Baiting

Baiting is trolling by posting something that is guaranteed to cause trouble, usually a differing opinion or view in a community that's highly polarized (for instance, posting about Satanism in a Christian community).

On the Internets, baiting is similar to trolling, in that baiters, like trolls, try to elicit a response from other users. The difference is that the response is supposed to be embarrassing to the user in question, and humorous to others. Baiters frequently concentrate on groups they do not like, such as pedophiles, vegans, hippies, or homosexuals. What the baiter says does not need to make sense, it is often simply written to baffle the bait, and to produce an interesting result. In that respect, baiting is similar to telephone prank calls, but often much more elaborate.

Baiting frequently takes place on IRC or instant messaging. The chat logs are then typically posted on the internets.

Some of these pranks have grown into Internet phenomena. For example, Rich "Lowtax" Kyanka from the popular Something Awful site engaged in a long ICQ session (titled "Space Robot Bonanza") where he talked to a gullible user about "space robots" who supposedly "protected" humans from the "terrible secret of space" by pushing them down stairs. This was later turned into a song by The Laziest Men on Mars, with lyrics such as:

We are the space robots

We are here to protect you

We are here to protect you

From the terrible secret of space

Baiters are sometimes long-time residents of a comment posting arena. They see a newbie visit, and toss a question or comment at some remark the newbie posted. It may be hostile, challenging, aggressive, just to see what the newbie is made of, if he or she has conviction, or knows the subject well.

Thus, baiting can be a sort of "hazing" or humiliation prior to initiation into a posting "club."

External links

• The Bait Shop
• Baiting.org
• Space Robot Bonanza! transcript on SA