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What's a troll? I think I get it but can someone explain?

9 replies

Pages · 21/09/2006 21:33

That's it really!

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AllieBongo · 21/09/2006 21:34

it is a twat who has nothing better to do than make up crappy stories in order to shit stir. hth

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Pages · 22/09/2006 10:39

Ah, okay. And jumping on people's threads saying nasty things to play devils advocate? That sort of thing?

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liquidclocks · 22/09/2006 14:58

I think so - took a while for me to cotton on to what it was too. sad that there's people out there with nothing better to do!

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ginmummy · 22/09/2006 15:04

Pages - there's a difference between playing devil's advocate and being a troll. I was unsure myself until yesterday but a troll is an attention seeker who either makes stuff up about themselves to either gain sympathy or wind people up, and by the looks of it several genuine MNers have been taken in by trolls. Trolls are like verrucas - ignore them for long enough and they'll go away but they'll usually come back again in a different place.

Someone playing devil's advocate might be trying to put another point of view into a discussion and it's not always nasty, just a different opinion. Doesn't mean they're a troll.

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Pages · 22/09/2006 16:01

Yup, sorry - take your point.

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Pages · 22/09/2006 16:03

Do verruccas go away by themselves, though? I always thought you had to paint them with that stuff (Iodine?) Are verrucas still around? I haven't seen once since I was a kid. A right nuisance they were, you couldn't go swimming... sorry, I digress.

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ginmummy · 22/09/2006 16:05

If you don't treat them then they'll usually disappear in about 2 years, which you may as well do anyway unless you plan to change your shoes, socks and entire flooring throughout your house as the spores drop off.

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Rhubarb · 22/09/2006 16:07

Why is this in relationships? I thought perhaps someone had just found out that their dp was actually a troll!

Trolls come in many varieties - you have your harmless ones that just want a laugh, the annoying ones that want you to guess who they really really are (like I'm arsed!), the ones who are too embarrassed to use their real names and the ones who just want to shit stir and cause trouble.

Basically if you change your name to a temporary one for whatever reason, they you are officially a troll.