On Mon, 2 Feb 2004, Delirium wrote:
The problem I have with that is that it's very
unclear what a "troll"
is. Any number of Wikipedians have been accused of being "trolls" at
one point or another. Some cases are very clear-cut, but the majority
aren't, and in many cases, "troll" becomes simply shorthand for
"person
I disagree with".
The term "troll" comes from the verb "to troll" as in "The
fishermen
trolled for cod." Someone who trolls in a newsgroup or a forum is attempting
to get another person to bite an obviously incindinary comment.
The fact that we have a number of individuals on Wikipedia who enjoy pushing
the envelope -- for the only apparent reason that they are looking for
attention -- has made me suspicious that they might be trolls. But according
to Usenet wisdom, the best thing to do with trolls is to simply ignore the
baited hook they've put out.
Works for me. I'd rather worry about other things.
Geoff