What is a troll

[Andrew Starks <andrew@...>]

A troll is anyone who, with *obsessive frequency*, starts
conversations with the primary intention of fostering a constant
debate or argument. They do this, in spite of any negative results and
some times because of them.

Once the troll puts his/her message or email out there, someone feeds
them by answering an honest question, sometimes even knowing where
this will end up, because of prior experience. This is frustration to
everyone else, who is keeping quite[1].

The troll pretends (or has led themselves to believe) that she or he
is throwing an intellectual stone to the ground for us to kick at.
Each time the debate winds down, they do what they can to keep the
fire brewing. No matter the intent or motivation, since the point of
the conversation is to keep it going, it ends when people tire of it
and in frustration.

Is that a fair assessment of what has come to dominate this list in
the last 3 months?

I read Lua-l for fun and occasionally to solve a problem. Conjecture
on what the language could be is something that is like salt. A little
goes a long way and a lot can ruin the [dl]ish. I think that this is
especially true for Lua, which is a language designed very carefully
by PhDs over decades.

Many of us have been trolls, maybe when we didn't even realize it.
Most trolls do not have malice. Some take coaching well, some need
time to mature and some are jerks. Regardless:

Don't. Feed. Trolls.

-Andrew


[1] I'm looking at you, Sean.