I Am Confused

First, I notice that the question is really off the wall. Second, I click on the poster's name and it is usually their first question. The best way to deal with trolls is to ignore them:) Oh, and the grammar/spelling is really bad, usually.

Really off the wall posts...

**I'm 21 and I really want another baby. I have 6 kids already, but my new boyfriend really wants a baby. What do you think?

**I think my husband is cheating on me because I just had a baby and it looks nothing like me. It must be someone elses.

**My 14 year old got pregnant by her sister's husband. They've been sleeping together for a while, but I never thought she would get pregnant. Should I tell my other daughter?

Get the idea/???

I think the other posters have given you great answers. Really, I just wanted to send some praise your way because your post was written in such a lovely, formal style.

I'm an editor, and these things make my heart happy. Thanks for posting!

ditto below - AND, a troll is typically just trying to stir the pot.

Think troll under a bridge combined with trolling - the act of fishing where the boat is moving and the fishing bait is being dragged behind to see if anything will bite.

Everyone gave stellar examples.

The only thing Ill add is that its an Internet phenomenon.

1) Its the "new" version of crank calling
(Is your refrigerator running / then you'd better go catch it!)

2) Its related to a / sometimes interchangeable with a "Griefer".
(Someone who is in a game or on a site purely to cause other people grief... By killing them or destroying their work in a game... Or by posting hateful & hurtful comments).

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Why call them trolls?
What? Verbs?

A troll is an ugly mythical creature
A troll is a made up person/character who posts or does ugly or made up things.

- Trawling is trying to catch things indiscriminately or colloquially being stupid (like trawlling for fish, or being in certain parks after dark as a woman is trawling for rapists).
- Trolling is the act of being a troll online / trying to cast wide nets to mess with as many people as possible.

In computer geek land... The WORD Troll is a holy grail (parallel meanings everywhere you look). There's dozens of the Cockney type slang words in common use. Like Cockney, hackers change their code constantly, but the BEST phrases stick in the general use by everyone.

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Hi, S..

I just wanted to say I was in the same "boat" as you. I see the references to "trolls" but have never quite determined who is/isn't. I just chalked it up to not being on here enough & not questioning people's intentions enough.

Thanks for putting this out there.

All of the below, S.. Plus, one of our weekend trolls interjected in as many threads as she could a sentence with a few words, that weren't really answers at ALL. Like just saying "no". And several that said something like "You can't blame this one on me.". And the many troll posters we had COULD actually be the same person posting many different names.

It was a bad weekend - that's for sure. And telling the difference between a troll and a nasty poster is hard sometimes too. Sometimes we just have to watch and wait to see if someone is a troll.

Quite frankly, most of us don't want to take the time to write thoughtful advice to a troll. When I KNOW someone is totally making up a story on here, it frosts me, it really does. And it upsets the other people here who are really trying to help people. No one wants to waste their time with stuff like this.

Dawn