In Exhibit 16, the Moron Shrine presents an example of how not to troll, courtesy of "Jim", inducted on October 28, 1998. Trolling is the art of posting an outrageous, yet inflammatory message that incites passionate responses from those who don't see through the outrageousness of your troll. There are good trolls and bad trolls, and the quality of the troll isn't actually related to its success. Consider the following example from www.toymania.com's "Buzz Board". Jim writes: READ YOUR OWN GUIDELINES I posted the sale of 2 batgirl figures. Read your own guidelines. Nowhere does it state that a sale cannot be posted, only NO COMMERCIAL ADVERTISEMENTS. Please get your act together. The rules I read did not state NO SALES. Please read and then correct me if I am wrong. Thanks The board's owner responds: You are indeed wrong. I'll make the rules more explicit. We do not permit any For Sale or For Trade advertising on this board. We may, in the future, develop a board devoted to this type of use, but for now, we will continue to delete posts as necessary to keep this board simply a discussion board. Thanks for your understanding. So far, so good. Then Jim follows up, with: Lets change the guidelines midstream. The only thing you will indeed do is conveniently change the guidelines in midstream to suit your needs. Admit it I was right - your guidelines did not state "NO SALE". Please consider adding that in the future to your so called GUIDELINES. Think more carefully in the future and in advance about stated guidelines. Thanks. Again, fairly straight-forward idiocy in the all-too-common variety. But after the boards owner explains further: First, this has been an ongoing policy since the board opened. I know what I intended when the board was set up and nothing has changed since that time. I will indeed make the guidelines more *explicit* so that folks like you who want to nit pick can be absolutely clear on the intent of the guidelines. Secondly, if I were to decide to change any or all of the guidelines "midstream" that would also be my perogative. This is not a public forum. It is a private service provide at no charge to the readers of this site. If you do not like the guidelines, I'd be happy to point you in the direction of several other venues in which you may happily ply your trade. But I certainly don't appreciate the rude reply to what is simply a guideline that has been in place since the board's inception. This is the moment Jim has, apparently, been waiting for. The point at which his Evil Plan would come to fruition, and he could reveal it to his adoring audience: You've fallen for one of the oldest internet tricks You've been had. You did the worst thing you possibly could have done - responded. Sucker. See Ya And, elsewhere on the thread, Jim makes absolutely sure his Evil Plan is seen by all: Gee I'm so glad you can read the dictionary. But you are missing the point. This was a joke. You've been had by one of the oldest internet jokes around. And you fell face first into it. Come on let's have a little fun here. Lighten things up a bit. See Ya Here's a tip, Jim. Getting people to respond reasonably to a post that looks completely serious is not "the oldest internet trick". To put it in a context you're familiar with, it's more like turning in your letter of resignation to your assistant manager at Taco Bell, and then laughing at him when he's surprised to see you caulking sour cream onto Nachos Bell Grande the next day.