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by lightfly on December 13th, 2006
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view.php/66296
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
This has been debated. Some say people who just downrate, some say people who create havoc just for fun. I say both. A troll creates havoc and downrates without a comment.
by JUSTNORMAL on December 14th, 2006
They are little guys with funny hair
by FreeRadical Jetpacking for Nelson on May 27th, 2007
They also go to your profile and look for questions you've answered just to downrate those too. The AB staff watches out for those.
by FadingxSmiles on March 17th, 2007
Downrating (a) good answer(s) just because you disagree with it/them, or don't like the answerer.
I wouldn't exactly say downrating without leaving a comment is trolling, because some just don't deserve a comment.
by RFlagg on December 20th, 2006
Troll:a site user who goes around rating people down for no good reason, making obsene or offensive comments, and being spiteful and mean.
by Anonymoose on December 14th, 2006
They are immature people with nothing better to do than go through different websites posting garabage just for fun to see how much of a reaction they can get out of people. They also love to go through and downrate everyone just for the fun of it. I don't think it is as bad on here as it is on some message boards that I have seen. Yahoo message boards are full of them.
by SeeYouNextTuesday on February 24th, 2007
There are 2 definitions...
1. A troll is a giant mythical creature that can be found in many fictional fanstasy movies and games.
2. An "internet" troll is somepne who posts a deliberately provocative message in a forum, message board or blog with the intention of causing havok and arguments and to also increase there post count.
by Gonzo on May 27th, 2007
It's a nasty little bugger that always rates you down for no apparant reason.
by Jodie44 on February 18th, 2008
Here are 93 answers to a very similar question! http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/100647
Insequo defined trolls as: "Trolls are people who consistently provide useless answers, downrate others for no good reason, and subtract from the community." That sums it up pretty well.
by Crystal on February 18th, 2008
A troll is someone who keeps downrating you.
by janacide on February 5th, 2007
a.)They are sneaky little b*#^&%!s that stream through a thread and downrate everyone.
b.) They are sneaky little b*^#$@*s that don't like your answer so they follow you around AB downrating all of your answers/questions.
c.) They are chicken s%*&t little b@!^%*#s that downrate your answer or question because they don't believe the same way you do,and won't tell you why they downrated you.
There I think I covered Troll,and wannabe trolls.lol
by Bowen on June 20th, 2009
A troll is someone who asks questions or gives answers which are deliberately intended to cause anger or harm.
by killdrphil - reasonable for a madman on November 6th, 2007
The only definition I know of is when someone downrates you repeatedly just because they don't like you.
by anonymous on January 20th, 2007
someone who goes around rating people down fot their answers that may or may not be right answer and also for opinion answers which there is no right or wrong
by Account Closed on June 20th, 2009
A troll is a member who disrupts other members by their words and their actions.
1. Asking baited questions so they can belittle and debate with you. This is also seen as trying to force their opinion on you.
2. They invade comment threads just to tell you that you are wrong and refuse to answer the question themselves.
3. They stalk other members for harassment purposes.
4. They will abuse the down-rate button by giving several down-rates rather they are deserving or not just to upset the targeted member.
Many people call anyone on here that down-rates a troll and this just isn't true. The down-rate button if used correctly will help the site become more useful. many feel the need to punish someone who has unhelpful information by sending them into negative ratings and this too is wrong. zero rating means unhelpful - negative ratings should be forbidden.
Sadly this isn't possible just yet.
I hope this answer has been helpful.
by ENigma on December 15th, 2008
Someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community with the intention of provoking other users into an emotional response.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
by Wickels on May 10th, 2008
A Troll is someone who goes and downrates answers or questions of a user out of spite. Without caring about the merit of the question or answer. Often times they will search another users profile and downrate each and every one.
