YSaC, Vol. 1207: A wild table appears!
You know what’s wrong with a lot of Craigslist ads? They just don’t give you enough information about the item they’re selling. I don’t mean they don’t tell you what color the table is, or how tall the table is, or what kind of table it is.
No, I mean they don’t actually define what “table” means in the first place. Fortunately, this ad does not have that problem.
Entry way table – $20
Nice solid construction. Measures about 42″ w 26″ h 18″ d
Table (furniture)
A chic table in an Iranian palace
A wooden dining table and chairs.
A table is a form of furniture with a flat and satisfactory horizontal upper surface used to support objects of interest, for storage, show, and/or manipulation. The surface must be held stable; for reasons of simplicity, this is commonly done by support from below by either a columnor “base” or at least three columnar “stands”.Common design elements include:
rectangular, rounded, or semi-circular top surfaces
legs arranged in two or more similar pairs
several geometries of folding table that can be emptied and then collapsed into a smaller volume
heights ranging up and down from the most common 18-to-30-inch range, often reflecting the height of chairs or bar stools used as seating for people making use of a table, as for eating or performing various manipulations of objects resting on a table
presence or absence of drawers
expansion of the surface by insertion of leaves or locking hinged drop leaf sections into horizontal position.
Desks are tables specifically intended for information-manipulation tasks, including writing and use of interactive electronics.HideEtymology
The term “table” is derived from a merger of French table and Old English tabele, ultimately from the Latin word tabula, “a board, plank, flat top piece”. In Late Latin, tabula took over the meaning previously reserved to mensa (preserved in Spanish and Portuguese mesa “table”). In Old English, the word was bord, replaced by “table” for this meaning.[1]
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HideShape, height, and functionA formally laid table set with a Meissen dinner service
Tables come in a wide variety of materials, shapes, and heights, that depends on their origin, style, and intended use. All tables are composed of a flat surface and a base with one or more supports, or legs. A glass dining table with a single, central foot is a pedestal table. Tables can be freestanding or designed for placement against a wall (a console table). Table tops can be in virtually any shape, although rectangular, square, round (e.g., the round table), and oval tops are the most frequent. Long tables often have extra legs for support. Others have higher surfaces for personal use while either standing or sitting on a tall stool.Many tables have tops that can be adjusted to change their height, position, shape or size, either with foldable extensions or sliding parts that can alter the shape of the top. Some tables are entirely foldable for easy transportation, e.g., camping. Small tables in trains and aircraft may be fixed or foldable, although many are simply convenient shelves rather than tables.
Types of table
A chess table with a chessboard built into its top
A combination of a table with two benches (picnic table) as often seen at camping sites and other outdoor facilities
Tables of various shapes, colours, heights and sizes are designed for specific uses:A bedside table, nightstand, or night table is a small table used in a bedroom. It is often used for convenient placement of a small lamp, alarm clock, glasses, or other personal items.
A drawing table usually has a top that can be tilted for making a large or technical drawing. It might have a ruler or similar element integrated.
A gateleg table has one or two hinged leaves supported by hinged legs.
A coffee table is a low table designed for use in a living room, in front of a sofa, for convenient placement of drinks, books, or other personal items.
A chess table is a type of games table that integrates a chessboard.
A refectory table is a long table designed to seat many people for meals.
A dining room table is a table designed to be used for formal dining.A modern Brazilian stainless steel table made with FSC-certified eucalyptus
Historically, various types of tables have been popular for other uses:Tripod tables were very popular during the 18th and 19th centuries as candlestands, tea tables, or small dining tables. Their typically round tops often had a tilting mechanism. The folding top enabled them to be stored out of the way (e.g., in room corners) when not in use. A further development in this direction was the “birdcage” table, the top of which could both revolve and tilt.
Pembroke tables were first introduced during the 18th century and were popular throughout the 19th century. Their main characteristic was a rectangular or oval top with folding or drop leaves on each side. Most examples have one or more drawers and four legs sometimes connected by stretchers. Their design meant they could easily be stored or moved about and conveniently opened for serving tea, dining, writing, or other occasional uses.
Sofa tables are similar to Pembroke tables and usually have longer and narrower tops. They were specifically designed for placement directly in front of sofas for serving tea, writing, dining, or other convenient uses. Generally speaking, a sofa table is a tall, narrow table used behind a sofa to hold lamps or decorative objects.
Work tables were small tables designed to hold sewing materials and implements, providing a convenient work place for women who sewed. They appeared during the 18th century and were popular throughout the 19th century. Most examples have rectangular tops, sometimes with folding leaves, and usually one or more drawers fitted with partitions. Early examples typically have four legs, often standing on casters, while later examples sometimes have turned columns or other forms of support.
Drum tables are round tables introduced for writing, with drawers around the platform.
End tables are small tables typically placed beside couches or armchairs. Often lamps will be placed on an end table.
