Trolls

For those of you who don’t know a troll on the internet is “someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.” Occasionally it’s a healthy tool for free-speech but mostly it’s just mean. Trolls occasionally post comments on Owling About but because I can check comments before they are published I send them straight to the trash folder. This weekend I had such a crude one I had to post about it so we can all have a good laugh at the nonsense of it. This is what the troll posted: “The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought youd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention.” 

Usually trolls are a little more sophisticated then this one (although their spelling and grammar are never very good) and try to tailor their comments at least a little to the post I’ve written. This comment was made on a post about digging up potatoes and appreciating the autumn seed heads in the garden! You can read it here. So let’s all have a hearty laugh at this silly person. Oooo, and for even greater hilarity, let’s imagine the troll put to work with the cattlemen on our farm. He’d be so tired by the end of the day he wouldn’t have the energy to type.

In the mean time we visited the East Lothian coast this weekend. Rollers roared in from the north sea. The air was full of sea spray and the cries of gulls. It was wonderful. The photo above shows Bass Rock in the distance, home to several significant seabird colonies. We clambered over rocky paths to get a better view of the rolling swell. Little Owl and Big Dreamer were a little way behind and, wallop, out of nowhere a huge wave came along and smacked them from the side. They were totally drenched. Briefly they both looked like they might cry but we soon saw the funny side. Two pairs of very wet shoes are now drying in front of the stove.