we are having a discussion here.. and one side is saying it is because trolls hide under bridges..they are hiding.. and I thought it was because trolls are ugly, and the things they post are ugly.. but I like yours a whole lot better!!

Internet troll came from- the fishing term

troll2
/trōl/
noun
noun: troll; plural noun: trolls
1.
a person who makes a deliberately offensive or provocative online post.
a deliberately offensive or provocative online post.
2.
a line or bait used in trolling for fish.
verb
1.
make a deliberately offensive or provocative online post with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them.
"if people are obviously trolling then I'll delete your posts and do my best to ban you"
2.
carefully and systematically search an area for something.
"a group of companies trolling for partnership opportunities"
3.
fish by trailing a baited line along behind a boat.

A troll puts bait into the thread and just waits for someone to come along and bite.

But then you have some who say "Don't feed the trolls," which is weird because that implies the kind of trolls that live under bridges.

Like these from Norway.

I have a little collection of Nyform Trolls.

except ugly, little ogres and my "wishnik" troll dolls that I used to give haircuts when I was a kid in the 60s. When I joined DU someone accused me of being a troll since I asked a question about Bernie. I had no idea what it meant and if it was an insult.

Not the sound of a timer, but the sound of a fishing reel.

troll

1. v.,n. [From the Usenet group alt.folklore.urban] To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames; or, the post itself. Derives from the phrase “trolling for newbies” which in turn comes from mainstream “trolling”, a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it. See also YHBT.

2. n. An individual who chronically trolls in sense 1; regularly posts specious arguments, flames or personal attacks to a newsgroup, discussion list, or in email for no other purpose than to annoy someone or disrupt a discussion. Trolls are recognizable by the fact that they have no real interest in learning about the topic at hand - they simply want to utter flame bait. Like the ugly creatures they are named after, they exhibit no redeeming characteristics, and as such, they are recognized as a lower form of life on the net, as in, “Oh, ignore him, he's just a troll.” Compare kook.

3. n. [Berkeley] Computer lab monitor. A popular campus job for CS students. Duties include helping newbies and ensuring that lab policies are followed. Probably so-called because it involves lurking in dark cavelike corners.

Some people claim that the troll (sense 1) is properly a narrower category than flame bait, that a troll is categorized by containing some assertion that is wrong but not overtly controversial. See also Troll-O-Meter.

The use of ‘troll’ in any of these senses is a live metaphor that readily produces elaborations and combining forms. For example, one not infrequently sees the warning “Do not feed the troll” as part of a followup to troll postings.

http://catb.org/jargon/html/T/troll.html

In the early days of the internet trolling was about looking for some information. I remember this on early BBS and Newsgroups. It was later when forums, comment threads and social media developed that trolling meant "looking for trouble/to harrass" the original looking for information or seeking was dropped in general and trolling became a negative act with troll a pejorative.

My earliest recollection of "trolling" as harrassment was when Yahoo had their news discussion boards which was one gigantic harassment board. It was closed somewhere around 2005 or 2006.

I was on some old BBS starting back about '78. I ran one from my house at 300 baud dial-up.
Even back then conversations, which, for me, were mostly about modifying electronics and automobiles had some users that posted intentionally "provocative" comments just to cause trouble or start fights. The word "troll" was used back then.

BBS admins had their own groups that discussed best ways to handle the disturbers of the peace. I was never fair. I just removed accounts w/o notice or explanation. Some got back on after face-to-face lecture. Can't do that w/ millions of users tho'.

which is tangential, but it is ironic as well as it's homonymic similarity to the mythical creature.

I saw that live when the cast toured. Rhea Perlman played Esther on the piano