+1
Really?
If an argument is “trollery”, isn’t the person who made it, by definition, a troll?
You’ll excuse me, it wasn’t my intention to announce some new departure. I’m seeking clarification.
So am I. Because the three examples I used, from this sub forum, seem like rule violations, but it’s not clear.
It’s confusing is what it is.
In the linked thread both Colibri and Idle Thoughts said that accusing someone of trolling outside of the Pit was against the rules.
I think it’s worth looking at the point of the rule–which is, presumably, to avoid having discussions hijacked by the thoroughly uninteresting question of what one poster thinks about another poster’s sincerity. If they’re trolling, the accusation continues the hijack they want; if they’re not, they’re almost certain to defend themselves in what’s gonna be a hijack.
I hope accusations of the act, as well as the identity, remain off-limits for GD.
…but you fuck *one *goat…
Even if saying “this post is trolling” isn’t allowed outside the pit (and I think Ed will be back soon to tell us he misspoke in his first response), this seems like a different situation. The point of the rule is to prevent hijacks or feeding the troll in the thread where the (supposed) trolling occurs. The thread in ATMB is about the rules and whether that Pit thread should be closed, so discussion of possible violations would seem to be fair game here.
Maybe it’s still a rule violation under the insult clause, but it’s certainly different than saying “you’re trolling” in response to a post within the same thread.
It’s still an insult in the Pit. 
I don’t care about “troll” in GD, but ATMB would be even more screwed up if you can’t ask why “Such-and-such a post is/isn’t trolling”.
Seriously–how can you discuss the rules when one of the most necessary words used to discuss the rules is verboten.
I kind of agree, with the proviso that someone can still manage to be a jerk in ATMB while discussing trolling. Accusations of trolling based on ATMB posts, for example, are not gonna be helpful, while badgering someone about your belief that they’re trolling (that is, repeatedly accusing them of it) in ATMB would look pretty jerky to me. But if you write something like, “Is this post in GD considered trolling?” and then talk civilly about the answer, that sounds like a decent use of ATMB.
I’m not a mod of this forum so I won’t be the one to address the specific issues.
The way things work is that if you report a post all of the mods of that particular forum will get an email notification. I know in my case I am able to check my emails a lot more often than skimming through threads. Then I’ll follow the link and take care of it if needed. That is why reporting problem posts is important.
So if you want prompt attention to a particular post it is much more efficient to report the post instead of opening a thread. Unless you have something else in mind.
This reminds me vary much of the oft-disputed debate over calling a poster a liar, vs calling a post a lie.
Wow, that sure didn’t look like “seeking clarification”. And I just used the 1st example in GD earlier today because of a that post!! 
Huh?
emph mine.
Gawd, it’s right up there with cunt is it?
Clearly there is a toll with the use of the word troll when crossing the bridge. We just don’t know how much yet.
Let’s say I found the actions of a poster to be repeatedly “trollery” in nature, and reported those posts. Nothing happens.
The normal response, I would guess, when a rules situation is unclear (like now!) would be to go to ATMB and start a thread. Given that Ed felt confident enough to give a certain answer before discovering that actually that might not quite be correct I think it’s reasonable to say there’s apparently some degree of modly interpretation going on there, making generalising less than helpful. How would someone go about asking why a particular post or series of posts in ATMB isn’t trolling without saying they seem trolling at some point?
This seems like it might be another one of those issues caught in the “no insults outside the Pit/no rules discussions outside ATMB” black hole.