From: Lillest~ol.com Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 09:23:15 EST Subject: About "trolling"
The numerous responses to "Lisa" (who's probably a man) re: the harp as a musical instrument compels me to write a couple of paragraphs about the Internet practice of "trolling."
"Trolling" is the art of invading Internet mailing lists and newsgroups with the explicit purpose of causing trouble and generating useless bandwidth. It is a common practice.
The tip-offs here that we were being trolled:
1. No one would sign up for a mailing list about harps and then immediately write how stupid they are.
2. The~otmail.com" return address. Trollers like to use Web-based e-mail such as Hotmail, Yahoo or Iname because it gives them a place to generate their drivel without endangering their Net access.
Here's the personal response I got from "Lisa" after posting a previous message here, saying "better luck next time" on the trolling attempt:
>>Better Luck next time? I think I did pretty good this time!<<
Oh, BTW, "Lisa," I looked at the mail headers for this last message. It didn't come from Hotmail at all. In fact, it came from a very, very interesting address indeed.