Billiards tables are bounded tables on which billiards-type games are played. All provide a flat surface, usually composed of slate and covered with cloth, elevated above the ground.
Table tennis tables are usually masonite or a similar timber, layered with a smooth low-friction coating. It is divided into two halves by a low net, which separates opposing players.
Poker tables are used to play poker.
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HideHistoryRoman richly ornate legs
Some very early tables were made and used by the Egyptians, and were little more than stone platforms used to keep objects off the floor. They were not used for seating people. Food and drinks were usually put on large plates deposed on a pedestal for eating. The Egyptians made use of various small tables and elevated playing boards. The Chinese also created very early tables in order to pursue the arts of writing and painting.The Greeks and Romans made more frequent use of tables, notably for eating, although Greek tables were pushed under a bed after use. The Greeks invented a piece of furniture very similar to the guéridon. Tables were made of marble or wood and metal (typically bronze or silver alloys), sometimes with richly ornate legs. Later, the larger rectangular tables were made of separate platforms and pillars. The Romans also introduced a large, semicircular table to Italy, the mensa lunata.
Furniture during the Middle Ages is not as well-known as that of earlier or later periods, and most sources show the types used by the nobility. In the Eastern Roman Empire, tables were made of metal or wood, usually with four feet and frequently linked by x-shaped stretchers. Tables for eating were large and often round or semicircular. A combination of a small round table and a lectern seemed very popular as a writing table.[2] In western Europe, the invasions and internecine wars caused most of the knowledge inherited from the classical era to be lost. As a result of the necessary movability, most tables were simple trestle tables, although small round tables made from joinery reappeared during the 15th century and onward. In the Gothic era, the chest became widespread and was often used as a table.
Refectory tables first appeared at least as early as the 16th century, as an advancement of the trestle table; these tables were typically quite long and wide and capable of supporting a sizeable banquet in the great hall or other reception room of a castle.
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HideSee alsoPicnic table
Kitchen table
Table tennis
TV tray table
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HideFootnotes^ Etymonline
^ Heyward, p20
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HideFurther readingDavidson, Richard (2000). Miller’s Antiques Checklist: Furniture. Miller’s. ISBN 1-84000-277-8.
(French) Heyward, Helena (1980). Grande Encyclopédie Illustrée des Meubles. Paris: Flammarion. ISBN 2-85961-073-1.
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HideExternal linksWikimedia Commons has media related to: Tables
History of Table
And yes, that is the entire Wikipedia article on tables. Good thing they weren’t selling Pokemon – that article is MUCH longer than the one on tables.
Humanity is doomed.
Thanks for the post, Margo!
I would love to email Sparky and ask about the chair he is selling.
Brilliant! *throws doors*
Dear Sparky,
The dissertation you provided on the nature of a table (without citing sources) includes a picture of a bench. Blatant plagiarism [interesting that plagiarism and plagiarize are actually in my phone’s dictionary] and an apparent misunderstanding of the material are the reasons your application for a PhD in tables is being declined by AWLS, the Advanced Woodshop Literature School.
Sincerely,
Dean Ash Pine
This is code.
Okay, let’s see….
*hides etymology*
*jumps back one section*
*hides history*
*jumps back one section*
*hides see also*
There…
*looks around*
What the…?
It’s a frickin’ table, fer cryin’ out loud!
I was expecting the Holy Grail, at the very least.
I haz a disappoint.
But it doesn’t say (if) you can dance on them
[more information on actual table needed]
Taco uses “Kill it with Fire”
It’s super effective!
Wild Table has fainted.
Level up! +2 Charisma! +3 Dexterity!
You found 316 gil and a big huge pile of table ashes!
[118/1111 38/99]}? Equip “Armwah of Invincibility”
You don the Armwah of Invincibility. It’s rather large and heavy, so you are encumbered.
You are eaten by a grue. Luckily, the Armwah is fine because it’s invincible.
Quick, equip yourself with the Inedible Vintage Crisco!
Tables?! Man, I got a table slaying knife. It’s got a +9 against tables.
You’re not there! You’re getting drunk!
Ok, but if there’s any grrrrlz there, I want to do them.
Roll your seduction. You’re at a -5 penalty because of the vomit in your hand.
Aw, critical fail.
OK, let me check my critical failure sheet here…
As it turns out, the woman you were hitting on is actually a grue. It eats you.
:peeks at sheet:
Hey, all of these say “You are eaten by a grue.”
No, wait; here’s one.
“You are crushed by a large rock, but it is really a grue in disguise. It eats you.”
Never mind.
Every GM swears by that sheet. It’s useful in any critical skill failure situation.
I’ve always been fond of “Death by Vampiric Butterflies.”
When in doubt, cast Holy Rain!
*34 bolts of linen rain down on ghostcat*
I love that spell. Easier use made possible by Random Noun Generator and Online Dice Roller.
