General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFrom LOL to LULZ, the evolution of the internet troll over 24 years
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/
sharp_stick
(14,400 posts)hours on Usenet and alt.folklore.urban was one of the best.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)I'm 68 so I can easily remember a lifetime without the internet, but people who are in their 30s and younger have no such memories. They have no memory of having to go the library to do any research for class papers, or for that matter any other kind of research. They find it hard to imagine having to wait for any communications from their friends because letter writing is now obsolete. Your friends and acquaintances are now instantly available through all the social media. People used to have to use a real camera to take photos and then get their film processed and it would take days to get the photos back. They don't know anything about how people used to buy encyclopedia's to have access to information not readily available. They have no real concept of how business was done before the fax machine was invented.
Personally I'm OK with the changes as they've made us all able to access just about anything we want in moments, not days, weeks or months. We can keep in touch with our friends and families instantly no matter how far apart we are. For those who thirst for knowledge we could never satisfy before, the internet has changed our lives.
I kind of like that I can remember the old days, especially in comparison to the new days. It makes me curious about what changes are just around the corner.
Archae
(46,314 posts)There were message services like "Fidonet."
And trolls were common back then too.
And they could get vicious. Really vicious.
http://www.skeptictank.org/hs/quotes.htm
Reter
(2,188 posts)Almost no one uses it anymore. BRB seems to be going out of style too.