"There are competing theories of where and when troll was first used in Internet slang, with numerous unattested accounts of BBS and UseNet origins in the early 80s or before.
The origin of the English noun troll in the standard sense of ugly dwarf or giant dates to 1610 and comes from the Old Norse word 'troll' meaning giant or demon.[18] The word evokes the trolls of Scandinavian folklore and children's tales, where they are at times beings bent on mischief and wickedness.[19]
In modern English usage, trolling may describe the fishing technique of slowly dragging a lure or baited hook from a moving boat[20] whereas trawling describes the generally commercial act of dragging a fishing net.
Early non-Internet related slang use of trolling for actions deliberately performed to provoke a reaction can be found in the military—
by 1972 the term trolling for MiGs was documented in use by US Navy pilots in Vietnam.[21]
The contemporary slang use of the term is alleged to have appeared on the Internet in the late 1980s,[22] but the earliest known attestation is from the OED in 1992.[23]
Another claim sets the origin in Usenet in the early 1990s as in the phrase "trolling for newbies", as used in alt.folklore.urban (AFU).[24][25] Commonly, what is meant is a relatively gentle inside joke by veteran users, presenting questions or topics that had been so overdone that only a new user would respond to them earnestly. For example, a veteran of the group might make a post on the common misconception that glass flows over time. Long-time readers would both recognize the poster's name and know that the topic had been discussed a lot, but new subscribers to the group would not realize, and would thus respond. These types of trolls served as a practice to identify group insiders. This definition of trolling, considerably narrower than the modern understanding of the term, was considered a positive contribution.[24][26] One of the most notorious AFU trollers, David Mikkelson,[24] went on to create the urban folklore website Snopes.com.
By the late 1990s, alt.folklore.urban had such heavy traffic and participation that trolling of this sort was frowned upon.
Others expanded the term to include the practice of playing a seriously misinformed or deluded user, even in newsgroups where one was not a regular; these were often attempts at humor rather than provocation. In such contexts, the noun troll usually referred to an act of trolling — or to the resulting discussion — rather than to the author."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll"Early Usage
The contemporary use of the term is alleged to have appeared on the Internet in the late 1980s, but the earliest known mention of the word “troll” on record can be found in a post on the Usenet newsgroup alt.folklore.urban from December 14th, 1992. The term continued to grow popular in the early 1990s through its usage in the Usenet group alt.folklore.urban and by the late 1990s, the alt.folklore.urban newsgroup had such heavy traffic and participation that acts of trolling became frowned upon. Prior to the widespread use of the term “trolling,” similar behaviors have been observed through “griefing,” the act of intentionally causing distress to other players in an online game, since the days of Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) in the late 1980s and “flaming,” the act of instigating hostility or unpleasant exchanges in online forums, which also emerged through Usenet newsgroup discussions.
The Rules of the Internet
The Rules of the Internet a list of protocols and conventions, originally written to serve as a guide for those who identified themselves with the Internet group Anonymous. By looking at the Rules of the Internet, one can understand the patterns of behaviors behind anonymous trolls:
Rules 8 and 9 describe the free-for-all environment of anonymous interactions on 4chan:
8.There are no real rules about posting.
9.There are no real rules about moderation either – enjoy your ban.
Rules 11-15 describe exactly what one can expect when confronting a troll:
11.All your carefully picked arguments can easily be ignored.
12.Anything you say can and will be used against you.
13.Anything you say can be turned into something else – fixed.
14.Do not argue with trolls – it means that they win.
15.The harder you try the harder you will fail.
Rules 18 and 19 reinforce the presence of trolls and the nihilism behind the trolling behavior:
18.Everything that can be labeled can be hated.
19.The more you hate it the stronger it gets.
Rule 20 is perhaps the most important rule of all and best defense against trolls:
Rule 20. Nothing is to be taken seriously!
Rule 39 is an example of some good-natured trolling. The annoyance caused by CAPSLOCK is widely recognized, so to say that it is “cruise control for cool” is one of the few instances that sarcasm is able to carry over to text without much effort:
39. CAPSLOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL
Rule 42 and 43 are statements that apply not only to the motivation behind trolls, but also to a warped sense of catharsis that some have experienced through observing trolls:
42.Nothing is Sacred
43.The more beautiful and pure a thing is – the more satisfying it is to corrupt it."
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/subcultures/trolling
