So Why Do You Feed the Troll?

I don't know, I don't get it. I see the troll as functioning merely as a rock against which to sharpen one's wit. Whenever you actually start getting into serious conversation with it, actually trying to argue with it, that's when you start to look dumber than it.

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Why do people start threads asking questions they already know the answers to?

To open up a dialogue - to attempt at hearing something new?

Sounds like similar reasons as to why trolls get fed

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Why do people start threads asking questions they already know the answers to?

Ah, but I don't!

To open up a dialogue - to attempt at hearing something new?

Precisely. I'm trying to gather more information and opinions. By starting a new thread, the topic is more recognized than the previous discussion disguised under a different heading.

Sounds like similar reasons as to why trolls get fed

Except trolls are usually disingenuous, merely baiting the feeders to start a heated argument. I'm actually posing a question for which I'm curious about the answers. I'm not trying to start an argument. I just want to know why people willingly do exactly what the trolls want. It's a completely fair question.

I feed the troll, to help those who don't, feel superior.

But what if they don't actually feel superior? What if that is only your impression projected upon them?

I see the troll as functioning merely as a rock against which to sharpen one's wit.

Now that is a beautifully put answer. Honest, intelligent and objective. I can see that. But would you say that implies the engagement is somewhat based on vanity?

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the troll is fed and protected to ensure that its ridiculously over the top and poorly written caricature is the most visible representation of supposedly conservative views present on the ot board.

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Updated On: 12/6/07 at 12:28 PM

iHeart - You are ridiculously logical. That is so hot.

And I am never vain. I call it "self-love" which my doctor tells me is totally healthy.

papa - You might be absolutely correct, though we're as likely to know the truth as the troll is to starve to death.

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Because they feed them.

It's not even all that important, is it?

I mean, well nothing on a message board is all that important, but I don't give much thought to trolls.

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yep

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I have long maintained that the Troll is NOT a real conservative. It is merely a liberal, a frustrated playwright with very little talent at creating character and writing dialogue, who has created this sock puppet and visits various conservative websites to pick up on current sound bites, which he (or she) deposits here, like so many turds.

I know conservatives, I work with conservatives, I have even slept with conservatives, and none of them talk that way.

I empathize with Papa, because the Troll makes it difficult to have rational conversations about politics here. The troll makes every issue personal and insulting, both to individuals and to "liberals" as a class. This enervates any real substantive political discussion.

There is no HD. There was never a Chanticleer. It was always a longtime poster who started off laughing at us all. But by this point, we're laughing at him (or her).

The troll has become ADDICTED to posting here. This is no longer someone having fun by pretending to be a poster with an agenda. This person has become a sad, sick scab-puller, someone with an unhealthy need to start fights and engage with people who hate him (or her).

For the Troll, fighting with people online is better than sex. More than likely, it is a replacement for sex.

Why do I engage the Troll? You're right. I should know better. But it's just so much fun

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I don't feel superior for not feeding the troll. Every now and again, when I'm bored or just have something particularly interesting to say, I will respond to the troll. I don't look at it as our enemy, or even as a fly to be swatted. It can't be taken that seriously. But it can be a source of endless entertainment, if that's the way you choose to look at it.

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"But that's my point. I think by continually feeding the troll, especially from the same people again and again, the troll always has the last laugh."

I heartily agree. Letting a troll's thread or comment go without notice is the best comment to make...and when said troll keeps bumping thier own threads because noone is taking the bait, it is not only funnily pathetic, but exposes the true desperation behind the posting of such nonsense on a fairly liberal board like bww.

I do think continually engaging such idiocy makes no sense and therefore makes the posters engaged seem silly.

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and any conspiracy theorist worth his or her weight in salt would suggest that those who engage the troll the most would seem to have the most stake in the troll's survival and thus are the prime candidates for indeed being the troll.

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