Posted on 08/11/2009 12:41:06 PM PDT by steve-b
Before social networking sites and chat rooms came along, there were forums, message boards and mailing lists on the internet, which allowed people to interact with each other in relative anonymity. At that time, text strings were about the only thing that really went around, because even images had to be downloaded before they could be viewed. Some people discovered that it is possible to string sentences together that outrages, frustrates or angers completely unknown people on the web. This was a source of amusement, but it soon became more than that. The activity was known as trolling, but getting the right reactions from people, and at the right time, required considerable psychological insight. Some trolls would simply start a Star Wars Vs Star Trek thread; sit back, as furious fights broke out between respectable forum members as they strove to prove their side the stronger. Five words and every single self-respecting geek on the forum would fight it out till their keyboards broke. Trolling became an art form, and at the turn of the century, became a lost art form. This was not before a handful of trolls left their indelible mark on the online community, and the world at large. Here is a listing of the ten most infamous trolls to be every let loose on the internet....
(Excerpt) Read more at thinkdigit.com ...
Classy Green Eyed Blonde?!
Did you make the list, or were you 11th?
Kibo!
ASH ALERT!
This post made me think of Ash and MurrayMom. I guess I’ve been here too long.
Steve-b may or may not be a troll.
But he knows plenty about ‘em.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2268206/posts
So successful they named a part of the International Space Station after him. And he's not even on the list!
Outrageous!
Interesting article. Amazing the time and effort probably spent in doing some of these activities.
Sungirl
bfltr
I don’t think this guy would be considered a troll, but a long time ago, I had the misfortune of running into a scientologist online by the name of Robert Marcus. A real a-hole. Went so far as to subtly threaten my family and I on a certain forum where he posted under a pseudonym. I countered him effectively and he never bothered me again. But he went on to gain some infamy on the internet.
DITHF, Eschior, Quidam, Michael Rivero; Tabitha Soren...
Naaaaa. Sungirl wasn’t a troll.
All your troll are belong to us!
-PJ
This post made me thik of “Luv Muppet”, the troll who disrupted a grief usenet group I participated in around ten years ago. People communicated about a deceased loved one—Luv Muppet’s loved one that she lost was her right ovary, that she had named Grover. She was enraged when the de facto leader of the group suggested she go to the depression group. She proceeded to ridicule the grief expressed by others over lost spouses, parents, children, etc. She insisted that her grief was worse than everyone else’s because we would be reunited with our loved ones, but there is no heaven for ovaries.
It went on and on for weeks. There was no way to throw her out of the group, individuals could just block her messages. But that left her open to tormenting newcomers who didn’t know to block her (and they were usually the most vulnerable because they were likely to have just lost their loved one).
Eventually Luv Muppet became bored and somebody (I assume it was also Luv Muppet) signed on identifying themselves as Luv Muppet’s mother. She said Luv Muppet had attempted suicide and was clinging to life in a hospital, all due to the callousness of the grief support group that she had reached out to.
Anytime I see an internet troll I think of Luv Muppet, and how she (or he) preyed on people who were very vulnerable.
Save for later. Good thread.
I must not be spending enough time on the internet. Goatse was the only one on the list I’ve even heard of.
Awww, you're just a newbie.
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