Talk:Troll (gay slang)

Article in process
I have to go to work but will address wikifying this article within the next day or so. I feel the limited explanation on the disambiguous page was not sufficient. Benjiboi 00:10, 7 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I removed prod. The gay troll as an epithet is definitely encyclopedic, just as much as the internet troll.  There's a lot more to go into this article. Cleduc 03:11, 7 June 2007 (UTC)


 * That having been said, the article is in terrible shape: it's a linkfarm and "also sees" many more articles than even vaguely necessary. The references section needs to be restricted to sources that specifically back up facts in the article.  Marked for cleanup. Cleduc 03:12, 7 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the attention, the initial items placed were for initial researching not definitive must haves for the article. Having said that I think most of it fits rather well within the context of what the article _can_ be.Benjiboi 09:47, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

The "process" appears to have died. The article is outdated as an encyclopedic entry, lacks proper connections to other troll entries, provides insufficiently vetted etymology and is just poorly written. I suggest flagging it for revision and possibly merging it into something more general. I can fix the textual errors, but I don't want to do that if the piece is likely to be rewritten in near future. Alex.deWitte (talk) 17:48, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

Regional Bias
The explanation given here is European; in the US, troll is not used to describe cruising, and is almost exclusively reserved as a derogatory term for older, perhaps unattractive, gay men. Perhaps someone can separate the references by nationality and edit.24.165.188.30 20:05, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Indeed, "different takes on the usage – one simply referring to cruising, another referring to a negative version of a troll as a someone who “will have your skin crawling in seconds with his lascivious looks and raunchy repartee,”[9] another meaning older gays who prefer to troll for younger guys." did seem a wee bit understated. A troll as an older gay male who attempts to solicit sexual favours from younger guys in a pushy, persistent or aggressive manner (such as by continuing to ask instead of politely taking "no" for an answer) comes to mind as one possible, common definition. Not sure how to source this, though, although it does need to be mentioned in some form. --66.102.80.212 (talk) 09:56, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
 * I second this. I too know the slang word troll as a definition for an unattractive (older) gay man, so I was totally confused about this whole article which goes into things that are completely irrelevant. 85.4.214.55 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 08:48, 2 July 2009 (UTC).
 * The word, as I have seen it used, can mean 3 different things: 1) An older gay man (not necessarily unattractive) who is cruising sex from younger men/boys 2) An unattractive older gay man period and 3) Any gay man cruising for sex, whether he's old or young, attractive or ugly.
 * The issue here is sourcing what the word is and its culture. We can all say what we know the word to mean but that's just considered original research per WP:OR and not allowed. Find some magazine/news articles online that use the word for whatever reason and the flesh out the article. - ALLST✰R ▼ echo wuz here 18:09, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Troll/trawl
It seems the word as a noun means an insistent lascivious old, or at least unattractive, man; and the verb means moving through, picking up indiscriminately. I have noticed that there is a form of fishing called trolling (trailing a line with many hooks rather than a net). This, I think, explains the difference between the noun (repulsive man) and verb (indiscriminate cruising). The verb form was used often in exactly this sense in the 60's British radio program Round the Horne.

unsigned comment added by 122.105.64.120 (talk) 21:28, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

According to www.etymonline.com, it is entirely unrelated to the noun "troll":

"troll (v.)

late 14c., "to go about, stroll," later (early 15c.) "roll from side to side, trundle," from Old French troller, a hunting term, "wander, to go in quest of game without purpose," from a Germanic source (cf. Old High German trollen "to walk with short steps"), from Proto-Germanic *truzlanan.

Sense of "sing in a full, rolling voice" (first attested 1570s) and that of "fish with a moving line" (c.1600) are both extended technical applications of the general sense of "roll, trundle," the latter perhaps confused with trail or trawl. Figurative sense of "to draw on as with a moving bait, entice, allure" is from 1560s. Meaning "to cruise in search of sexual encounters" is recorded from 1967, originally in homosexual slang." --AndreRD (talk) 07:21, 14 April 2013 (UTC)

Health Risks?!
Why is 1/5th of this article (this glorified slang dictionary entry of an article) devoted to the "potential health risks" associated with sexual activity in general? "Troll"'ing may certainly be related about sex, but other articles on Wikipedia don't carry such extensive and stern warnings when they are not *directly* applicable to the term being defined. Rather, they LINK to the pages describing the health risk of sexual activity of any nature. To me, the inclusion here is misguided nonsense. No one who comes here is going to be looking for a condescending diatribe about healthy sexual activity, and even if they were, this article isn't the place for it--we have numerous other articles that cover this topic in FAR more detail with NUMEROUS--and further--SUPERIOR references. I move the health risks section be struck altogether and not replaced at all. If I can't find consensus there, at the MOST we should incorporate a link to sexually transmitted diseases somewhere in the article. This is an encyclopedia.... not a pamphlet from your local clinic. NiftySwifty (talk) 09:07, 11 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I agree. This is one of numerous problems with the article, not least of which is the conflation of the two distinct meanings of the term.  I see no reason to await discussion on the removal of the health section.  Exploding Boy (talk) 19:55, 11 November 2009 (UTC)


 * I agree. For the most part that section refers to the risks of unprotected sex, not trolling.--Dvd-junkie (talk) 22:34, 22 January 2010 (UTC)


 * This article, in its present state, heavily overlaps cruising for sex or other existing topics, meanwhile info which was missing five years ago (such as the concept of a unattractive old man attempting to lure a younger mate by being pushy or aggressive) is still missing now. We already have pages on promiscuity, safer sex and all the rest; this article in its current state adds nothing. K7L (talk) 05:32, 30 June 2014 (UTC)