The Troll FAQ V 1.1 Part 5
Comments4u
v 1.1
Contents
Part 1
Introduction
Thread Starters
Part 2
Engagements
Part 3
Ethics
Part 4
Attitude
Part 5
Sources
The Troll FAQ v 1.1
Part 5
SOURCES
Introduction
Before discussing sources, its best to explain why this
FAQ was written. The Troller's FAQ is quite out of date.
It discusses only hit and runs and discourages followups.
Yet followups are part of perhaps the most sophisticated
type of troll: the long term engagement with a goal.
It is also intended to expand on the thoughts on ethics
presented by Cappy Hamper in the alt.troll FAQ.
Thread Starters
Following is a selection of thread starters that show
various principles of post construction. Some thread
starters listed produced few responses. The criteria
for inclusion was the quality of the post, not the
number of responses. Attentive trolls get better with
time. But, if they stay with the same groups, they
tend to get fewer responses.
Most of these thread starters don't attack individual
groupers. They instead attack the values of the groupers.
Its an excellent way to start a thread, and sometimes
even results in flushing out a few kooky types for further
play.
The posts may be located by pasting the message ID
(without the < >) into the message ID search field in
Google advanced search. Since threads are often broken
on Google, a full appreciation of the effect may require
searching by subject line.
****
Once a Killer, Always a Killer? (Cappy Hamper)
<562dccfb.01072...@posting.google.com>
A very difficult troll, this story seemed so real that
no one detected it as a troll based on content.
Principles demonstrated
Subject line as a puzzling question
Appearance of absolute sincerity
Superior story development
Building tension gradually
Question closure
****
King steve walz (Morticia)
<eHkD8.63287$xS2.4...@news1.calgary.shaw.ca>
Principles demonstrated
Great story
Attack groupers who are already an issue
Have grouper support
****
Scallop and Babyhand Shishkabob (Morticia)
This has been posted many times to various groups. It
has typically provoked either revulsion or laughter.
Principles demonstrated
Great story
Humor/insults, depending on reader's perspective
****
Am I a rotten parent? (roberta jevans)
This post turns up the heat so gradually a reader could
go past the point of believability without realizing it.
The actual author of this post was Poopie Pants.
Principles demonstrated
Great story development
Maintained sincerity well into the post
Question closure
****
Am I making myself manic-depressive (Poopie Pants)
<7imuj9$4e0$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>
Completely believable
Good development and the right length (short)
Question closure
****
!!!The First Annual "Brymor" Award!!!
<3803ce6a...@the.grand.wazoo>
None of the groupers defended their fellow grouper, who was
the target. Those who posted agreed with the troll. Silence
speaks volumes. There was an additional dig in the newsgroup
selection, which included multiple non-existant groups. In
a clever move, an insincere apology was used in the post to
notify groupers of the crossposts.
Principles demonstrated
Have grouper support
Humor is a great slam
****
Damn! (Cletus Awreetus Awrightus)
<3794ac2a...@I.like.monkeys>
This troll started a month long flamefest with the groupers
joining in against the target. Perfectly worded and delivered,
it pointed out a fact in a way that hadn't occurred to most
people.
Principles demonstrated
Don't make it too long or too short
Have grouper support
Unexpected delivery of what everyone already knew
****
Snipping the kitten (Brian F. Nevercene)
<9tdvi4$ome$1...@slb2.atl.mindspring.net>
Principles demonstrated
Good story development
Believable story until the end
Closure with a request for followups
****
Introducing Celeste was: Re: I can understand why that Rick
dude left! (happy99.exe)
<pd6L3.67470$3T.4...@news1.rdc1.bc.home.com>
Principles demonstrated
Great story
Believable early on
Turns up heat gradually
Insult/humor closure
****
Is it a Jeep thing or a sheep thing? (Mike Muskie)
<6tl8j8$1uf$2...@server2.wans.net>
This article prompted flames, guarded admiration, laughter,
and relevant discussion. The combination of these four
results is the mark of a nearly ideal troll.
