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