On the Internet, 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, fraudsters (often 419 fraudsters), religious fundamentalists, 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. In the United States, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 makes some prank calls a felony with penalties of up to two years in prison, and possible fines (depending on severity). However, such penalties are rarely carried out. A Do not feed the troll image In Internet terminology, a troll is someone who comes into an established community such as an online discussion forum, and posts inflammatory, rude, repetitive or offensive messages designed intentionally to annoy or antagonize the existing members or disrupt the flow of discussion, including... Look up bait in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A response is the following: Often a response is the result of a stimulus. ... Pedophilia, paedophilia or pædophilia (see spelling differences) is the paraphilia of being sexually attracted primarily or exclusively to prepubescent or peripubescent children. ... In the broadest sense, a fraud is a deception made for personal gain, although it has a more specific legal meaning, the exact details varying between jurisdictions. ... Advance fee fraud is a confidence trick in which the target is persuaded to advance relatively small sums of money in the hope of realizing a much larger gain. ... Fundamentalism is a movement to maintain strict adherence to founding principles. ... Since its coinage, the word homosexuality has acquired multiple meanings. ...

Like prank calls, Baiting is illegal in most jurisdictions as it is a form of targeted abuse or harassment. On IRC or instant messaging this can take the form of a denial of service attack and is frequently coupled with otherwise illegal practices such a flooding or ping bombing. For example a baiter may join an IRC chat channel dedicated to gay rights. By baiting the chatters or ops, the Baiter dominates the venue creating a hostile environment for the other users of the IRC service. by concentrating on certain groups the baiter focuses his or her hostility in order to harrass members of that group. When members of this community attempt to regain control of the venue the Baiter will sometimes resort to DoS attacks in order to escalate the issue. Frequently chat logs are then typically posted on the world wide web in order to humiliate specific members of the community. Abuse is a general term for the use or treatment of something (person, thing, idea, etc. ... Harassment refers to a wide spectrum of offensive behavior. ... IRC redirects here. ... A screenshot of PowWow, one of the first instant messengers with a graphical user interface Instant messaging or IM is a form of real-time communication between two or more people based on typed text. ... In computer security, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users. ... In computer security, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users. ... In computer security, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users. ... WWWs historical logo designed by Robert Cailliau The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is a system of interlinked, hypertext documents that runs over the Internet. ...

On Internet forums, baiting is sometimes used in attempts to empty forums or reduce a forum's usage. This type of baiting is usually done to make the atmosphere of a forum appear unpleasant or to make forum owners, moderators and long-time users look foolish. A person using this kind of baiting may post comments to elicit rude responses from prominent members of a forum, thus making the responding member or members appear as trolls or flamers to bystanders. As a result, forum users in general may become disgusted and leave the forum.

So called scam baiting has become popular in the last few years, with several thousand people taking part, attempting to either put a stop to advance fee scams, or at least having fun at the scammers expense. This has given rise to several websites filled with transcripts, funny pictures and other trophies. 419eater.com is one of the largest and best known of these sites. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... 419eater. ...

Some of these pranks have grown into Internet phenomena. For example, Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka from the popular website Something Awful engaged in a long ICQ session 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, later posting the transcript under the title Space Robot Bonanza!^[1]. This was later turned into a song by The Laziest Men on Mars, with lyrics such as: Richard Charles Kyanka (pronounced ) (born May 11, 1976[1]), better known by his nickname Lowtax, is an Internet personality, and owner and operator of the humor website Something Awful. ... Something Awful, sometimes abbreviated to SA, is a comedy website based in Lees Summit, Missouri, United States. ... The Laziest Men on Mars a self-described Nerd Techno band, is the brainchild of Jeffrey Ray Roberts. ...

We are the space robots

We are here to protect you

We are here to protect you

From the terrible secret of space

The song, in turn, was adapted into a flash video.

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."

References

• Cyberbullying

• EXORTION AND THREATS. 18 U.S.C. § 875. EXTORTION and THREATS. Interstate communications.

• US Computer Crime Laws by State

• The National Center for Victims of Crime

• Bahrampour, Tara: Student, 13, Charged in Washington-Lee Scare, The Washington Post, May 27, 2005.
• Code of Virginia, § 18.2-152.7:1. Harassment by computer; penalty.
• Code of Virginia, § 18.2-416. Punishment for using abusive language to another.
• Code of Virginia, § 18.2-427. Use of profane, threatening or indecent language over public airways.
• Coffee, Gordon A. and Klein, Charles B.: Combating Cyber-Torts: Protections and Pitfalls of the Virginia Computer Crimes Act, Virginia Bar Association News Journal, Jan. 2003.
• Man Gets Two Years for Pretending to Be Ex-Wife Online, Associated Press, 2004.
• Rabinovitz, Jonathan: In Connecticut,harassment by computer is now a crime, New York Times, June 13, 1995.

1. ^ ICQ Transcript: Space Robot Bonanza. Retrieved on June 8, 2006.

June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Baiting.org Archives
• Something Awful ICQ pranks