I have absolutely no doubt about that whatsoever, and it really just goes to prove the validity of this image I found once. Of course, several of these barely exist any more, but the point still stands.
Whoa, I just saw that article and the same topic theme on a local forum! I also stated an opinion there that every forum needs a nice troll to keep the forum alive. Because discussions and arguments are source of knowledge sometimes.
Arguing is not the same as trolling, imho. I don't generally consider Omni a true troll. A troll's main goal is to incite negative emotions like anger, embarassment, hatred, and so on. A normal poster can do that at times also without meaning to. But that's not their primary goal. Most people at least start with an argument supported by what they think are facts, whether they are right or wrong. A Troll cares less whether what he says is right or wrong, than he cares about making people angry. Trolls don't create lively 'discussions', or at least they don't care if they do. That's never their goal. As soon as anger comes into it, what you have can cross the line from 'lively discussion' into flame war. The only good defense against a troll is to ignore them. In MMOs, that's the primary reason why '/ignore' is the greatest invention since internet.
Actually, I do not generally troll here. But I do troll, even by your standards. Usually it is never intended to end up that way, but I have a temper and can be a total ass when I feel wronged even in something so useless as Internet arguments. Where do I draw the line from an argument to outright trolling a person? Generally the most common situations are where a person posts something that I disagree with, then after I argue their position into the nearest dumpster, they change their post so they can evade my debunking and make me look like a moron. That almost never happens here, and is usually resolved by me just editing my own post to match their new post. I could link in some things, but Gaslamp Games does not approve of such things, and they are right to hold to what they believe. That is probably the one thing that really differentiates me from trolls. I actually attempt to follow the rules everywhere I go. The good news is that most places make it abundantly clear that trolling is against the rules no matter who started it.
"Trolling" is kind of an iffy term usually thrown around to describe behavior I'd call "being a prick", or just disagreeing with someone depending on the individual in question. When I think of someone "trolling", it's not being disruptive (that's just a part of having an opinion and lacking the self-control to not state it loudly and often), it's someone repeatedly and intentionally acting in a manner that contributes nothing and creates drama for the sake of doing it. Ergo, I disagree with this statement, because heated arguments can be eloquently stated and argued with reason and even dignity now and then. Granted, trolling is something that every forum is going to have, because the internet offers enough anonymity that consequences for acting like a moron don't exist... and honestly, I'm a pretty thick-skinned individual, so if they're giving me a laugh I don't mind. It's people who go at every topic being as condescending and theatrical as possible that get under my skin.
Trolling, to me, is intentionally aggravating someone by acting like a dick, or pretending to be stupid (the mindset "haha, made you reply!" comes to mind, for the latter). So I'm not surprised to see there is a correlation between trolls and sadism at all.
You guys are talking about fat trolls right? Who go all "lol ur butthurt" when you reply. Well, I guess what I meant are trolls who are actually think with their head and make nice statements in an argument. The fat ones should be banned because they're even no fun.
Can't say I've heard the term "fat trolls" before. I don't consider arguing to be trolling, though. If it were I'd be a troll-at-large on almost every forum I've ever been on.