Trolling is the term for this behavior.
by Crystal on May 10th, 2008
When someone keeps downrating you for no reason.
by AgnusDei on January 12th, 2008
A troll is a person who downrates people for now reason. Sometimes a troll follows a particular person around and downrates them as much as they can just to be a jerk.
by Highlander is semi-retired from AB on August 27th, 2007
A coward.
by staffie on July 16th, 2007
a troll is someone who goes around downrating people for nothing.
by Firebrand on February 26th, 2007
A person that is spending their time just going around down rating other members answers
by Biggie15 on February 9th, 2007
A troll is a person who creates an account on Answerbag for the sole purpose of follwing good users and downrating their answers. They are people to spit on due to their lowlyness.
I was trolled myself last night, for the first time
by Darryl61 on January 21st, 2007
Trolling is a fishing technique in which bait is put on a fishing line, the line is put into the water and the boat moves slowly forward so that the bait moves with a swimming action, enticing the fish to take it.
Edit: All of a sudden, after many months, my answer is moved to this question from the original question I answered. I'm leaving my answer unchanged to show the stupidity of the change of questions.
by PurpleRN on January 7th, 2007
I wouldn't worry about them, they might give you a few negatives here and there, but it really doesn't affect you all that much. They are pretty much just people who feel like clicking the negative button for no reason.
by redb_ball is away on December 30th, 2006
I hope I'm not one...
by Craigor on June 20th, 2009
Trolls downrate content a lot, for a variety of reasons, and sometimes for no reason at all. You can find a troll pretty easily by looking at their + ratings given %. I'm not sure what % makes you a "troll," but the lower the %, the more trollish a user is.
by BigDaddyBS on August 1st, 2008
Trolls, on AB, will downrate (give negative points) to questions or answers that are good. SOME trolls actually leave comments (not often, here!). Most of the comments are negative, either to the person asking or answering the question. This will happen on more than one question. Not all commenting trolls downrate.
Many of the high-level trolls (-3 to -5), don't like the person, and will hit many of their Qs & As. In others, they don't like certain questions, so DR everyone who answers. In even others, they don't like a certain view, so they will DR anyone with those views (usually on a single question).
MANY of the low-level trolls are kids (low-level = -1 or -2) home from school, and they like to see the reactions people have. Some are new, and think if they DR you, it will keep you from achieving the next level. This is not true. The points ONLY count against your question or answer, specifically, and you question and answer percentages, generally.
NOT EVERYONE WHO DOWNRATES A QUESTION OR ANSWER IS A TROLL. They will truly think the question is not good, or the answer is not helpful. They usually only hit a single answer.
Personally, if I get DRed on a question, I pretty much ignore it. If I get DRed on an answer, and I believe it's good, I will comment, asking the DRer what's wrong with it, or make a joke. It helps me release any anger I might have, and I'm done with it.
Too many people think they know WHO DRed them, but most are probably wrong. There's no real way to tell, unless they tell you they did. Only STAFF can.
And NO... Trolls can't physically hurt you... Only your feelings. ;-)
Here's how to deal with trolls - http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/2841839
by Anonymous on August 1st, 2008
No they can't hurt you. It is just a stupid internet thing. They go around and downrate people.
by Wide Awake @ has closing date woo hoo on March 31st, 2008
A troll is a person who asks/answers questions in a way that only stirs up trouble, and/or offends people.
In non-internet life we call them egotistical blowhards. :o)
People who down-rate your question or answer, and then don't have the guts to leave a comment, are also considered trolls. In non-internet life we call them craven cowards. :o)
Hope this helped!
by Jennie thanks all of you ABers on March 16th, 2008
They like to Impose as you. Ex: http://www.answerbag.com/profile/?id=314515
Some dumbass thinks its funny going around saying i want to kill myself. Well basically they DR you or follow you around
by Rude Bear Ready for Winter on February 18th, 2008
They have long orange hair... Big round noses and over sized ears....
by I love my baby on January 12th, 2008
Bad, bad people...... Run!
by DA BEN DAN yanggui zi on January 5th, 2008
from urbandictionary.com:
1. troll
One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument
by slothmister on November 3rd, 2007
Please search for similar questions before posting your own!
by Scooter on October 25th, 2007
Trolls are short statured people that keep the rif raff from progressing further down life's path.
