Friday 24 July 2009

Trolling the Internet

Sometimes trolling has an unusual effect. Take, for example, certain members of the Deathlist forum. On one of their annual lists, the late George Melly was one of the fifty. So, they were looking into all things Melly. His official site had produced a new forum, so a bunch of the DL lot went over there to "spice" it up. What happened was this bunch of new posters created a mass flux of posters coming to the GM forum which couldn't hold up to it. But also, in the midst of this, the "trollers" all became massive Melly fans. They bought his stuff, they went to gigs, they exchanged pleasantries with the man himself and so on. So, when it came to his expected, but still sad, death in 2007, they were all gutted. Completly. By going somewhere planning to troll, they accidentally enriched their lifes for the better.

So warning - trolling may not have the desired effect.

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