Stop dissing Trolls...

Please indulge me because I need to go back in time for a bit to clarify something. If you remember I was in the Air Force (way back in the Sixties). I was in military intelligence, and if I told you any more than that I would have to kill you. Anyway one of my friends decided to give me a nickname and I really don’t know for sure where it came from. One time he said it was because I was always chasing girls…and another time it was what I “looked like”. I never did find out the real story. But, I was stuck with the nickname TROLL. It even became my call-sign…and one of the girls that I was dating sent me two-foot tall troll.

So you see, I have been the TROLL for about forty-five years, and it bothers me that it has become a pejorative term.

I looked troll up in Wikipedia. This is what I found - - A troll has become in internet slang “…someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous , or off-topic messages in an online community…with the primary intent of provoking users into an emotional response or otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. The word also evokes the trolls in Scandinavian folklore and children’s tales, as they are often creatures bent on mischief or wickedness. The verb ‘troll” originates from the Old French term “troller”, a hunting term. The noun “Troll” however, comes from the Old Norse word for a mythological monster. Originally trolls were more or less the Nordic equivalents of giants, although somewhat smaller in size. They were also by some accounts devious, more human-like folk of the wilderness, living underground in hills, cave or mounds.

The Urban Dictionary defines a Troll as…one who purposely and deliberately (that purpose usually being self- amusement) starts an argument in a manner which attacks others on a forum without in any way listening to the arguments proposed by his or her peers. He will spark an argument via the use of ad hominem attacks (i.e. “you’re nothing but a fanboy” is a popular phrase) with no substance to back them up as well as straw man arguments which he uses to simply avoid addressing the essence of the issue.

So now when I innocently refer to myself as the Troll, it immediately generates disrespect and conjures up all the new evil connotations.

Well, enough is enough! I have been a Troll much longer that the internet has existed…therefore it is my right to have a little respect!

There is an internet acronym: DNFTT – “Do not feed the trolls”

Well, I have another one for you: DNFWTT – “Do not FUCK with this TROLL”.

…there will be more next time…