Re: Is every post a troll?
No Ken, every post is not a troll.<br />
<br />A troll is not a grumpy monster that lives beneath a bridge accosting passers-by, but rather a provocative posting intended to produce a large volume of frivolous responses. The term can also refer to someone making such a posting ("a troll") or to the action ("trolling", "to troll").<br /><br />The content of a troll posting generally falls into one of several categories. It may consist of an apparently foolish contradiction of common knowledge, a deliberately offensive insult to the readers of a newsgroup or mailing list, or a broad request for trivial follow-up postings. The result of such postings is frequently a flood of angry responses. In some cases, the follow-up messages posted in response to a troll can constitute a large fraction of the contents of a website for as long as several weeks. <br /><br />Troll threads also frustrate people who are trying to carry on substantive discussions. <br /><br />People post such messages to get attention, to disrupt discussion, and to make trouble. The best response to a troll is no response. If you post a follow-up message, you are contributing to the resulting clamor and most likely delighting the troller. Before posting a response, consider the following questions: <br />Have responses already been posted by others? <br /><br />Will my post add any information that others are not likely to be aware of already? <br /><br />Is the issue resolvable, or will discussion turn into name-calling? <br /><br />Should I send private email instead of posting publicly? <br /><br />Will I later regret the contents of what I am posting? <br /><br />
