Author: Dann Corbit
Date: 10:10:20 04/18/01
Go up one level in this thread
On April 17, 2001 at 20:05:28, stuart taylor wrote:
[snip]
>Fairly.
>I agree with you (Jonas), and I don't think he was speaking respectfully or with
>any implication of credibility. But his charges were so great in my opinion,
>that I would have prefered if you would have given definate reasurance that he
>was wrong in his facts, or, that he should at least substantiate it, so I/we
>would be able to end our suspense in waiting to see if the new Tigers are all
>that great or not.
If I scream something silly loudly enough, maybe that should get attention too.
Look at the FICS and ICC ratings of engines running those programs and also the
head to head matchups. On Cadaques, it was an 8/12 split between Shredder and
Tiger. The same sort of well expected ratio is what is observed in all the well
run contests, internet bouts, etc.
It's a troll. And a very effective one. I think this one has to win the troll
of the month award. The design was to get a sharp reaction. It achieved its
design goal admirably. A fairly harmless troll, since it was obvious.
Writing a good troll is not as simple as it seems. For instance, if I scream:
"I can beat Shredder playing blindfolded at blitz 40:0"
It is too obvious that I am just making noise. Now, this one ('Shredder beats
Tiger evertime!') was close to being too obvious, but not so blatant that it
could not be *mistaken* for a sincere belief.
And if it is too tame like this:
"Amateur program X might be better than professional program Y"
Then it won't get people hot under the collar and make them yell and jump up and
down.
A good troll also has to make a good punching bag. For instance, If I say, "I
can *prove* that pi is *exactly* 22/7 and that the number published for pi is an
incorrect approximation." and post it to sci.math with a few incoherent scrawls
then that might make a good troll. It is credible that someone could be so
boneheaded as to think that pi is a rational number. And it is easy to
disprove. Of course, on a forum like CCC, you lose the best troll weapon -- the
crosspost to opposing groups.
"From: Joe Troller
Org: Carnivores R Us
Date: April 1, 2002
Newgroup: rec.hunting.dogs, alt.animals.cat, rec.pets.cats, rec.pets.dogs
Subj: "Care and feeding of a cougar hunting dog"
I recently bought a large hunting dog for chasing cougars up trees. I figure
that to catch cougars, I should feed my dog cats. Now, I think that Siamese
cats look the most like cougars, but my friend Billy-Bob says that Siamese cats
is too expensive and i ought to use plain old tabbys.
Also, do cats have the vitamins needed for my dog to keep a healty cote.
PS -- He's a Lab/Grate Dane mix, if that matters"
Note the crosspost to groups where offense is sure to happen. Also, the innane
idiocy -- it is so punchable and annoying that many simply would not be able to
hold back from responding.
A good troll like this one shows foresight and skillful preparation. Not that
they are a great idea. But this one was well executed, at least.
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