Principles demonstrated:
Subject line as a puzzling question
Paragraphs marginally related to the previous paragraph
Building tension gradually
Excellent group selection for x posts
Closure with an insult to almost everyone
****
Nudism and SEX (Mother Henrietta Hickey)
<73t3jv$jh6$1...@nnrp1.crl.com>
Nudism and Marital Fidelity (Mother Henrietta Hickey)
<73t08k$ne4$1...@nnrp1.crl.com>
These two articles were part of the set up for an
engagement troll of alt.christnet.nudism. Starting
off by asking questions, the author eventually pretended
to understand nudists and Christian nudists, and then
blasted them. The story behind the author is that *she*
was a Black Jewess who converted to Christianity and
became Pastor of the First Universal Christian Kingdom.
Principles demonstrated:
Thread starters that appear sincere to some
Starting an engagement with thread starters
Superior personna development
****
DICK CHENEY DIES (Cattlovrr)
CURSE OF THE KENNEDYS (Cattlovrr)
Classic Cattlovrr: strong and right in your face.
Principles demonstrated
Subject lines appeared as news
Tension increased through the posts
Insults to everyone who didn't laugh
****
The Doolittle Raid (Kyoko Ichifani)
<OrtRNtWq$GA.234@cpmsnbbsa03>
The author of this post was later revealed to be Ace
Agincourt. The seemingly irrelevant x posts were to give
Ace, who was from UK, a reason to *discover* us.military.army,
where he subsequently became the leading troll.
Principles demonstrated:
Appearance of absolute sincerity
Selection of x posts to produce opposing views
Opening for an engagement by a different personna
****
On days like these (Scott Hann)
<2d5e0b25.01052...@posting.google.com>
The troll in this post isn't the story as much as it is
the implication of who posted it. It doesn't demonstrate
much about troll post construction, but it shows an excellent
start to an engagement troll. It was a parody impersonation
of a grouper, with superior research for local flavor so that
people could almost believe it was his post. (It wasn't a
forgery because the actual poster, Ace Agincourt, owned the
address.)
When the engagement troll moved to e mail, many groupers were
trolled into believing Ace would be taken to court for Usenet
forgery and harassment on Usenet.
Principle demonstrated
Know the groupers
****
Bush stumbling over China (Edward O'Hare)
<3ac89954...@news.mindspring.com>
China wins (Edward O'Hare)
<3ad74bd5...@news.mindspring.com>
These were unusual trolls in that they involved a moderated
group, alt.culture.china. The posts were legitimately
approved by the moderator. The target may have been the
groupers in us.military.army. Later posts in uma indicated
their followups had been rejected by the acc moderator,
making it a moderator administered spank.
Principles demonstrated
Subject lines appear as news
Increase in tension as posts progress
Joke closures
****
Daimler-Chrysler withdraws: a blessing for all (comments4u)
<7cek4j$5v4$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
Note the flames of then newbie Thomas Paladino by Daniel the Red
and D J Mann. This is a good example of post early in a troll's
career that did well numerically, but was of lower quality than
his later work.
Principles demonstrated
Subject appears as news
Appropriate x posts
Closure with insults to groupers in all groups involved
****
Toyota, Honda, Nissan struggle to emulate VW and Chrysler
(comments4u)
<a1k7v7$1no$1...@nntp9.atl.mindspring.net>
<a1pist$7pj$1...@slb6.atl.mindspring.net>
This troll was posted twice with different selections of
groups.
Good story
Unbelievability introduced gradually
Insult closure
****
Engagements
Unfortunately, many well known engagements have gone beyond
or lived at the outer range of ethical troll behavior. Some
resulted in destruction of newsgroups. Others probably
inflicted substantial real world emotional damage on targets
and/or driven posters completely from Usenet.
Some are hard to follow on Google because of frequent morphing
by trolls, and utilization of *X-No-Arhive: Yes* by some of
trolls. Could it be unethical behavior they are trying to
hide?
Jeff Boyd got fired, by Meow
This excellent engagement had its origin in a low quality
invasion of alt.gossip.celebrities by Meow. The invasion
started with irrelevant insults and a near flood.
