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Twin Probes Crash Into the Moon
SchrodingerZ writes "After their yearlong mission to map the Moon's gravitational field, twin probes Ebb and Flow crashed into the lunar surface, ending the GRAIL mission. The crashes were controlled events, each impacting 30 seconds apart from each other. The twin spacecraft were running low on maneuvering fuel and NASA, not wanting the craft to fall on historical sites such as the Apollo landing sites, redirected their flight patterns to impart the far (dark) side of the moon. Their impact sites were named after Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. 'During the news conference last week, Maria T. Zuber, the principal investigator, said the probes would be crashing into a "non-sunlit" part of the surface.' When the site becomes sunlit again in several weeks, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will attempt to take pictures of the craters the probes undoubtedly made in the lunar soil."
I don't troll these days, I just grumble at the poor effort of modern trolls. They forget that good trolling is in two parts: the bait and the switch.
You need to get people believing you before you bring out the troll. And it needs to be so subtle they don't even notice that you changed tack.
The easiest method is to come up with a thesis that starts with their premises and comes to a very different conclusion (or vice versa). Whatever you do, make sure you introduce the acceptable point (the bait) before pulling the switch. These are the examples I posted on this topic before:
I think we need affirmative action laws because how else will women be able to compete?
We need to be careful with the words we use because minorities are overly sensitive.
The fact that women make less money than men is terrible because dresses and shoes are so expensive.
Women don't need men in their lives to be happy and successful. Children can fill that role too.
Those are all "agree with conclusion, disagree with premise". I can't come up with good examples of the reverse right now.
Obviously these aren't the full troll posts you would make, but I expect you can see how they would go down. You get people responding to you and then you switch it up in subsequent posts (or in nuances hidden in a single post). Ideally half the people responding would recognise the switch and start attacking you while the other half would fall prey to the sunken cost fallacy and try to defend you. Then they fight amongst themselves and you do whatever 12-year-olds do these days.
Like I said, I haven't trolled in a long time. I just wish that modern trolls would have that element of artistry. Then you have something to appreciate when you're done frothing at the mouth.