There. I said it. It's a pretentious, self-important heap.
Why? Because it insists on the existence of "trolls". You see, we have [[WP:AGF]], but then we also have Trolling. This, apparently, is where you go on a website and piss off people for the lulz*. Of course, there are trolls on the internet. But this can't be confirmed.
By definition, someone is a troll when they are annoying you with malicious intent. You can't tell someone's intent when you're across the Internet, so that can basically be assumed. If you like someone, you can say that they were acting in good faith, while if you don't like them, you can take the most innocuous of actions and say that they were doing it in bad faith.
Basically, the word "troll" means "person who annoys me". So by definition, it's an extremely subjective label. And when you try to have objective policy based on a subjective definition, you get a shitstorm**. You have people being labelled as "trolls" because they had the misfortune to annoy someone. And worse, they can't prove to anyone that they aren't a troll because of [[WP:DENY]]. This essentially states that if someone yells "TROLL!" then the person in question immediately becomes Satan incarnate, and will never again have a fair chance to do anything on equal footing with anyone else.
It's fine to ignore intentionally annoying people who try to get a rise out of you, but when you're on the Internet, it doesn't fucking** work. You can't tell someone's intent, and to try is to fail. IRC is a great example.
So I get on IRC, right? Freenode. The FOSS network. I join some Wikipedia channels; #wikipedia, #wikipedia-en, and maybe another, I dunno. Well, because I'm banned on Wikipedia, everyone thinks I'm a "troll". So, despite the fact that I'm having a perfectly civil conversation (or I may well be idling in the channel), JohnReaves/ST47/Cometstyles/kmccoy et al. immediately, upon entering the channel themselves, op themselves and ban me for trolling. So, fairly pissed, I /join #wikimedia-ops. Here's a typical conversation. [INFO] YOU (Flameviper) have joined #wikipedia-en (or whatever). <Flameviper> Hey <Otherperson> Hi. <Flameviper> How's it going? <Otherperson> Fine. (about 15-30 minutes elapse) [INFO] Op has joined the channel. <Randomperson> Flameviper is banned. He's a troll. <Flameviper> Please stop bringing that up every time I'm in the channel <Randomperson> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Flameviper <-- HE'S A BANNED TROLL [INFO] Mode +o Op by ChanServ [INFO] Mode +b Flameviper*!*@* by Op [INFO] Op has kicked Flameviper from #wikipedia-en (Flooding, 4chan/ED trolling) [INFO] You are banned from this channel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [INFO] YOU (Flameviper) have joined #wikimedia-ops. <Flameviper> Hello. <Op> Hello <Flameviper> I was just banned in #[insert channel here]? <Op> Yes. <Flameviper> Why? <Op> You were trolling. <Flameviper> Excuse me? <Op> [[WP:DENY]] <Flameviper> You're not making any sense. <Flameviper> you're just tossing about random accusations. <Op> You provoke us in the channel <Op2> Should we ban him? <Op> Okay. <Op3> Fine by me. <Flameviper> What the hell? I'm trying to have a civil discussion! [INFO] Mode +o Op by ChanServ <Flameviper> If you want me to leave, you could just ask. [INFO] Mode +b Flameviper*!*@* by Op [INFO] Op has kicked Flameviper from #wikimedia-ops (Leave.) [INFO] You are banned from this channel.
LOL FUCKING WUT. See, this is the kind of thing that happens constantly. I enter a channel, people create drama because they don't like me, and then they tell me "You create drama." If I didn't get banned constantly, I wouldn't bitch about being banned. -----
Summary: You can't label people trolls based on the fact that they annoy you. "Troll" is a subjective term, and thus by definition, and judgement based on someone being a troll is inherently unfair and biased.
Notes: * "Lulz" is a widely-used Internet term. Although most people know this, they usually use it as a reason to accuse someone of being an "ED troll". ** If the offensive language offends you, I kindly invite you to GTFO.
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