Trolling question? About trolls? You know, trolling?

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From a (sometimes) troller:

I come on B&A because I'd be glad to answer an actual question, but some of the questions here on B&A are ridiculous, and therefore, it's up to me to point out the ridiculousness of them.

Now, I never comment on other people's work. Yes, you poured your sweat into it, and no, it's probably not very good. I don't want to make you quit writing or anything. Heck, in 20 years, you might be decent. But I can see the point in bringing 12 year olds down from their mountain occasionally to tell them that, whatever your mommy told you, just because you wrote some chapter about how Character A and Character B are like, o-m-g oh so in love, doesn't mean you'll get published tomorrow. Most writers never get published, even 99% of GOOD writers. And no one is ever a good writer at the age of 12, I don't care how many Vampire YA novels you read. But telling them to quit is just mean; we were all 12 once and we all wrote some pretty crap-tastic stuff. I never tell people to quit.

Where I like to troll most is the homework questions. Oh, and they are so obviously homework questions, too. I hate to go here, but--when I was a kid, you actually had to look up the answers in the book, dammit. And 99.999% of the time, the kid begging you to answer their homework question could easily answer the question themselves by actually reading the book! But NO! They want ME to do their work for them?! WHAT?! They want the A that I earned?! Sometimes if I can tell they're really struggling, I will give them hints, but they still have to work to find the answer. My standard answer to these lazy homework kids is a helpful tip to assist them through life: "DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK!"...Show more

An Internet troll, or conveniently troll in Internet slang, is anyone who posts debatable and traditionally inappropriate or off-matter messages in a web based neighborhood, akin to a web based dialogue discussion board or chat room, with the purpose of baiting different customers into an emotional reaction or to customarily disrupt natural on-matter dialogue....Show more

My guess is that their thought process consists of, "I can annoy this person and cheat two (four) points out of the system at the same time!" Pretty immature. Ah, well. I try to ignore them.

I don't have too much experience with trolls. I don't ask questions very often, but when I do, I don't pay any mind to the doofuses. :3...Show more

Okay, bear with me because this might be long (I won't know until I'm finished).

Now, not always are those comments from trolls or people who just want to rack up points. Sometimes you might find someone who REALLY likes what you've written. Not everyone is equipped to give you a critique, but they can tell you if they like it or not. They might not know why they like it or what makes then like it, they just know that they want to read more. I've posted my work for critique many times. I've gotten a response here and there from someone who just thought flattery would get them the best answer points. Wrong. But, I've also gotten some genuine "I like it" responses. It's hard to tell, but go with your gut. Sometimes my gut tells me when someone isn't sincere and other times my gut tells me that that's how the person really feels.

If someone says "this is good, just change these parts..." and they go on to give you a list, well they're not trolling, they're actually trying to help you in their own way. If you don't like their advice or don't think their advice is sensible, you can always ignore it. Just remember that they've taken the time to help critique you and it might not always be what you want but they took the time out to help in their own way. Most people here can't give you the kind of critique you need or want, so remember that when you're posting your work for feedback. Some people can only tell you if they liked it or if it kept their interest. My point is that most people here are not knowledgeable enough to give you a good critique. They can tell you what they didn't like, but they might not tell you why they didn't like it. They can tell you what they liked, but they might not be able to tell how you can make it better. Remember that some people are more readers than writers and they won't be able to tell you how to make it better, just that they didn't like it.

One thing I usually do when I ask for feedback is I ask them to tell me if they didn't read it all and where they stopped. Many times they won't be able to tell me why they stopped reading or why it failed to keep their interested, but if I know where they stopped reading then i might be able to figure it out myself as the WRITER - we have to know these things.

Like I said earlier (I think, heha): I have to repost my work MANY times, like at least 5-6 times before I find someone who is knowledgeable enough about writing to give me a good critique that I can use. There are very few people on this board that can do that and you might have to keep posting until you come across one. Just thank the people who responded and move on and repost your work another time.

Just FYI: It's always the "OMG! That was great. Tell me when it's published so i can buy or it better yet, email it to me," that makes me think they're "trolling" or trying to flatter to get the BA points.

ADDING: And, there are a couple of times where I"ve posted: "This is funny" "lol" or "I really like this" to someone's work. And, the truth is that I REALLY liked it or it was funny and made me laught. I don't think there's anything wrong with saying that. Now, don't get me wrong. Most people here aren't going to get that kind of response from me and there's only one person who wrote so well and had an interesting story that I actually kept going back to WorthyofPublishing wishing she'd post more of it and yes I told her that "I liked it and she's a great writer." I said that because it's the truth and I don't see that kind of writing on Answers ever....Show more

Most likely out of laziness. They just want their points to say they have them, which doesn't make a lot of sense because it's not like, by gaining points on Yahoo!Answers you gain something in real life. Most likely just because they do it to annoy people. They might even do it because they aren't very bright, and just want to seem like they know what they're talking about....Show more