Damn it, I got a -15 boredom and died of hunger…
I have to take notes, I’m so scared there will be a test on this later.
*scribble scribble curse scribble*
This is so much pressure!!!
I think I’d like to shoot Sparky under this table.
Will you be doing that Solo? 8)
This Sparky is the Forrest Gump of tables.
“Well, there’s dining tables and trestle tables and end tables and candle tables and coffee tables and marble tables…”
Stupid is as Sparky does.
I thought that was Bubba.
You are correct, ghostie. Stupid is as Manda does, apparently. (Can we blame a lack of sleep and coffee slices?)
Mama always said, “Life is like a box of not sucking…”
“you never know who’s gonna cause a sinus enema?”
Mama always said life is full of Sparkies.
EDIT: *shakes fist at Manda* You snuck that in! Aaaaaaah! 🙂
Your mamas always say cool stuff. My mama says, “set the table”. Then I would have to get 40 plates then 40 coffee cups then 40 knives…..
Setting the table is really hard. I barely get it over the net most of the time.
But I’d rather set the table than spike the punch; that makes a hell of mess.
“…bronze naked lady tables, camel tables, red tables, dinning room tables, six-sided octagon tables, eight-sided hexagon tables, The Table…and I think that’s about it.”
…multiplication tables, periodic tables, tablets (very small tables).
Are we missing any more?
Vegetables.
Constables.
Irritable.
They always make me sit at the irritable during holiday dinners. 8(
Ten dollars (or five obos) says the table is actually an ottermangle.
Aw, don’t mangle the otters – they’re so cute in their unmangled condition!
Maybe it’s an ottermango – that sounds less vi0lent.
Sounds pretty delicious, actually.
I think we need to table the discussion on this table until we can compile a table of all the attributes (including the one Sparky/Wiki missed) and then put it back on the table.
The floor recognizes the chair who is speaking on behalf of the entire table.
Who seconds the movement?
I see couch is seconding. Therefore we are moving the discussion to the back burner until the table can reach a consensus on the issue of the table. The chair may step down with the floor’s thanks.
The table and representing chair will be expected to appear before the floor so that this discussion about the table can be put to bed. We reconvene in two fortnights. Adjourned.
*snort* You said movement. Heh.
It’s an “entry way” table, presumably for the doctor to lie on when he comes in stinking of gin. At least Sparky didn’t include the tablature.
Rocky? Rocky Racoon isn’t here.
I know this comes as a big surprise, but it’s looking rather DAFT in the box. 8) Hope you can bear with it.
This is not the table I am looking for. I am looking for the end table to end all tables. Move along, move along.
*delurk* So, back in college, I took a semantics class. Very philosophy-of-language-oriented. Along with a week-long discussion of whether or not Donald Duck is a bird (we never did answer that), there was a lot of talk about how you know a table when you see one, and what it is that defines a table, and Platonic ideals of tableness. Who knew all I had to do was go to Craigslist and have all my tabular questions answered?
Do you think there’s a Sparky out there who’ll clear up the Donald Duck issue?
*relurk*
Platonic Ideals of Tableness is the name of IF’s techno-barbershop quartet.
Yes.
Mel, there must be, as everyone knows all Sparkies are quackers.
M R ducks.
No, M R not ducks.
S M R ducks. C dem wangs?
L I B! M R ducks!
That’s a riddle my freshman Algebra teacher gave us. Which is now 30 years ago. Dang!
AB, C D Bs?
L, M N O Bs.
O S A R, C M?
From my papa.
M R squirrels.
M R not squirrels.
O S A R! C M B D IIIII?
O. M R squirrels.
“freshman”, “30 years ago”
You youngsters have it easy nowadays.
With all your electronics and airbags and seat belts and terrorists and high gas prices and taxes out the wazzu…..
Never mind.
Remember the good ol’ days when…
Ah, the good ol’ days…
:remembers parachute pants and Vanilla Ice:
:shudders:
I’m fine with the present, thanks.
I dunno about ducks, but D N S 5 X
(From CDB )
M R Ducks takes me back… they were the hottest thing on the Eastern Shore when I was teaching high school in the mid-90s.
Of course there’s the concept of the perfect Donald Duckness…only in that one he’s wearing pants*
*it’s cold in that cave!
“wearing pants”
That’s Goofy.
No no no. That’s Daffy.
Tables really are platonic. It’s the chairs that you have to keep your eyes on. Always touching your butt. Perverts!
I got a small restraining order on my chair. Best thing I ever did. Now whenever I sit down I end up hovering a few inches above the cushion.
What could I possibly do with this table? Most furniture ads have photos showing the furniture being used. You know, stuff piled up on it. I’d hate to use it improperly. I mean, can I use this table to keep my junk off the floor?
OMV – then what would you use the floor for?
I’d use the floor to hold the table.
