Author: Mike Hood
Date: 10:06:29 11/13/01
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Hi Jude! Your questions made me smile, but I'll do my best to answer them seriously. Calling someone a troll is a common form of criticism in this forum. I've never come across the expression anywhere else. To answer the question "What is trolling?" would be easier if I had an example of something you've said that caused you to be called a troll. As far as I see it, trolling is making unqualified statements that are meant to provoke rather than inform others. I don't think insults qualify as trolling, but that's a matter of opinion. An exaple of trolling would be "Fritz 7 is a stupid program. I unpacked it and won my first five games. I'm going to uninstall it and throw it in the dumpster". Now, how do you stop it? Let's stick with the example I just fabricated. Let's assume that it's true that you bought Fritz 7 and really did win your first five games. Try rewording the post: "I'm disappointed with Fritz 7's strength. I unpacked it and won my first five games". After that qualify your remarks by listing all five games for other readers to examine. Tell us what the time controls were, whether they were rated games, etc. Then add your own comments like "Look at move 18. Why didn't Fritz see the danger?" And it might be useful to know what your ELO rating is. By doing all of this you would be making a useful post instead of trolling. Trolling is provocative, but sometimes it's useful to be provocative. Being a sarcastic person by nature, I enjoy being provocative. If you must be provocative, to avoid the accusation of trolling add a smiley face to the end of your more provocative statements. Like this :) Let me finish by saying: there are lots of different people who use this forum. Some are university professors, and some are 13-year-old kids trying to get tips and tricks for using Fritz (after being ignored by Chessbase -- or am I trolling by saying that?) So there are different levels of messages posted. You don't have to try to sound particularly intelligent. Just be polite, courteous, and write the sort of messages that you would feel like answering if they were posted by someone else. Mike :)
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