• @Krauerking@lemy.lol
    link
    fedilink
    English
    82 months ago

    Ah. It used to be just someone that would say something so inflammatory or provoking that it would force interaction or responses from the people witnessing it.

    Like an obvious joke or quote of an earworm that it creates replies. Or sometimes something rude or just wrong on purpose. Modern bad actors adopting trolling tactics is not necessarily the same thing.

    You could say trolls are like onions, they have multiple coatings.

    • @peculiar_goat@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      32 months ago

      A definition I saw many years ago was something like a troll tricks you into feeling a certain way or doing a specific thing. Could be positive, mostly done for humour, but the ones we hear most about in the media or whatever are the upsetting ones.

      • @Krauerking@lemy.lol
        link
        fedilink
        English
        22 months ago

        Yeah the best ones are just taking advantage of our empathetic neurons to initiate a conversation. The terrifying ones then use that opening to inject their own thoughts on others.

      • @sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        02 months ago

        I guess it’s like “hacking.” In the good old days, a “hacker” was a particularly clever software developer, now it’s someone who breaks into computers.

        Can we please stop ruining the good words?

          • @sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            12 months ago

            Exactly!

            Hacking into a system is like hacking your way through a door to steal stuff. Hacking around hardware or software limitations to get what you want is creative and more similar to creating furniture with an axe, you’re doing things the tool was never meant to do, and doing it incrementally until you get the desired result.