I found this posted at one of the forums I frequent. Origination unknown. Untill I found this this morning I really didn't know what a Troll was...now I know.
Posted FYI:
"Here's a bit of info about Internet Trolls:
Instigator Troll (Trolius instigatus) This species of troll is somewhat furtive and often difficult to capture or pin down. It usually appears near the top of a discussion board, often as the initiator of a thread. The instigator troll is fond of posting outrageous or offensive messages which provoke loud and instantaneous responses from other individuals. Once the thread is begun, the instigator troll often disappears from sight reappearing only much later and usually at the beginning of a different thread. Behaviorists theorize this troll derives validation from the emotion and size of the threads it initiates. While the instigator troll will often attempt to justify its actions by claiming to have engendered positive discussion, the fact is it probably just gets off on pushing people's buttons. The instigator troll, like all members of this genus, has an enormous ego which must be fed often. Initiating loud and offensive threads is a form of power which feeds the instigator's ego. The best means of ridding a community of instigators is to either ignore them or to attack them directly upon their initial post. If you focus on the troll instead of the ideas, you can sometimes exterminate them quickly. Otherwise, you have to starve their egos systematically over the long haul which is time-consuming and requires enormous discipline and community coordination. Instigator trolls are a menace to community peace and harmony. One instigator, working alone, can shatter a positive and constructive atmosphere. Two or more instigators working together can overwhelm a free-thinking community in no time. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) instigator trolls tend to be nomadic, coasting from discussion group to discussion group as quickly as they wear out their welcomes. However, if an instigator troll finds an environment in which it can instigate without retaliation or molestation, it will dig in and be nearly impossible to remove.
Deceiver Troll (Trolius deceptivus) The deceiver troll is an adaptation of troll behavior more cunning and intelligent than the instigator. The deceiver troll will initiate a post that generates emotional response, then go back and modify, delete, or edit its original post so that responsibility for its actions is cast on to the respondents. The deceiver troll seemingly delights in maintaining the appearance of innocence while feeding its bloated ego on the emotional reactions it has stimulated from others. This adaptation does tend to lessen the chances of the deceiver troll being forced out of a community for instigation. Since many community members are not observant enough or quick enough to catch the deceiver in the act, the deceiver will often successfully deflect anger or criticism onto others. Ridding a community of deceivers is a systematic process which requires clever administration, good cooperation between community members, and careful anticipation of when the deceiver troll will strike. If messages are carefully archived and indexed, a deceiver can be caught in the act and exposed to the community, thus negating the chances of successful blame transference. Deceiver troll behavior is actually a very sophisticated form of parasitism (which frankly describes all troll behavior to some extent) and it thrives on busy, heavily populated boards. The more posts the community members have to read, the lower the odds the deceiver will be caught in the act of switching or modifying one of its posts. To eliminate a deceiver troll, coordination is always the key. They thrive on sloppy record-keeping and communications.
Muddle Troll (Trolius obscurata) The muddle troll can be one of the most aggravating and difficult of all trolls. While they are less likely to infest and destroy an entire community, they can make the lives of individuals a living hell. Muddle trolls will pick a victim and then pretend to misunderstand everything the victim posts. This pretense is obvious to those objective enough to see that the muddle troll was perfectly capable of understanding some other complex concept or holds down a real-world job requiring complex thought. But to its victim, it is often a case of not being able to see the forest for the tangle of thickets and underbrush dug up by the muddler. It will begin innocently enough with the muddle troll responding to its victim's message with a simple request for clarification. Then, the muddler will go a step farther and deliberately misinterpret a statement in a very unflattering or negative way. The ensuing discussion will then completely obscure the original issues being discussed on the thread. The muddle troll's usual tactics will include eventually pleading ignorance and casting all the blame for any anger and community unrest onto the victim. One of the more insidious aspects of muddle troll behavior is its tendency to belittle its own powers of comprehension or intelligence. Using these as an excuse for its apparent inability to understand, the muddler appears to have a small or undeveloped ego. In fact, that ego is the size of Texas and is secretly drawing great gratification from knowing it has controlled the discussion, angered or inflamed community emotions, and managed to pin the blame on someone else. Destroying muddle trolls is extremely difficult. It requires community cooperation of the highest order and great personal discipline on the part of those who are chosen by it as victims. The only known way of negating muddle trolls is to ignore them and not respond to their posts at all. Even if 99 members of the community support the victim and insist that the muddler is the problem, there will always be one who is unwise to the ways of muddlers who will insist the poor troll is being harassed and mis-labeled. Defenstration of muddle trolls must be absolute to have any chance of success.
Just remember, the troll is by definition, dysfunctional and cannot be expected to follow traditional rules of etiquette and behavior. They have no sense of honor that normal humans recognize but are often predictable enough that their behavior can be countered and exposed."
That is actually good insight for me, as I don't go to other discussion boards, so this is my only real posting experience. It was sad information, as I can't imagine why anyone would do that, but it happens. Thanks!
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