What is a troll?
Can someone explain what a troller is and what is the point? What are they trying to accomplish?
A "troller" or "troll" is someone:
- who joins a forum he is not really interested in, or whose theme/beliefs run counter to his own.
- who becomes just familiar enough with the subject matter to generate controversial posts designed to provoke responses of alarm, hostility, heated debate, etc.
A troll "gets off" by stirring up a bunch of responses in online forums. They really are pathetic forms of life.
Problem is...if we as a community scream "TROLL" at every new poster who says something we perceive as stupid...we ultimately come off as elitist snobs, scaring off all newcomers.
When that happens, the trolls (again, whose beliefs often run counter to the theme of the forum) WIN, because now our ranks cannot grow.
Good moderators help, by deleting troll posts and sending explanations to the posters (just in case they are legitimate). Unfortunately, this is a pretty un-moderated forum.
So it's up to us to find a balance and figure out who the trolls are, vs who the noobs are.