laslov opened this issue on Jul 17, 2007 · 310 posts
XENOPHONZ posted Fri, 20 July 2007 at 11:18 AM
The term "troll" is one of the most over-used & mis-applied terms in common public forum-speak. At its base, "troll" means an individual who regularly posts inflammatory comments for the purpose of eliciting a response from others......any response at all. In other words: someone who's only looking to kick over an ant hill so that they can amuse themselves by watching the stupid ants beneath them scurry around. It's the type of thing that most people did back when they were 8 years old. And then they got over doing it when they came of age at 12.
However, the term "troll" is often mis-used to mean "anyone who takes a point of view that isn't mine", or "someone who I can't beat in an argument, so I'll just start calling them names instead".
I've also seen the term "troll" applied to anyone who doesn't fit in with the majority opinion on a given board.
However -- having said all of that -- there are individuals for whom the term "troll" is clearly appropriate. When around 95% of someone's posts on a board are nothing more than swipes directed at that board and its policies -- often coupled with behind-the-scenes self-satisfied smirking (like they've got nothing better to do with their personal time) -- then I'd say that the term troll is just right. After awhile, their motivations for behaving in the manner that they are behaving become transparent to all but their fellow-travelers who also wish to ride minor points for nothing more than ego-stroking purposes.
Personally, I just stay off of boards that I don't happen to like. I don't waste my incredibly valuable time hanging around those boards and telling them what a bunch of morons they all are for not doing things the way that I think that they ought to be doing them. Neither do I come into these home forums, and then use posts made here for a launching pad to constantly slam those idiots over there at that other website who aren't nearly as smart as I am. Because if they were smart (like me) -- then they'd be following orders and doing what I told them to do - in the way that I told them to do it.
Note: you don't see the admins from Rendo trolling the forums at other websites, telling those other sites how they ought to be running their businesses........and otherwise making negative remarks about how those other websites choose to operate. The technical term for such off-the-wall behavior is: professionalism.
And there's also this: there are plenty of boards where threads like that one wouldn't have survived deletion beyond the first post or two. It would probably have gotten the participants banned, too.
Ya know, there are many individuals on this board who spend a lot of their personal time and effort in sharing their knowledge & expertise with the rest of the community. I've learned about shaders, lighting, etc., etc. through the posts of those professional teachers. Their work is greatly appreciated.