Originally Posted by
rsbob
I have seen the term “troll” thrown around very loosely on this site and believe I am seeing it again. Please explain how this thread meets this common definition of trolling:
In Internet slang, a troll is a person who starts flame wars or intentionally upsets people on the Internet by posting inflammatory and digressive,[1]extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses[2] and normalizing tangential discussion,[3] either for the troll's amusement, or to achieve a specific result such as disrupting a rival's online activities or manipulating a political process.
I see no examples so far of any of the above except by your baseless accusation, and personal attack “this schtick is old”.
On the contrary this thread has no name calling, personal attacks, etc that I have seen on all too many threads.
Again, how he is a troll given the above definition. Maybe your misuse of “troll” is for lack of a better term for someone you don’t care for or disagree with. Of course you could always just ignore the OP’s posts if you find them so objectionable. Just a thought.
Perhaps turtle is misusing the term. Or perhaps language is not static and it is instead ever evolving. Perhaps the practical use of a word doesnt always fit the established definition.
When someone starts threads to ask basic general questions about incredibly well established topics, while it isnt the classic definition of 'troll', it is a waste of time and the end result in threads is similar to what trolling accomplishes(it gets attention and reactions). Similarly, declaring one is an expert on frame geometry when they own a bike that they admit doesnt fit them makes for some really trollish tendancies. Same with claiming to buy a crankset that is more than 2x the value of your bike, while not even understanding how the crankset works.
edited to add- not sure if you saw, but a thread started yesterday called 'a
nyone using wider tires for the road?' was removed and condensed into a thread Moist had started a week or two ago about...wide rims and tires. Of course some people use wider tires for the road- thats well established.