It’s one of the best things that’s ever come out of the internet. But where was it first stated and how did it propagate through communities to become common wisdom?<p>From what I can tell, it seems to come from an Oscar Wilde quote. But I’m curious about where and how it was first applied to online discourse?
I know this from Usenet days. It's difficult to search early archives these days, though this 2005 verion of the net.abuse FAQ contains a reference. If you can trace that document back earlier you'll likely get closer to the source.<p><a href="http://www.faqs.org/faqs/net-abuse-faq/troll-faq/" rel="nofollow">http://www.faqs.org/faqs/net-abuse-faq/troll-faq/</a>