by Tussen on October 12th, 2007
It comes from looking through forums(trolling) for the opportunity to cause trouble, grief or generaly be obnoxious.
by Crazy is looking 4 Imperfections. on October 12th, 2007
This is as gentle as I can get:
by HDev is living On tHE EdgE on October 12th, 2007
Troll is someone who downrates people without reason or due to some personal reasons, and not on the basis of the question or answer.
by SG QOTABD RIP SHELLA DARLING on October 12th, 2007
a Ab troll is someone who downrates you for no reason, who asked rude questions and in general is a troll.
by Chosun One on August 27th, 2007
Any person who negatively rates questions without an explanation or just for amusement.
As well as...
Any person who asks nonsense/offensive questions for amusement.
by Cannabis its just a plant on August 19th, 2007
• The term "troll" is used all the time here on AB. I can see how you might be
confused, there is a lot of misunderstanding.
"intentionally posts derogatory or otherwise inflammatory messages"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
As for someone down-rating your post:
• (-) Points don't change your over all point tally! So if you are down-rated just force a smile. There may have even been a good reason you were down-rated. ¤ ¤
If you see a lot of downrates in a row contact AB with the feedback link at the bottom of the page.
by Cannabis its just a plant on July 16th, 2007
• The term "troll" is used all the time here on AB. I can see how you might be confused, there is a lot of misunderstanding.
"intentionally posts derogatory or otherwise inflammatory messages"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
• (-) Points don't change your point tally! So if you are down-rated just force a smile. There may have even been a good reason you were down-rated. ¤ ¤
by Penny The Wise on April 30th, 2007
Trolling on AB is someone who rates people down, for example a whole answer thread or everything on someone's profile. To the rest of the wold, trolling is when someone posts questions mainly, just to get a reaction.
by Mirage V2.0 AWOL on March 17th, 2007
You sit in the back of a big boat, and drive around dragging bait hoping to catch a fish.
Or leave unpopular answers as troll bait hoping to catch one of the mindless, little buggers!
by Anonymous on March 17th, 2007
Trolling are people that go to forums,chats,any other social cyber places and infest the place with their bad attitude, foul language and inappropiate things. They try to destroy the peace and tranquility and make it chaotic. A troll in answerbag, is as nevets said: a person who downrates a valid answer, or disagrees with EVERYONE and downrated everyone as well for no reason.
by nevets - badgicide on March 17th, 2007
A stalker troll differers from a standard troll by the fact that they go onto a users activity page and systematically go through their questions/answers maliciously rating them down.
A stalker troll can also be a user who follows someone around leaving nasty comments.
Here is a link which covers trolling in more detail:
http://tinyurl.com/yyab85
by nevets - badgicide on March 17th, 2007
People have many different definitions of what a troll actually is, but this is a common definition:
A user who down-rates a valid answer (especially if they do not provide a comment explaining why they have down-rated).
Here is a link which covers trolling in more detail:
http://tinyurl.com/yyab85
by Skip_2_My_Lou on February 15th, 2007
by xxxxxxxxxx on February 6th, 2007
trolls are people who make fake accounts on the site who rate down as many people as possible, and who also will pretend to be someone they arent. like the other day someone was on here pretending to be AntigoneRising.
What are a Trolls favourite food?
by Juice on October 1st, 2011
| 3 people like this
If i wrote an offensive question would you ignore it or respond to it and why?(And no, i'm not going to write an offensive question.)
by Zenrean on July 29th, 2011
| 1 person likes this
I feel safer crossing bridges now. Did the "like" button drive the trolls into extinction?
by HoboJoe on July 7th, 2011
| 2 people like this
Will answerbag ever be without trolls?
by anil m on October 1st, 2011
| 2 people like this
Do you think everyone is a troll in some way or other? ;-)
by AnonymousGirl on July 25th, 2011
| 1 person likes this
You're reading I heard people talking about trolls on AB, what are they?
- which can also be phrased in the following ways:
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Comments
So how do you stop these "trolls"?
by Anonymous on September 29th, 2008