Maryanne Kehoe complained to Jeff Boyd's employer about the
Meow web site being on the employer's corporate server. Meow
countered by posting that Boyd had gotten fired over the
complaint, and most sympathy was with Boyd, not Kehoe. It
ended with Meow posting that the story about Boyd getting
fired was a troll.
****
alt.religion.asatru, alt.pizza.delivery-drivers, by Meow
These were low grade engagement trolls. They are well
known because ara was turned into a smoking crater and
apdd was destroyed.
****
Pat Butler, in alt.music.the-doors, by UTB, other trolls,
and groupers
Pat Butler wrote a book, *Angels Dance, Angels Die*, about
The Door's frontman Jim Morrison's girlfriend, Pamela
Courson. Fans mostly thought it was fiction posing as fact.
Butler argued in the group for several years before UTB and
others showed up. Butler left after a month-long flamefest
in which both trolls and groupers beat on Butler.
****
rec.gardens.roses, variously by Romath, UTB, and The Lamers
The groupers thought they owned the group. The Lamers
stayed around after the others left and finished off the
group.
****
Scott Abraham, in rec.skiing.alpine, by groupers and auk
This was an internally disrupted group before the trolls
arrived. At one point, the groupers were so *real life*,
they ended up in court, and a restraining order saying
Abraham couldn't post was issued.
Generally a low quality engagement, with much profanity,
irrelevant x posting, and real life harassment, it finally
ended with one of Usenet's best trolls: Suzie Flame's
proposal to create rec.skiing.alpine.moderated. She
successfully guided the proposal through the Big 8 group
creation process. The landslide *yes* vote was near the
ultimate spank on a grouper, because the goal was to create
a moderated group Scott wouldn't be able to post to unless
he minded his manners.
****
Velovich and us.military.army, by Ace Agincourt and others
Lots of trolls spontaneously participated in this one, mostly
because Velovich was such an inviting target. Most of the
groupers were good troll feeders, and this can be considered
a concurrent engagement of both a targeted individual and a
group.
Ace's effective x posting brought in many trolls. Most
posted for only a few weeks or months before leaving. But
the constantly changing parade kept the group wound up for
about two years.
Only Ace really stuck with the engagement, which was capped
by the previously mentioned e mail troll which convinced
Velovich and other groupers Ace was going to be taken to court
for Usenet forgery and harassment on Usenet.
Eventually, the uma groupers learned not to be such prolific
feeders. Even Velovich became a fair troll avoider.
****
Lloyd Parker, in auto groups, by trolls and groupers
Parker was (and still is at this writing) a favorite target
of both trolls and groupers auto groups, primarily rec.autos...
driving, rec.autos.makers.chrysler, and alt.auto.mercedes.
****
Thomas Paladino, in alt.auto.mercedes, by trolls and groupers
Like Velovich, Paladino attracted trolls. After complaining
publicly about the trolls, groupers explained he was the
reason there were trolls.
After leaving for several years, Paladino returned a
changed man and a genuine asset to the group.
****
alt.christnet.nudism, by Mother Henrietta Hickey
This was an excellent engagement characterized by superior
personna development. Eventually, Mother Hickey created
a family of personnas.
Mother was a Black Jewess who converted to Christianity, and
spoke against almost every traditional Biblical interpretation
of what was *bad* including nudity. The Christian nudists, of
course, were of the opinion that nudity was natural, citing
the Garden of Eden story.
Eventually, many groupers saw Mother Hickey as someone they
could play with. When that happened, a good time was had
by most.
****
Other sources
alt.troll FAQ
<77pn3e$3e2$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
The Invasion FAQ of A.S.T
<jpdavidC...@netcom.com>
The Troller's FAQ
http://www.altairiv.demon.co.uk/troll/troll.html
(introduction page, select *next*)
Inspiration
The Troller's FAQ
Mike Muskie
Cappy Hamper
--
There is nothing more exhilarating than to be shot at
without result. --- Winston Churchill