What is trolling?

that was an excellent question-i am glad you asked that one because i heard the term yesterday but didn't know what it meant-thanks to all your responses i now know what trolling is

Trolls are the sort of people you do not want to know. They are the type that go onto forums, blogs, websites and chat lines and abuse and run down people personally and for their writing. They never have anything possitive to say or anything constructional to contribute to a discussion. They are absolutely obnoxious. They are really bad news for a site like this.

Online, or "forum trolls", are generally users who go around posting inflammatory and rude posts in order to get a rise out of people. They aren't looking for a decent conversation, they're looking for an argument and to irritate people.

Trolls are bad. Basically they are idiots who don't have a life and spend their time being nasty and rude on forums/messageboards/groups. They are the bane of every moderator/admin, even if you do ban them they come back with a new name. Banning the ip doesn't work as these losers will find a way round that. The best way to deal with them is either ignore them and they soon get bored and go away or you can make fun of them, which can be quite good fun but it depends on the board/forum/group how it will impact it.

I think trolling came from the saying "trolling for fish." I'm not sure though. ANyway, it's basically like waiting for a bunch of fish or a bunch of girls or whatever to come. Then you "net" them in. I think what the discussion starter was referring to is how some people take advantage of their online friends and try to get these friends to join their sites. It's definitely a negative thing!