Referencing this thread, is there a codification, something better than “I know it when I see it?”
You can’t codify these things, nor should you try to. That’s what the mods are there for, to make judgement calls on these matters. The last thing we need is more rules.
Straight Dope Staff Report: What is a troll?
My opinion (as one Moderator; other Mods may disagree): Looking at one post, the difference between sarcasm and trolling can indeed be difficult to determine. There are some cases that are clear, and there are some cases that are not. We tend to look at a pattern of behavior: a long-time poster who has a spotless record comes out with a remark that seems to be “baiting”, and it’s probably saracasm. A fairly new poster makes a comment that seems to be “baiting,” and all nine of her prior posts were ALSO “baiting,” so we see a pattern that probably indicates this is just trolling.
This is why we really dislike having posters call other posters “trolls,” whether directly or subtly. We would rather have you report supsects, so that the Moderators can make reasoned decisions.
This ain’t trolling, right?
I’m in agreement with this. With rules come rules lawyers: people who intentionally act as annoyingly as they can within whatever technicality they can pull out. Basically the equivalent of the little brother who keeps jabbing his finger a half-inch from your face, saying “I’m not touching you, I’m not touching you, I’m not touching you…” We can argue about individual rulings, but keeping the rules subjective allows the mods to call a jerk a jerk.
I wouldn’t want to live under it as a legal system, but as a guidline for social conduct it seems to work just fine.