flame fest on you tube

[ThEoRy]

Actually the origin of the word "troll" is the practice of putting a fishing line down and starting a small, quiet motor to creep the boat along, to see if you can rustle up a bite. "Trolling" isn't pretending to be someone offensive, it's just showing up and saying something unhelpful, vitriolic, offensive, and/or off-topic in order to distress someone enough to argue with you. The lying just comes as an added bonus.

Well the true origin goes even further back than that. Trolling means to patrol or patrolling which is to walk slowly and survey. That would explain why the term is used in fishing. Also it explains why supernatural trolls were given the name, because they were said to walk slowly or clumsily.

What I was referring to though was the identity deception being spoken about, not the etymology of the word itself. One of the earliest cases of being an internet troll can be traced to the early eighties. Check out the story of Alex and Joan, the original internet troll.
http://meatballwiki.org/wiki/AlexAndJoan
That's ****** up....

[Johnny.B.Good]

Check out the story of Alex and Joan, the original internet troll.
http://meatballwiki.org/wiki/AlexAndJoan
That's ****** up....

Wow, what a story. Never heard of this case. Something else.

[Dave Martell]

I know a guy that presented himself as a surgeon online and had many people fooled until he got busted and called out. It's always great to watch a mess like that unravel.

[cwrightthruya]

I know a guy that presented himself as a surgeon online and had many people fooled until he got busted and called out. It's always great to watch a mess like that unravel.

I think I remember that

[Still-edo]

Surgeon you say? Haha! The guy I knew, he was claiming to be the son of at Thai General and had a blood connection to royalty. I'm not Thai, but apparently to Thai people those are big claims that can be punishable by law. Very interesting, entertaining fallout to say the least. People are wacko I swear. More I think about it, the more I paranoid myself into wanting to pack heat with me at all times.

[Dave Martell]

I also once saw a guy do the pretend "I'm a Navy Seal" thing and get called out too. That was a real good mess with bannings and everything.

[echerub]

It's really easy to mouth off online. A friend of mine is a highschool teacher who is having a lot of crap, including threats, posted on his YouTube video comments. I wouldn't put much credence to the threats, but it's interesting what some types of folks need to do to feel good about themselves.