Trolling, among other things, is fishing with a moving line, especially
with a revolving lure, as from a moving boat. A troll, among other
things, is that method or the lure used.
On the internet, 'troll' is used metaphorically. A troll is a flashy
post designed to catch peoples emotions and hook them into responding.
Trolling is posting such posts. People do this either out of compulsion
or for entertainment.
Quite separately, a troll in Scandinavian folklore is an unpleasant
mythical creature living in a cave, or perhaps under or around a bridge.
Bridge trolls are reputed to disrupt communication by travel.
Fishermen would not call a person trolling for fish a troll. It would
be an insult. On the internet, we do call people trolling trolls, again
methphorically, because they disrupt communication.
The proper response to trolls is to not feed them by responding as they
wish. When people respond, they continue trolling, and a moderator has
to ban them.
People reading python-list posts on google groups or comp.lang.python
should not help them evade their bans by quoting them.
On 3/6/2021 2:11 PM, Bonita Montero, responding to a banned troll for at
least a third time:
Someone who says that he is capable of writing a compiler that
translates every language has megalomania. No one can do this.
We certainly need not believe so until it is done.
But we do not know whether X is an actual megalomaniac acting like a
troll or an actual troll acting like a megalomaniac. The same can apply
to any other character type that can lead to trolling or be assumed as a
pose by a troll.
In Spanish, bonito/a means a pretty male/female. By coincidence, it is
also a tuna-like fish caught by trolling. (Decades ago, my father
caught one on a boat one a Mexican river/lagoon.) Please unhook
yourself and swim away.
--
Terry Jan Reedy
--
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