I’d use the table to hold my junk.
I’d use my junk to hold your gaze.
I’d use your gaze to hold my interest.
I better quit while I’m behind.
The more I say, the behinder I get.
The behinder i get, the more of an a** I become.
Just stopped the right side of pervishness, OMV. Thank you. Obviously one of nature’s gentlemen.
*This may or may not be true*
Likely not. Calling me gentleman puts way to much pressure on me to try to live up to that moniker.
Epic Fail
that’s what my pants are for.
Whoa! This table can be used as a pair of pants?!
Well, it does have legs, all the way up.
Well, not all tables are all leg.
One thing that computers are inherently bad at is image recognition. It isn’t their fault – that is just how they are made. So stop making fun of the spambot just because it can’t tell the difference between a table and a piano bench. Bots have feelings too.
I hope you don’t belong to the church of botulism, ‘cuz thats a dangerous cult.
Dude, why are you being so down on Botulism culture? Give it a chance! I think you’ll find that it can grow on you rather quickly.
I could almost imagine a group creating a cult around botulism. That would be rather frightening.
Somebody give this poor guy the definition to the word : hide
and table
Hide: (n) what is covering my body.
Table: (adj) (pidgeon) worse than not good. -wut yew sed bout me wuz table, jess table.-
And to think this was all as a result of a typo:
It was then that the fox appeared.
‘Good day,’ said the fox.
‘Good day,’ replied the little prince politely, looking up but unable to see anything.
‘Over here,’ said the voice, ‘under the apple tree.’
‘Who are you?’ said the little prince. ‘You’re very pretty.’
‘I’m a fox,’ said the fox.
‘Come and play with me,’ suggested the little prince.’I’m terribly sad.’
‘I can’t play with you,’ said the fox. ‘I am not a table.’
‘Oh! I beg your pardon,’ said the little prince.
Then, after a moment’s thought, he added:
‘What does “table” mean ?’
‘You are not from these parts,’ said the fox.’What are you looking for?’
‘I’m looking for people. What does “table” mean ?’
‘People,’ said the fox, ‘they have guns, and they hunt.
It’s a great nuisance! They also raise chickens. That is the only interesting thing about them. Are you looking for chickens?’
‘No,’ said the little prince. ‘I am looking for friends. What does “table” mean?’
And that *le sigh* is how it all began….
That brought a tear to my eye. The glass one.
Ah, but is the glass one half full or half empty?
Bootyfur, jess bootyfur!
I kind of wish he was selling and ottoman [i.e. sic ottom, autumn, m&m]. I’m in the mood for the Wiki version of the history of the Ottoman Empire.
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HideSee also*
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory,[2] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[3] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.[4] The noun troll may refer to the provocative message itself, as in: “That was an excellent troll you posted”.
While the word troll and its associated verb trolling are associated with Internet discourse, media attention in recent years has made such labels subjective, with trolling describing intentionally provocative actions and harassment outside of an online context. For example, mass media has used troll to describe “a person who defaces Internet tribute sites with the aim of causing grief to families.”[5][6]
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
1.1 Early history
1.2 In other languages
2 Trolling, identity, and anonymity
3 Concern troll
4 Troll sites
5 Media coverage and controversy
5.1 United States
5.2 Australia
5.3 United Kingdom
6 Usage
7 Examples
8 See also
8.1 Troll groups
9 References
10 External links
Etymology
The verb troll originates from Old French troller, a hunting term. The noun troll comes from the Old Norse word for a mythological monster.[7]
In modern English usage, the verb troll is a fishing technique of slowly dragging a lure or baited hook from a moving boat.[8] The word evokes the trolls of Scandinavian folklore and children’s tales, where they are often creatures bent on mischief and wickedness.
The contemporary use of the term is alleged to have appeared on the Internet in the late 1980s,[9] but the earliest known example is from 1992.[10] Early non-Internet related 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.[11]
Early history
The most likely derivation of the word troll can be found in the phrase “trolling for newbies”, popularized in the early 1990s in the Usenet group, alt.folklore.urban (AFU).[12][13] 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.[12][14] One of the most notorious AFU trollers, Snopes,[12] went on to create his eponymous urban folklore website.
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, rather than to the author.
In other languages
In Icelandic, þurs (a thurs) or tröll (a troll) may refer to trolls, the verbs þursa (to troll) or þursast (to be trolling, to troll about) may used.
In Japanese, tsuri (釣り) means “fishing” and refers to intentionally misleading posts whose only purpose is to get the readers to react, i.e. get trolled. arashi (荒らし) means “laying waste” and can also be used to refer to simple spamming.
