Re: Old Games For The Win

On Fri, 28 Mar 2025 18:13:51 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On Fri, 28 Mar 2025 15:50:05 -0000 (UTC), in
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action, candycanearter07 wrote:
>

Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> wrote at 14:07 this Friday (GMT):

>

Universal Flame Form (short form, #1033/UFF)
>
Start Flame
Dear:
 [ ] Alleged Primate         [ ] Lamer           [ ] AOLer
 [ ] "Me too" er             [ ] Pervert         [ ] Geek
 [ ] Spammer                 [ ] Nerd            [ ] Elvis
 [ ] Fed                     [ ] Freak           [ ] Punk
 [ ] Fathead                 [ ] "Expert"        [ ] Irritant
 [ ] Psycho                  [ ] Nut             [ ] Wacko
 [ ] Other:

<snip>

>
Is this a real thing people used or just an example?

In the dark corners where I came from? Occasionally used for real, but
really just funny stuff that circulated back in the day. It satirized how
banal flaming had become.
>
If used for real, the gist of it was "I don't have time for you so please
accept this form." So, as a double kick in the nuts. "Not only am I
flaming you, I am flaming you with a form letter."

Yes. People put X-es in the appropriate boxes.

It's definitely a real thing. It -and many variations- were used
repeatedly, usually aimed either at first-time trolls (as a sort of
warning that their attempts were noticed), or long-time trolls who had
become so tiresome people just couldn't be bothered to get into Yet
Another Argument with them.

Trolling in old Usenet was a real art. These days many people will
just burst into a forum (on Usenet or off), say somethign wildly
inappropriate, and call it a day. But the Trolls of Usenet often put
effort into their art, saying /just/ enough to make you think they
were seriously wishing a discussion while still managing to aggravate
nearly everyone in the newsgroup.

I think the last 'troll' of that sort we had in c.s.i.p.g.action was
over 20 years ago, in the best-forgotten Steam/DRM wars. I use 'troll'
in quotes, however, since I believe the main instigator earnestly
believed in their position; they just didn't know enough to let the
subject die even after everyone else made it clear they were sick and
tired of the subject. ;-)