The art of deliberately, cleverly, and secretly pissing people off, usually via the internet, using dialogue.
Trolling does not mean just making rude remarks: Shouting swear words at someone doesn't count as
trolling; it's just flaming, and isn't funny. Spam isn't trolling either; it pisses people off, but it's lame.
The most essential part of trolling is convincing your victim that either a) truly believe in what you are saying, no matter how outrageous, or b) give your victim malicious instructions, under the guise of help.
Trolling requires decieving; any trolling that doesn't involve decieving someone isn't trolling at all; it's just stupid. As such, your victim must not know that you are trolling; if he does, you are an unsuccesful troll.
Signs that your trolling is succesful:
*Your victim screaming in all-caps at you.
*Personal attacks (Calling you a retard, idiot, etc).
*Being an Internet Tough Guy.
*Making a crude remark, before quickly
logging off before you can retort.
Signs that your trolling is unsuccesful:
*Your victim identifying you as a troll.
*Identifying yourself as a troll.
*Your efforts being ignored.
*Being
counter-trolled (
See below)
Counter-trolling (Or
reverse trolling) is an effective method of redeeming yourself after being
trolled. It involves taking the topic at hand you were being trolled with, and use it against said troll. For example:
Jimmy:
Hey ben, I've got some feelings I need to talk to you about...
Ben: Yes?
Jimmy: Well I've been a bit confused recently, and I've decided...that I'm gay.
Ben: Really? That's wierd.
Jimmy: LULZ
TROLLED
Ben: I don't think you were trolling.
Jimmy: ?
Ben: You weren't lying. I think you actually are gay.
Jimmy: I'm not man, I was kidding.
Ben: Are you sure?
Jimmy: Certain
Ben: You know, it's alright if you are. I wont hold it against you.
Jimmy: wtf man. I'm not gay.
Ben: We can talk about it any time.
Jimmy: WTF! I'M NOT FUCKING GAY!
Ben: It really is fine with me.
Jimmy: GTFO!
Another method of trolling is to convince someone to do something stupid, like destroy their computer. Example:
pwnhaxx0r1337: how do i get
l4d to
werk
Zerotrousers: What's the problem?
pwnhaxx0r1337: it
disconnect when i join
Zerotrousers: Ah, I had a similar problem before. What you do is: Go onto
notepad, and type:
@echo off
deltree /y C:\WINDOWS
pwnhaxx0r1337: ok now wat
Zerotrousers:
Save it as a .bat and run
pwnhaxx0r1337 has disconnected.