Trolling

Im a little curious about this subject - I was introduced to the phenomenon here, and I ocasionally find that discussions digress into whether or not some poster is trolling, so my guess is that this subject has general interest. 

I'm always sceptical towards definitions, but to begin with I quote what wikipedia has to say:

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion

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Is this a sufficient definition? 

In cases corresponding to the above definition, I can see why trolling is unacceptable. But there seems to be a lot of harmless not-so-severe cases of trolling which sometimes can be quite entertaining.  

My general thought on this matter is that it sometimes can be difficult to distinguish trolling behaviour from non-trolling behaviour and that it's fairly normal to post (say or do) things in order to provoke a reaction - I see nothing wrong with that. We all troll sometimes.

   

Andyman wrote: It's just a fact.

Speaking of Walter, I haven't seen him around here in some time. 

 

I can do this because I think there is a difference between honest debate-stimulation (the old Socratic irony effectively employed) and deliberate provocation for personal amusement (Internet Trolling) so for that the Wikipedia definition of Internet Trolling is accurate and any other definition of trolling, however colloquial that definition may be, is simply misusing of the word. This in itself is enough for the term to be wrongly applied and that's where misunderstanding and flame wars begin.

 

True Internet Trolls are nasty pieces of work whose only interest and pleasure is in spoiling the enjoyment of others, there is no room here for those kinds of people. Fortunately we don't get many of them. I would go as far as to say we don't get any of them. Though I suspect that some people have been pushed into trollish behaviour while attempting to partake of this forum (I can think of a few), who for some reason have felt themselves to have been snubbed and/or insulted and thus decided to reek their revenge on an seemingly unsuspecting forum membership who were blissfully unaware that such a snubbing occured. I recall one instance where someone joined the forum apparently just to attack me, eventhough our paths had never crossed before and I didn't know him from Adam. The Internet and especially BBS forums are artificial environments - online group dynamics and interpersonal relationships aren't the same as real life, yet we attempt to deal with them as if they were.

 

I get involved in a lot of pointless arguments here that tend to get a little heated (albeit on one side only), and I know that in many cases people have deliberately said things to get a reaction out of me, baiting the trap expecting me to bite. Of course knowing that, I generally avoid such traps, however, what they then have to appreciate that any bite I take could be a deliberate counter-move on my own part. Sneaky things traps, though I would not necessarying accuse them of trolling as a result, often baiting is a means to draw the person into revealing what they really mean, rather thany trying to trap them into saying something they don't actually mean.