On 6/25/07, Fred Bauder fredbaud@waterwiki.info wrote:
Basically we take the internet meaning. A troll is someone who tries to make trouble in an on-line context. "Troublemaker" is a synonym. We are familiar with people who are aways trying to start an argument. Pit people against one another. It has to do with bad faith. A troll, will sometimes take a position they don't hold just to set everyone else off. Sometimes this behavior is uncontrollable but most people who have it in their repertoire are aware of it and can avoid it. If it weren't so common and disruptive we wouldn't have to have a word for it with the potential for misuse.
Right. Known-good editors who end up in a dispute should not be flinging "Troll" around at each other.
Someone with an honest issue, bias, or objection who is pursuing that in a moderately unfriendly manner isn't trolling. We all have issues, biases, and objections. And I for one won't presume that I never am unfriendly or not good at communicating (I bit someone a few weeks ago with a communications gaffe which was, in retrospect, entirely my fault), and I think that generalizes well.
New accounts that show up and start disrupting stuff can, after suitable persistence, be called trolls.
More subtle, longer-term editors can be identified as trolls with more evidence.
A lot of people who aren't dedicated trolls utilize trolling behavior at some time or another.
In most cases, the trolling is by doing something that's more specifically a WP community behavior problem. In many cases, it's less loaded to push back using the other more specific community objections to that behavior (COI, incivility, NPA, etc).
But Fred's right - there are dedicated trolls / vandals out there.