm called a "troll," it doesn't at all match my self-image or intent.

A few years ago, a friend of mine got charged with conversion for a really honest fuck-up. He's a coach, so it was in the newspapers, etc. And I remember him telling me that more than anything else, he just wanted to scream to the world, "I AM NOT WHAT YOU THINK I AM!!!"

And that's kind of how I feel.

 

What is conversion?