In Korean, nak-si (낚시) means “fishing”, and is used to refer to Internet trolling attempts, as well as purposefully misleading post titles. A person who recognizes the troll after having responded (or, in case of a post title nak-si, having read the actual post) would often refer to himself as a caught fish.[citation needed]
In Thai, the term “krean” (เกรียน) has been adopted to address Internet trolls. The term literally refers to a closely cropped hairstyle worn by most school boys in Thailand, thus equating Internet trolls to school boys. The term “tob krean” (ตบเกรียน), or slapping a cropped head, refers to the act of posting intellectual replies to refute and cause the messages of Internet trolls to be perceived as unintelligent.[citation needed]
Trolling, identity, and anonymity
Jimbo Wales, founder of Wikipedia, discusses trolling in a special session during Wikimania 2006.
Early incidences of trolling were considered to be the same as flaming, but this has changed with modern usage by the news media to refer to the creation of any content that targets another person. The Internet dictionary NetLingo suggests there are four grades of trolling: playtime trolling, tactical trolling, strategic trolling, and domination trolling.[15]
The relationship between trolling and flaming was observed in open-access forums in California, on a series of modem-linked computers in the 1970s, like CommuniTree which when accessed by high school teenagers became a ground for trashing and abuse. [16] Some psychologists have suggested that flaming would be caused by deindividuation or decreased self-evaluation: the anonymity of online postings would lead to disinhibition amongst individuals[17] Others have suggested that although flaming and trolling is often unpleasant, it may be a form of normative behavior that expresses the social identity of a certain user group [18][19] According to Tom Postmes, a professor of social and organisational psychology at the universities of Exeter and Groningen, Netherlands, and the author of Individuality and the Group, who has studied online behavior for 20 years, “Trolls aspire to violence, to the level of trouble they can cause in an environment. They want it to kick off. They want to promote antipathetic emotions of disgust and outrage, which morbidly gives them a sense of pleasure.”[16]
In academic literature, the practice of trolling was first documented by Judith Donath (1999). Donath’s paper outlines the ambiguity of identity in a disembodied “virtual community” such as Usenet:
In the physical world there is an inherent unity to the self, for the body provides a compelling and convenient definition of identity. The norm is: one body, one identity … The virtual world is different. It is composed of information rather than matter.[20]
Donath provides a concise overview of identity deception games which trade on the confusion between physical and epistemic community:
Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. The troll attempts to pass as a legitimate participant, sharing the group’s common interests and concerns; the newsgroups members, if they are cognizant of trolls and other identity deceptions, attempt to both distinguish real from trolling postings, and upon judging a poster a troll, make the offending poster leave the group. Their success at the former depends on how well they – and the troll – understand identity cues; their success at the latter depends on whether the troll’s enjoyment is sufficiently diminished or outweighed by the costs imposed by the group. Trolls can be costly in several ways. A troll can disrupt the discussion on a newsgroup, disseminate bad advice, and damage the feeling of trust in the newsgroup community. Furthermore, in a group that has become sensitized to trolling – where the rate of deception is high – many honestly naïve questions may be quickly rejected as trollings. This can be quite off-putting to the new user who upon venturing a first posting is immediately bombarded with angry accusations. Even if the accusation is unfounded, being branded a troll is quite damaging to one’s online reputation.[20]
Susan Herring et al. in “Searching for Safety Online: Managing ‘Trolling’ in a Feminist Forum” point out the difficulty inherent in monitoring trolling and maintaining freedom of speech in online communities: “harassment often arises in spaces known for their freedom, lack of censure, and experimental nature”.[21] Free speech may lead to tolerance of trolling behavior, complicating the members’ efforts to maintain an open, yet supportive discussion area, especially for sensitive topics such as race, gender, and sexuality.[21]
In an effort to reduce uncivil behavior by increasing accountability, many web sites (e.g. Reuters, Facebook, and Gizmodo) now require commenters to register their names and e-mail addresses.[22]
Concern troll
A concern troll is a false flag pseudonym created by a user whose actual point of view is opposed to the one that the user claims to hold. The concern troll posts in Web forums devoted to its declared point of view and attempts to sway the group’s actions or opinions while claiming to share their goals, but with professed “concerns”. The goal is to sow fear, uncertainty and doubt within the group.[23]
An example of this occurred in 2006 when Tad Furtado, a staffer for then-Congressman Charles Bass (R-NH), was caught posing as a “concerned” supporter of Bass’s opponent, Democrat Paul Hodes, on several liberal New Hampshire blogs, using the pseudonyms “IndieNH” or “IndyNH”. “IndyNH” expressed concern that Democrats might just be wasting their time or money on Hodes, because Bass was unbeatable.[24][25] Hodes eventually won the election.
Although the term “concern troll” originated in discussions of online behavior, it now sees increasing use to describe similar behaviors that take place offline.
