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 doesnt count as trolling; its just flaming, and isnt funny. Spam isnt trolling either; it pisses people off, but its 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 doesnt involve decieving someone isnt trolling at all; its 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, Ive got some feelings I need to talk to you about...
Ben: Yes?
Jimmy: Well Ive been a bit confused recently, and Ive decided...that Im gay.
Ben: Really? Thats wierd.
Jimmy: LULZ TROLLED
Ben: I dont think you were trolling.
Jimmy: ?
Ben: You werent lying. I think you actually are gay.
Jimmy: Im not man, I was kidding.
Ben: Are you sure?
Jimmy: Certain
Ben: You know, its alright if you are. I wont hold it against you.
Jimmy: wtf man. Im not gay.
Ben: We can talk about it any time.
Jimmy: WTF! IM 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: Whats 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.
