Speaking of trolls

[Tea Please]

How do you decide who is a troll? Is there some tell tale sign that I am missing? Or is troll a generic word for anyone that posts something controversial? If you know the poster is a troll, why would you post and feed his/her habit?

I really want to understand this but it seems that there are varying opinions on what actually constitutes a troll.

When I think some posters are just plain cuckoo someone else may think its a troll. Or nasty replies, I take it to mean the person is just miserable, but again some think its a troll even with numerous posts

 

[faithinkarma]

I think one clue is when they start an extremely controversial thread, then disappear, never to post again, while everyone else gets all riled up.

 

[Planogirl]

I think that all posters can act like trolls occasionally but when a poster continually posts controversial things and keeps stirring people up then that's a troll. As for why people feed the troll, I think that people just get frustrated and it's only human nature to react to insults or goofy ideas or whatever.

 

[MosMom]

A troll is someone who purposely posts things to aggravate people. They do it for the attention and the satisfaction of upsetting other people. They "troll" the internet looking for a fight.

 

[Dan Murphy]

http://members.aol.com/intwg/trolls.htm

 

[grinningghost]

Trolls usually come out of nowhere and start trouble. They have no real connection to the message board they're visiting. For instance, I would say most trolls that we see on the DIS are not Disney fans like the rest of us, they just see an opening to start trouble and they take it.