For example, James Wolcott of Vanity Fair accused a conservative New York Daily News columnist of “concern troll” behavior in his efforts to downplay the Mark Foley scandal. Wolcott links what he calls concern trolls to Saul Alinsky’s “Do-Nothings”, giving a long quote from Alinsky on the Do-Nothings’ method and effects:
These Do-Nothings profess a commitment to social change for ideals of justice, equality, and opportunity, and then abstain from and discourage all effective action for change. They are known by their brand, ‘I agree with your ends but not your means.'[26]
The Hill published an op-ed piece by Markos Moulitsas of the liberal blog Daily Kos titled “Dems: Ignore ‘Concern Trolls'”. The concern trolls in question were not Internet participants; they were Republicans offering public advice and warnings to the Democrats. The author defines “concern trolling” as “offering a poisoned apple in the form of advice to political opponents that, if taken, would harm the recipient”.[27]
Troll sites
An Internet troll attempts to fool users of Yahoo Answers into believing that the site is shutting down.
While many webmasters and forum administrators consider trolls a scourge on their sites, some websites welcome them. For example, a New York Times article discussed troll activity at 4chan and at Encyclopedia Dramatica, which it described as “an online compendium of troll humor and troll lore”.[9] This site and others are often used as a base to troll against sites that their members can not normally post on. These trolls feed off the reactions of their victims because “their agenda is to take delight in causing trouble”.[28]
Media coverage and controversy
Mainstream media outlets have focused their attention on the willingness of some Internet trolls to go to extreme lengths in their attempts at eliciting reactions.
United States
On March 31, 2010, the Today Show ran a segment detailing the deaths of three separate adolescent girls and trolls’ subsequent reactions to their deaths. Shortly after the suicide of high school student Alexis Pilkington, anonymous posters began trolling for reactions across various message boards, referring to Pilkington as a “suicidal slut”, and posting graphic images on her Facebook memorial page. The segment also included an expose of a 2006 accident, in which an eighteen-year old fatally crashed her father’s car into a highway pylon; trolls emailed her grieving family the leaked pictures of her mutilated corpse.[6]
Australia
In February 2010, the Australian government became involved after trolls defaced the Facebook tribute pages of murdered children Trinity Bates and Elliott Fletcher. Australian communications minister Stephen Conroy decried the attacks, committed mainly by 4chan users, as evidence of the need for greater Internet regulation, stating, “This argument that the Internet is some mystical creation that no laws should apply to, that is a recipe for anarchy and the wild west.”[29] Conroy has been noted in the past for his advocacy of Internet censorship. In the wake of these events, Facebook responded by strongly urging administrators to be aware of ways to ban users and remove inappropriate content from Facebook pages.[30]
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, contributions made to the Internet are covered by the Communications Act 2003. Sending messages which are “grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character” is an offense whether they are received by the intended recipient or not [31]. As of September 2011, two persons have been imprisoned in the UK for trolling.[32][33] Several high profile cases of trolling have been reported in the United Kingdom, with there being wide disparity between the action taken against assailants. In the case of teenager, Natasha MacBryde, who died a tragic death, the troll of her testimonial page, Sean Duffy, was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison and banned from using social networking sites for five years. [34] This compared with Jamie Counsel being sentenced to four years for trying to incite riots [35] and those who trolled the testimonial page of Georgia Varley facing no prosecution due to misunderstandings of the legal system in the wake of the term trolling being popularized [36]
Usage
Application of the term troll is subjective. Some readers may characterize a post as trolling, while others may regard the same post as a legitimate contribution to the discussion, even if controversial. Like any pejorative term, it can be used as an ad hominem attack, suggesting a negative motivation.
Regardless of the circumstances, controversial posts may attract a particularly strong response from those unfamiliar with the robust dialogue found in some online, rather than physical, communities. Experienced participants in online forums know that the most effective way to discourage a troll is usually to ignore it, because responding tends to encourage trolls to continue disruptive posts – hence the often-seen warning: “Please do not feed the trolls”.
Examples
So-called Gold Membership trolling originated in 2007 on 4chan boards, users posting fake images claiming to offer upgraded 4chan account privileges; without a “Gold” account, one could not view certain content. This turned out to be a hoax designed to fool board members, especially newcomers. It was copied and became an Internet meme. In some cases, this type of troll has been used as a scam, most notably on facebook, where fake Facebook Gold Account upgrade ads have proliferated in order to link users to dubious websites and other content.[37]
As reported on April 8, 1999, investors became victims of trolling via an online financial discussion regarding PairGain, a telephone equipment company based in California. Trolls operating in the stock’s Yahoo Finance chat room posted a fabricated Bloomberg News article stating that an Israeli telecom company could potentially acquire PairGain. As a result, PairGain’s stock jumped by 31%. However, the stock promptly crashed after the reports were identified as false.[38]
The case of Zeran v. America Online, Inc. resulted primarily from trolling. Six days after the Oklahoma City bombing, anonymous users posted advertisements for shirts celebrating the bombing on AOL message boards, claiming that the shirts could be obtained by contacting Mr. Kenneth Zeran. The posts listed Zeran’s address and home phone number. Zeran was subsequently harassed.[38]
Anti-Scientology protests by Anonymous, commonly known as Project Chanology, are sometimes labeled as “trolling” by media such as Wired,[39] and the participants sometimes explicitly self-identify as “trolls”.
