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This is where the definition of 'trolling', as understood in the traditional Usenet sense of the word, diverges from what the media has come to call trolling.
by nicklaf 11y ago
This is where the definition of 'trolling', as understood in the traditional Usenet sense of the word, diverges from what the media has come to call trolling.
In The Times of Israel article, he was impersonating somebody in order to generate anger toward the supposed author. Trolling was originally understood to be more specific than simply doing things that the instigator find amusing at the expense of others.
- icebraining 11y agoFair enough. I called it trolling since it was posting a message (even if in the Times) with the intention of generating an heated argument and flames. It seemed more or less in line with the definitions I remember (mostly from early 2000s websites).
- nicklaf 11y agoTo be honest, I actually think you were right after all. I don't think I was justified in saying he impersonated the author in order to trash his reputation, now that I've looked into it a bit more: he created several personas, mostly for the purpose of getting people's goat. It's just that in this case, his persona happened to be a real person. What mostly bothers me is that the media can't seem to tell the difference between trolling, and what in this case was collateral damage that went far beyond trolling. By the way, telling people that pressing "Alt-F4" makes their game run faster would not have originally been considered trolling.