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The internet's Most Rudest and Obnoxious people
by: kline
Total views: 612
Word Count: 910
Yahoo is the number one most visited site in the world. It gets over 240 million visitors each month. And not too long ago, within two clicks from Yahoo's homepage, you could get into Yahoo's message boards. And on these message boards, lies some of the most vulgar and disgusting messages you will ever read. Trolling used to be a past time for people who frequent these message boards. What is trolling? Trolling is when a person posts something online that is meant to generate shock or anger readers. Basically, it's a way to get attention in any way possible, and usually posting something obscene is the best way to do it. Yahoo message boards allowed a reader to "recommend" a message, but trolling became so popular on these boards that vulgar messages would get numerous recommendations from other trolls.
No moderators equals Chaos
The difference between a Yahoo message board and other online forums was that there were no moderators on Yahoo. People could post whatever they felt and usually what they felt was something mean or nasty. When the Yahoo message boards came online in the late 90's, almost all the messages back then were civilized and was related to the subject matter at hand. But users started to realize that there was no one watching over them. They could curse and get away with it. They could insult another person's beliefs or even their family and there would be no consequences. No moderators and being anonymous meant anything goes. People began going on Yahoo message boards not to discuss a certain story, but to troll the message boards and get a high from pissing off or disgusting others. Some have suggested that Yahoo didn't moderate their message boards because they wanted to get as much pageviews as possible to generate ad revenue while others say that Yahoo had way too many message boards and moderating wouldn't have done any good.
Trolls competing against each other.
Only after a couple of years, nearly half of all messages on Yahoo's message boards were junk and was troll material written by trolls. This caused a problem for some trolls. Being a troll meant receiving as much attention as possible but it was hard when you have a whole lot of other trolls competing for the same spot light. So trolls began getting nastier and wittier with their messages. A troll who had posted a gem would recieve several or more recommendations from the trolling community and their message would most likely be copied and pasted by other trolls on other message boards and their post would live on, while a failed attempt to be funny or disgusting would result in zero recommendations and their message would fade to obscurity and never be read again.
The most famous Troll of all time.
The most famous Yahoo troll of all time was a middle-aged housewife that turned into an accidental troll. She had quite a few hobbies such as making cakes and collecting dolls on Ebay. But what turned her into such a celebrity in the trolling community was that she was absolutely against smoking weed and pre-marital sex...and she wasn't trolling. She actually meant it and those were her true beliefs. Around 2004-2005, Cindybin appeared on the Yahoo message boards and whenever the subject of marijuana or pre-marital sex came up, she was always around to preach what she felt was the right thing, that marijuana was bad and pre-marital sex was wrong. The regulars who frequent Yahoo message boards came to realize that she wasn't trolling when they saw she put in a lot of effort when arguing against drugs and talked like a person who worked at a rehab center. Now a regular troll would have been for drugs, alcohol and pre-marital sex, but Cindybin was against those very things and this made her the focus of a lot of people on Yahoo's message boards. Being such an anti-troll has turned Cindybin into one. Other trolls began harassing her or try to become friends with her. Whenever Cindybin posted a message, there would be many replies, turning the whole message board into a discussion about her. Cindybin posted pictures of herself on her profile and on her homepage, thus giving her a face to go along with her messages. Perverted trolls would ask her for sexual favors or comment on how she looked. Cindybin's fame grew to the point where it spawned many imitators trying to copy her name. Cartoons were made about her and she got her own fansite created by a fan. Eventually around the summer of 2006, the group of trolls called the Dana Crew angered Cindybin so much that she left the boards and was never been seen on Yahoo again. But ask any Yahoo message board reader who the most memorable troll was, and most of them will tell you it's a woman named Cindybin.
The end of an era.
On December 19th, 2006, the Yahoo Headline message boards where most Yahoo trolls called home closed down and no one knows when or if they would be up again. The original Yahoo message boards were some of the oldest forums on the internet, being around for more than eight years. Some former Yahoo trolls migrated over to the Cindybin forums while others went over to Google Groups. The golden age of trolling has most likely come to an end, and there's a chance we might never see anything like it again.
About the Author
The author is the webmaster of Cindybin.com
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