Bait / This is Bait

Bait / This is Bait

Part of a series on Internet Slang. [View Related Entries]
[View Related Sub-entries]

Updated Apr 01, 2018 at 04:59AM EDT by Y F.

Added Jul 29, 2013 at 09:15AM EDT by MScratch.

PROTIP: Press 'i' to view the image gallery, 'v' to view the video gallery, or 'r' to view a random entry.

About

Bait is a an internet slang term used to describe comments or opinions which are considered to be made purposefully to troll other posters or to start a flame war. The term is commonly found on message boards and in comment sections, including the 4chan imageboards.

Origin

In the 1990s, the term "flamebait" was used on Usenet to describe posts made specifically to incite an argument. One of the earliest examples of this was posted to the rec.autos.tech[2] newsgroup on August 20th, 1995, in response to a complaint that American-made cars used soft suspensions and automatic transmissions that made Americans look weak and incompetent. After the poster went on to complain that the United States was spending money that they thought should have been allotted for healthcare and education on the military, another user referred to the comments as "flamebait."


SteevenB 8/20/95 ja..@freenet.hut.fi (Javier) wrote: >(snippity doo fah on the anti american diatribe) ☆ >..they spend all the money that should be used for education and health care on the military. personally Flamebait I agree with ya there.. BUT that is the extent of it... yer spamming is out of line + yer point (if there is one to yer rant) is lost on me..do you hate Americans? Do you hate american cars? Who gives a rats ass? Do you have doody in your whiny boy diaper? I see yer country's "endless winter" has froze yer brains → SteevenB reccommends ya put yer head in the oven and crank it up SteevenB@AOL.com FXRS-SP/ST1100 ride to eat, eat to ride

Spread

"Flame bait" was added to the Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing[3] on May 27th, 1998, defining the term as a Usenet post that is intended to elicit hostility. It was similarly defined on Urban Dictionary[4] on March 24th, 2004. By September of that year, discussions self-identifying as "flame bait" had begun to appear on message boards as well.[5] In 2005, the tech site Search SOA[6] and the English education blog Antimoon[7] (shown below) compared the differences between flame baiting and trolling, noting that the actions were often quite similar but fueled by different motives.


Flamebaiting is when you are saying things you know are not likely to be well recevied and provoke heated and emotional response. The result of flamefest will be people go home unhappy. You can never talk of "good flamebait". It's just not possible. Flamebaiting is completely anti-social. Flamebaiters need to be avoided because they have a sadistic enjoyment of others' anger. Flamebait, and its response, is appreciated only by the flamebaiter. I hate flamebaiters.

On February 2006, flame bait was added to Wiki Wiki Web.[8] In similar fashion to U WOT M8, the shorthand "b8" is often used on 4chan in phrases like "gr8 b8 m8," used as early as May 2013.[9]

This Is Bait

As early as May 2013, an image macro featuring a royalty free clip art image of a fish chasing a hook[1] with the caption "this is bait" began circulating 4chan as a method of drawing attention to baiting posts. One of the earliest archived uses of the image was posted to /a/[10] (Anime and Manga) in response to a post speaking negatively about the character Kirino Kousaka from the Japanese light novel series Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai. The image and photoshopped derivatives of it have since appeared on a number of other 4chan boards including /vg/[11] (Video Game Generals), /tg/[12] (Traditional Games) and /s4s/[13] (Shit 4chan Says). "This Is Bait" images have also been found on DeviantArt[14] and Ponychan.[15]


This is bait.

Notable Examples


Just don't 1ply. The bait has transcended our dimension. He's going all out.
That's bait as well. He's getting pretty desperate now. Hell get bored event- ually. Report & ignore. It's that easy.

Search Interest

External References

[1] Original Clip Art – All-free-download.com

[2] Google Groups Archive – rec.autos.tech: American cars SUCK!

[3] FOLDOC – flame bait

[4] Urban Dictionary – flamebait

[5] Democratic Underground – Tonight's flame bait: I CAN'T FUCKING STAND KRAFTWERK'S "AUTOBAHN!"

[6] SearchSOA – What is flamebait?

[7] antimoon – What is the Difference?

[8] Wiki Wiki Web – Flame Bait

[9] Yahoo! Answers – What's the meaning of this: "gr8 b8 m8 check my 8"?

[10] Foolz Archive – /a/ Usage

[11] Foolz Archive – /vg/ Usage

[12] Sup /tg/ – /tg/ Usage

[13] Foolz A Shit Archive – /s4s/ Usage

[14] deviantART – Rainbow Bait

[15] Ponychan – /meta/ Usage

Recent Videos 4 total

Recent Images 518 total


Top Comments


+ Add a Comment

Comments (54)


Display Comments

Add a Comment


Hello! You must login or signup first!