Posted by Gremlin [12.253.230.83 - 12-253-230-83.client.attbi.com] on 22 July 2002 at 04.44.54 ZuluTime:

In Reply to: Troll? posted by Andy on 21 July 2002 at 21.57.51 ZuluTime:

A troll [from the noun troller] is someone who posts messages to a messageboard, newsgroup, chatroom, or whatever for the sole purpose of getting a reaction.
     In this case, a troll might be one who posts an offer to supply evidence of the existence of deities, evades various questions, fails completely to post the evidence, and further fails to concede that deities evidently don't exist.
     One defining factor in trolls, though, is that they only post to validate their existences. It's a psychological issue: negative attention is better than none at all.
     There again: BangBang was a professional troll. Hunter is currently compiling his literal thousands of monthly posts in her idiot archive at EvilCoffeeChick.com, which should illustrate the point more readily.