

Rent-A-Troll - Alex3917
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/17/9137/01266

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mynameishere
The word "troll" actually goes way back. The artform is actually a bit more
dignified than people think now. The first "troll" was supposedly Jonathon
Swift with his "Modest Proposal" pamphlet (the title was posthumous by several
hundred years, of course). The basic idea was: You start off by being
reasonable, getting people to believe you, and then become more and more
extreme until the point of ridiculousness.

Now, troll means: Someone who goes and makes obvious, inflammatory statements
trying to start arguments.

Often, "Troll" as used means: Someone who disagrees with the general
consensus. That's a dangerous definition.

Kos seems to think that a paid political agitator (another old trade) is also
a "troll" when on the internet. Not so.

~~~
jamesbritt
A good troll is a work of art.

Ideally, the troll should offer up one post, which triggers various factions
into a never-ending debate of the trivial and/or unresolvable.

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pg
This isn't just about politics. If hired human comment spammers become
prevalent, it could change the way comment forums work.

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patrickg-zill
Just a note, Kos himself got paid $3K a month by the Howard Dean campaign for
at least 4 months, along with getting a bunch of other goodies. Recently
JetBlue sponsored some kind of Kos event. (See
<http://www.slate.com/id/2112314> \- published in 2005 as a source on Kos.)

