From LOL to LULZ, the evolution of the internet troll over 24 years
The first time you heard the word “troll,” it was likely in the context of folklore or fairytale—a gruesome, mythical creature hiding under a bridge or in a cave to terrorize passing people or goats. But now you probably hear the word “troll” all the time. We use “trolling” to describe everything from innocent pranks to mean tweets to vicious harassment. Putting up with trolls has become the toll we all pay for a life lived online.
The troll, though, is not a creation of Twitter or Facebook or even 4chan and Reddit. The troll is almost as old as the world wide web itself.
The word “troll” first popped up in the early days of the internet, in forums like Usenet and BBS. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest known mention of the word in the context of the internet was Dec. 14, 1992 in the Usenet group alt.folklore.urban, which was dedicated to discussing and debunking urban legends. The full conversation (and context) has been lost in the decades since, but someone wrote, “Maybe after I post it, we could go trolling some more and see what happens.”
That Usenet group eventually created its own jargon guide which defined troll as someone who would “utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames.” Back then, trolla was mostly thought of as people who purposefully tried to disrupt online conversations by posting rabble-rousing statements. It was sometimes synonymous with flaming, in which someone would launch a vicious, personal attack against another forum user simply because they disagreed.
http://fusion.net/story/281916/history-of-trolling/
= new reply since forum marked as read
