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I'm learning a lot about trolls... been taking a look not just at the compiled information on them but at quite a few examples of the wild troll in its native habitats. I haven't fully processed all of the information I've gathered yet, but I have come to at least one conclusion so far:
Trolls are banal. They are trite, commonplace, and predictable. What's more, they are absolute conformists... every troll is a typical troll. If they weren't, they wouldn't have enough in common with other trolls to still fit the definition.
I've seen it said by some that the best trolls, the truly inspired trolls, post things that are so far above most people's heads that they would cause more trouble if they were outed as trolls than they do if left alone. Frankly, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me, though... it's like going fishing with a brick for bait, and then claiming you're a great fisherman because so few things bit. Maybe if that brick lets you land a shark instead of a tunafish I'd agree with you, but if you're not getting any strikes at all and are just doing it for the amusement of the other people fishing and yourself then you're not actually fishing... you're being a clown for the amusement of an audience of fishers and other clowns.
I do have one other thought on the subject, but this one is addressed to the trolls themselves. It is the following:
You use the metaphor of the ocean to represent the internet. It is an apt metaphor, as this place can ebb and flow like the tides and change as swiftly as the waves on the waters. It is both deep and shallow, well-travelled and yet hardly explored. And, to borrow a quote from older maps: Here there be Monsters.
Think well before lowering that bait into the waters here, be they calm or turbulent... you never know quite what might strike.
Happy Fishing.
Trolls are banal. They are trite, commonplace, and predictable. What's more, they are absolute conformists... every troll is a typical troll. If they weren't, they wouldn't have enough in common with other trolls to still fit the definition.
I've seen it said by some that the best trolls, the truly inspired trolls, post things that are so far above most people's heads that they would cause more trouble if they were outed as trolls than they do if left alone. Frankly, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me, though... it's like going fishing with a brick for bait, and then claiming you're a great fisherman because so few things bit. Maybe if that brick lets you land a shark instead of a tunafish I'd agree with you, but if you're not getting any strikes at all and are just doing it for the amusement of the other people fishing and yourself then you're not actually fishing... you're being a clown for the amusement of an audience of fishers and other clowns.
I do have one other thought on the subject, but this one is addressed to the trolls themselves. It is the following:
You use the metaphor of the ocean to represent the internet. It is an apt metaphor, as this place can ebb and flow like the tides and change as swiftly as the waves on the waters. It is both deep and shallow, well-travelled and yet hardly explored. And, to borrow a quote from older maps: Here there be Monsters.
Think well before lowering that bait into the waters here, be they calm or turbulent... you never know quite what might strike.
Happy Fishing.