Although prostitution is claimed to be the oldest profession, that's only because the humble Troll asked for nothing in return for their services, merely the joy of seeing someone really wound up.
It's always been about, but only within the last 5-10 years has the word "troll" become commonplace, and that's due to the faceless playground called the internet.
Trolling is almost like a new art, the aim is to control other people, and guide them down a path they don't want to take without them knowing.
The simplest form is the Devil's advocate, where objectionable or pessimistic responses are made to queries just to explore other options. Quite often, it's pretty valid, for example, when someone is planning their holiday, and going on and on about how they'll be relaxing on a beach, you can just remind them they are in a tsunami zone, or ask them what they'd do if it rained everyday non stop.
It can be valid, even not a bad idea to have backup plans, but the main point is you get a bit of peace and quiet as they are knocked back down to planet earth.
On a bigger scale, is the "kicking a wasp nest" strategy. I don't know about you, but i've always found pissing off wasps to be hilarious, and being honest, they deserve it. They really are nature's arseholes. If you don't have a wasp nest handy, but want to see a small war break out infront of you, you can always do it online.
Most forums and message boards are clever enough not to fall for it, so you might need a little planning and acting beforehand. Get it right though, and you'll have a little action movie play out on the screen.
The simple ones would be telling an Apple forum that Microsoft is better, or a Starwars group that Jar Jar Binks was the best character, and the 70's/80's films were crap.
Within a few hours, there will be 20 pages of arguments and insults, and many people getting wound up over little points that aren't really important.
Sometimes you will be caught by some, and you'll get the standard response of "don't feed the trolls" as a message for everyone else to ignore it, and calm down.
It never works though, coming back to my earlier post of group mentality, there will always be people whipped up into a frenzy and will walk straight into the trap they have just read about.
You may even come across the legendary reverse trolls.
Whilst the general internet can be described as stupid people pretending to be clever, the troll is a clever person, pretending to be stupid.
The reverse troll is at the top of the Troll hierarchy, a bit like White Knight, defending the people with knight-like skills.
Rememeber not to confuse this white knight with the internet brand of white knight.
The internet white knight is the guy who will always jump to the defence of anyone he suspects to be female.
The ironic part is some of these online women are just men trolling as it's funny to watch half a forum bend over backwards in the hope of actually speaking to a girl.
Reverse Trolls rarely win though, the aim is to annoy and upset the original troll, and get them to go ballistic at their PC. When it does work out, it is an amazing sight to behold, but don't wait up for one.
The best trolls go unnoticed. As someone famous once said (I'm thinking Verbal Kint from the Usual Suspects) "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist."
The good (or bad...) Trolls are the same, they will play an entire community with a smile on their face, and no one ever realises.
It can be very simple, just keeping a thread alive, agreeing with other people, to throw a bit more fuel on the fire.
The "acting stupid" method is another good hidden technique. All you need to do is pretend you are an idiot, and a crowd will soon form to get a kick in.
You can really go to town on being stupid here, tell a motoring forum you decided to change to diesel in your petrol powered car as you heard you get better economy, and ask them why your car doesn't work anymore.
Maybe look for help on an electronics forum after you have just washed your phone under the tap to clean the dust out.
Advance techniques include not mentioning the real stupidity at the start, and let people slowly draw it out. Guide them to ask you the right questions, and they won't realise your cunning plan.
The last form of Trolling, is the private joke. Numerous common ones have appeared over the ages, some have even broke into the mainstream, such as the Rickroll.
Originally, there was no rick, only a duck with wheels.
Yes, a duck... with wheels, and this was the duckroll. This first appeared years ago, sourcing indicate that ebaumsworld did it to start with, and an enticing link would be placed which just redirected to a picture of a duck with wheels.
With the creation of Youtube, and handy video sharing, came the Rickroll.
Instead of a picture, a link would be posted to a new music video, or a great clip, and you'd just end up Rick Astley's "Never gonna give you up".
A more text based version is the classic "Bel Air"
To pull off a Bel Air, you need to start a long story, and draw the audience in close, then graft in the complete lyrics to the theme tune of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
Some great (and no so great) examples...
raepmykipz Bel Airs Christian TV
raepmykipz again, this time with Rickroll
A famous, although almost universally accepted as trolling, account of a guy who tipped an energy drink into his Motorbike.
Malodrax, either the worlds greatest troll, or most twisted maniac.
You'll see them, they are out there, you can even join them, but whatever you do, don't get wound up by them!
The End