In Soviet Middle Earth, Cave Troll has YOU!
You aren’t leaving any room in the box for anyone else!
Good strategy.
*once again, frantically taking notes*
OMG, this is just no fun anymore!
Too long; didn’t read – Overly long unformatted statements present fellow editors a dilemma: spend excessive time parsing out what you mean or being mildly rude in not actually reading what you wrote. It is more collegial and collaborative to take an extra few moments to distill your thoughts into bite size pieces.
Traditionally, the phrase too long; didn’t read (abbreviated tl;dr) has been used on the Internet as a reply to an excessively long statement. It indicates that the reader did not actually read the statement due to its undue length.[2] This essay especially considers the term as used in Wikipedia discussions, and examines methods of fixing the problem when found in article content.
As a label, it is sometimes used as a tactic to thwart the kinds of discussion which are essential in collaborative editing. On the other hand, tl;dr may represent a shorthand acknowledgement of time saved by skimming over or skipping repetitive or poorly written material. Thus the implication of the symbol can range from a brilliant and informative disquisition being given up due to lack of endurance, interest, or intelligence, to a clustered composition of such utter failure to communicate that it has left the capable reader with a headache; judging this range is very subjective.
Contents [hide]
1 Reasons for length, good or bad
1.1 Abstract
1.2 Explication
2 Reducing wordiness
2.1 Trimming or splitting
2.2 Caveat on hastiness
3 Maintain civility
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
[edit] Reasons for length, good or bad[edit] AbstractReasons for length may be good or bad. Brevity has value, and explication has value; either value may outweigh the other for certain users at certain times. Brevity should be pursued wherever practical.
[edit] ExplicationPeople who edit Wikipedia probably do so because they enjoy writing. However, that passion for writing often means that what they write is longer than necessary. Sometimes this is because the writer incorrectly believes that long sentences and big words will make them appear learned.[3] In other cases misplaced pride prevents the author from seeing that not every word in their golden prose is necessary. Sometimes the author may be too hurried (or lazy) to write clearly and concisely; recall Pascal’s famous quote, “I made this so long because I did not have time to make it shorter.” A genius like Pascal may have been justified in that balancing of priorities (just as neurosurgeons may not spend time doing the hospital landscaping), but the rest of us must do our share of the work.
In a related vein, administrator candidates may be judged by how much they have written. Due to these factors, many articles, instructions and especially comments on Wikipedia are longer than necessary. Some of Wikipedia’s core policies are considered by some to be too long (e.g. Creative Commons license). This may be considered to put too much burden on the readers to understand. Such a problem can be seen in other applications as well.[4]
Writers often begin a project by writing long-winded drafts. As they go through the iterative process of revising drafts, they come to a better understanding of what they’re trying to communicate and are able reduce the length of the work. If this process is stopped prematurely, the result is needlessly long. (This is what Pascal was talking about in the earlier quote.) Writers may err towards wordiness out of concern that short prose which is not carefully edited (at high time cost) would oversimplify to the point of distorting or omitting, or carries a higher risk of being misunderstood.
Albert Einstein described the work of theorists as making theory as simple as possible without failing to explain all empirical cases. This is often paraphrased as “everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Much argument between individuals results from one trying to point out the ways in which another’s model of reality is incomplete. Thus the concept that Einstein mentioned often spurs lengthy exposition, often to account for the corner cases.
A venerable aphorism is that “brevity is the soul of wit.”[5] A similar sentiment advises would-be skilled writers to “omit needless words.”[6] Editors are encouraged to write concisely, and avoid undue technical jargon. If it becomes necessary to write lengthy text in an article, editors may wish to include a short summary. Additionally, it may be appropriate to use simple vocabulary to aid the readers in comprehension. Many readers may not use English as a primary language, or may have other “unarticulated needs”.[7]
Needless length may be interpreted as a mark of arrogance. The message to the reader seems to be “My time is more valuable than yours. I can’t be bothered to express myself clearly and concisely, so I’m shifting the burden to you to sift my words.” Some people are constitutionally more loquacious than others, and they may not be arrogant so much as miscalibrated. But the loquacious must force themselves to see things through the eyes of readers, and must push beyond their own comfort level (what they themselves think is already clear) to arrive at greater clarity. Taking the time to distill your thoughts not only helps you communicate more effectively, but also builds rapport with your readers.
The phrase wall of text is frequently used to describe overlong unformatted contributions.
