dans79 wrote: ↑01 May 2017, 23:42
Personally I don't consider someone a troll because they have a differing opinion, or are incorrect about something.
To me a troll is someone who does one of two things.
- Routinely posts with the sole intent of irritating other members. It could either be their tone, or the content of their post as Just_a_fan said.
- Continues to be hostile and belligerent even after being given cold hard facts like rules or timing data.
I'd say we have no more than 10 active trolls on the forum. The ones I'm thinking of, have all either been around long enough or have enough post under their belts to know whats acceptable behavior and whats not.
I have a personal distaste for the ones who think its cute to skirt around the forum rules with heavy amounts of passive aggressive sarcasm. where I'm from and how I was raised It's ok with someone you know well, but to act that way with a complete stranger is a good to end up in a physical altercation.
I do agree that people consistently posting such things can be considered as "trolls".
However, an issue I increasingly see with this is that person X has an opinion, a valid opinion and person X is certain this is factually true, and has valid arguments to back this up. Person Y on the other hand does not share this opinion, but has equally valid arguments for having this different opinion. After a discussion of a few posts they still do not share the same opinion, even though they are equally well argumented, and person X will consider person Y to be a troll, because person X will consider his opinion absurd as person X is convinced of his opinion and is convinced that he has proven his views to be factually correct.
On forums there is a fine line between factually proven and thinking it is factually proven. People clashing over something is inevitable, and that is why there are moderators. I don't think giving people tools to label someone based on what they themselves believe to be true is very healthy for a forum and it's discussions.