Marc Riddell wrote:
on 8/27/07 2:40 PM, George Herbert at george.herbert@gmail.com wrote:
It's not trolling to ask "are you looking at this?" or state "I'm very concerned about this".
George,
Thanks for this. The word "trolling", the phrase "to troll", and what defines "a troll" all seem to have different meanings to different people in the Community. One person, writing in this thread, defined it as "stirring shit up".
If trying to call attention to issues you feel are important to the health of the Community - but you believe are being ignored - is "trolling" - then I qualify. In fact, using my definition - my university offered a Ph.D. program in Trolling (subtitled: stirring shit up) :-).
For me there is also a distinction between the verb and the noun. The verb has to do with putting out a baited line behind a boat to induce the fish to byte. The noun is the ugly thing that sits under Norwegian bridges waiting to catch unwary children.
The practice described by the verb has its place, and is a perfectly honourable technique for getting people to pay attention to a topic. Getting caught is a part of the game, and should not result in the offended denials that we so often see. It's so much nicer to admit trying to stir things up a little, and moving on.
Ec