[edit] Reducing wordiness[edit] Trimming or splittingIf you encounter excessively long text in a Wikipedia article, consider trimming it down (if it is truly redundant) or splitting it into another article to fit our summary style (which helps provide drill-down ability for the readers). (More info at WP:SPINOFF.) Tag excessively long plot summaries with the {{plot}} template if you can’t trim it down yourself.
[edit] Caveat on hastinessMake some effort to understand whatever valid ideas the previous author may have been trying (but failing) to communicate, so that you don’t just hastily and inadvertently delete valid rough draft material instead of refining it to a better draft. Remember that your own credibility is at stake as well as that of the loquacious writer, because if you’re hasty and harsh enough, you could end up earning a reputation for yourself as someone with incompetent reading comprehension. You may know that this is an unfair reputation, but your actions may speciously make it seem true to others. One of the reasons that some linguists (most famously Geoffrey K. Pullum) have a dim view of Strunk & White’s advice “omit needless words” is that in the hands of amateur editors (as opposed to writers—that is, content critics as opposed to content creators), it mistakes all loquaciousness for nonsense and valueless redundancy in one overly hasty, facile stroke of the pen; and it fails to recognize that not all redundancy is cognitively or communicatively valueless. The upshot is simply to consider things circumspectly before deleting content. Note Strunk and White qualified their advice by stating that “this requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.” Deleting is not always equivalent to improving, and intelligently differentiating the cases is seldom a facile affair (or as Strunk and White would recommend, “…is often not easy”).
[edit] Maintain civilitySometimes a person might feel that a reader’s decision to pointedly mention this essay during a discussion is dismissive and rude. Therefore, courteous editors might, as an alternative to citing WP:TLDR, create a section on the longwinded editor’s talk page and politely ask them to write more concisely.
A common mis-citation of this essay is to ignore the reasoned and actually quite clear arguments and requests for response presented by an unnecessarily wordy editor with a flippant “TL;DR” in an attempt to discredit and refuse to address their strongly-presented ideas and/or their criticism of one’s own position. This is a four-fold fallacy: ad hominem, appeal to ridicule, thought-terminating cliché, and simple failure to actually engage in the debate because one is supposedly too pressed for time to bother, the inverted version of proof by verbosity.
Just so you all know, yes, I have read everything posted in this forum at this time.
However, I did forget who posted some comments here by the time I got through reading them and had to scroll back up to remember who posted said comment.
*I have a short term memory like a goldfish, but I value your comments.*
I don’t care how many doors you get, this is NOT going in the box! 8)
BOOK ONE: 1805
CHAPTER I
“Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes. But I warn you, if you don’t tell me that this means war, if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist—I really believe he is Antichrist—I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend, no longer my ‘faithful slave,’ as you call yourself! But how do you do? I see I have frightened you—sit down and tell me all the news…”
Episode 4:
Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls. He liked thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards, a stuffed roast heart, liver slices fried with crustcrumbs, fried hencod’s roes. Most of all he liked grilled mutton kidneys which gave to his palate a fine tang of faintly scented urine.
Kidneys were in his mind as he moved about the kitchen softly, righting her breakfast things on the humpy tray. Gelid light and air were in the kitchen but out of doors gentle summer morning everywhere. Made him feel a bit peckish.
The coals were reddening.
Another slice of bread and butter: three, four: right. She didn’t like her plate full. Right. He turned from the tray, lifted the kettle off the hob and set it sideways on the fire. It sat there, dull and squat, its spout stuck out. Cup of tea soon. Good. Mouth dry. The cat walked stiffly round a leg of the table with tail on high.
— Mkgnao!
— O, there you are, Mr Bloom said, turning from the fire.
The cat mewed in answer and stalked again stiffly round a leg of the table, mewing. Just how she stalks over my writing-table. Prr. Scratch my head. Prr.
Episode 4 (The Sequel)
…And the wolf said, “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house in!” And he did. And the table flew through the air and crushed the troll under the bridge and the three billy goats said, “Hey Pigs – let’s join together and kick some wolf butt.”
Amen.
Episode 5:
SchwarzeneShwarzaVin Diesel beats everyone bloody and Rambo blows shit up.Episode VI. Everyone thought it was the worst, then Episodes I, II and III came out.
I have the chart of the Periodic Element of Tables hanging in my office.
If entry way tables reproduce, do they become multiplication tables?
You see, when a sofa table and a coffee table love each other very much…
…They go to a wise old source for advice on propagation: the log tables.
I just wanted to be number 100. Carry on.
Dave and the Ferret Tribe, thank you for cleaning up the baux! Punchity Punch Punch. It won’t last long, I’m sure.
Good Morning, Spain and Portugal!
And, even if you’re lucky enough to have all the space you need in your home, a drop leaf table can be a great way to ensure you have plenty of seating available when guests come, without taking up a lot of space when you don’t need it.
drop leaf table
nice this.
It’s better enough when you’ve enough space as you need. Tables are just platonic. What could I probably do with this table? Could it be use as pair of pants?