I just had the good fortune of meeting Ross Mayfield. I’m speaking on a panel with him at the Gilbane conference today. I introduced myself to him. I told him I was glad to finally meet him. He then proceeded to tell me that I am his "industrial troll". I don’t know what this means. He also told me that I am "full of shit", or maybe it was that everything I say is "bullshit". I asked him what he meant. He said everything I write on my blog is "bullshit" and "no one cares about me anyway". I asked him what he meant. He said "no one reads my blog anyway". I asked Ross what he thought was "bullshit" that I had written on my blog and Ross Mayfield said: "I’m a PR whore". I think he said "whore". He walked away from me before I could clarify. I wish I was popular like Ross, _sniffle_. Could someone clarify for me what an "Industrial troll" is?
Update
I finished the Wiki Executive Panel a moment ago. During the panel I was thinking: "what is an industrial troll"? Is this an insult? He did say: "You are my industrial troll". Maybe I misread his derisive tone and sneer. Uhh…I don’t think so. Also, someone who read the initial post thought Ross was asserting that I was a "PR whore", if in fact the word he used was whore (I’m pretty sure it was). No, he was asserting that I had called him a PR whore.
Anyway, Ross did a good presentation during the panel. He has some good things to say. He’s done a lot to move wikis into the mainstream (we’re not there just yet). I appreciate this. He’s also a strong advocate of open standards. It seems, to me anyway, that Ross and I should get along. We have similar interests. I get along quite well with every other wiki vendor I’ve met. Mike at Atlassian is super cool. Isaac Garcia at Central Desktop is witty and fun. The guys at eTouch are cool. I just spoke with a dude from iUpload, really nice guy. Customer Vision–what’s her name–is really funny and nice. I guess I’m not "cool" enough for Ross. By the way, Ross again asserted Socialtext was the first Wiki company. I’m pretty sure he’s wrong about this though. I think this title goes to either Customer Vision or Atlassian. However, I will assert MindTouch is the bestest! 😉
Aaron Fulkerson 
LOL. I don’t know about this Jeffrey. Perhaps this was a reference to my hair being similar to a troll doll. This was posited in my office. If your interpretation was correct “gnome” would be more appropriate.
I have done some careful research on what an Industrial troll is. First a troll is “a mythical cave-dwelling being depicted in folklore as either a giant, or a dwarf, typically having a very ugly appearance”. Now I would favor the first option here: “Giant”. This is safer in definitions. Ugly? Hmm, well we can’t all slay the chicks. So let’s go with “Giant”.
Industrial is “of, relating to, or characterized by industry” and “suitable for use in industry”.
This means you are an Industrial Giant, albeit ugly unless you’re atypical. So perhaps you are good looking.
My careful interpretation based on this research in the Oxford American dictionary [which has a cool widget for my Mac] is that…
You are a Captain of Industry. I would caution that Master of the Universe would be going too far, but Industrial Giant, Captain of Industry has a nice ring to it. Go for it.
Faithfully,
The Research Subcommittee
Jeffrey
http://www.radiowalker.com
I like the fact that he didn’t call you a run-of-the-mill troll. 😉
We’ll have to share war stories some time. Good post.