Fisking

The word comes from the surname of Robert Fisk, a British journalist for The Independent, whose writing was a frequent target of this kind of reply. Accounts date the coinage to late December 2001, when blogger Andrew Sullivan published a detailed critique of a Fisk article; sources differ on whether Sullivan or another blog first used the verb "to fisk". The Jargon File defines it as a point-by-point refutation of a blog entry or news story and says that wit and accuracy are valued while flaming is poor form. The format resembles the older Usenet habit of replying beneath quoted lines of the original message. The term is associated with the early blogosphere of the 2000s.