Short History of TROLL and TROLLING :)

Before social networking sites and chat rooms came along, there were forums, message boards and mailing lists on the internet, which allowed people to interact with each other in relative anonymity. At that time, text strings were about the only thing that really went around, because even images had to be downloaded before they could be viewed. Some people discovered that it is possible to string sentences together that outrages, frustrates or angers completely unknown people on the web. This was a source of amusement, but it soon became more than that. The activity was known as trolling, but getting the right reactions from people, and at the right time, required considerable psychological insight. Some trolls would simply start a Star Wars Vs Star Trek thread; sit back, as furious fights broke out between respectable forum members as they strove to prove their side the stronger. Five words and every single self-respecting geek on the forum would fight it out till their keyboards broke. Trolling became an art form, and at the turn of the century, became a lost art form. This was not before a handful of trolls left their indelible mark on the online community, and the world at large.

A troll is an internet term for a user who makes anonymous and usually irrelevant, if not malicious comments on forum threads. Little do people know how the term became a regular part of the internet lexicon. A troll in the literal sense is a large and fearsome creature of Norse mythology that lives in underground dwellings, caves or dark, stuffy rooms, smelling of body odour and nightly emissions, with only a singular light from a rectangle fixture to illuminate the room. Originating in mythology, the idea of the troll has developed into a malicious being that can be found in modern fantasy narrative and computer gaming. A troll can also be used to describe a person with malevolent intent, without a sense of humour. But this must not be confused with a jerk, who registers on a forum and proceeds to make obscene and silly comments. A troll does not reveal his or her (but mainly his who is dealing with being flaccid) identity to protect themselves from the harsh mentality of the forum mob, who are rather fond of a good internet lynching.

The term troll was first used on the internet with the phrase, “trolling for newbies,” where illiterate, pseudo-experts, on whatever subject, searched forum threads for new users (newbies) to taunt about their lack of knowledge (example from a popular computer game forum: "u dun kno shit about css you newbie i lol and pwn you ass biatch nigga). This later expanded to encompass all users, including those who were experienced and learned. In the case of the latter, the troll, instead of taunting them about their level of understanding, made obnoxious comments about the individual's person life and physical appearance, so the term was shortened to just trolling or troll as a noun.

The 155th edition of the medical journal ‘medical journal of America’ stated that “[T]rolling was a modern, psychological disease caused by Erectile Dysfunction and a Irritable Bowel Syndrome”. It further comments that the best course of action is for the afflicted to stop being a wanker and a shit. However, there are severe cases where the individual continued to troll for many years and this has had a significant impact on their well being (i.e. having no social life and in extreme examples, morbid obesity). No cure has yet to be found, but consensus among the medical community agrees that not feeding the trolls will help destroy their craving for derogatory comments and thus restoring them to normal human behaviour.