So, currently in the pit we have at least one poster who is clearly a troll. Someone who has nothing of value to offer any conversation, and is merely disruptive and annoying in very obvious ways.
They’ve been around for a quite frankly shocking amount of time.
Last I checked, this still applied to some degree in the pit. Right? I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one wondering this. 
The pit is slowly turning into 8chan or /pol/ because the moderators are adhering to rules that made sense in 1999 but are obsolete now. The best thing, sadly, is to distance yourself from a once interesting board as it turns into yet another alt-right forum.
You quote from the general FAQ here. The Pit rules are slightly different and read as follows (my bold):
Is your intention to restriction your inquiry to activity in the Pit? If it is, what Miller has previously posted may be helpful for context:
So you are right that this rule still applies to some degree in the Pit. It is different there than the rest of the forums on the board and Miller has been herculean in his consistency of application. I’ll let him elaborate further if he desires. If you wanted to have a broader discussion about the board’s application of the rule against trolling then feel free to expand your inquiry.
It is specifically about the pit, yes. What I am referring to is users who seem to exist solely for the purpose of pissing other people off. I feel like this is something of a loophole, which drags the pit down significantly in quality. Obviously some posts are going to make people angry. But if literally the only thing any post someone ever makes does is piss people off, if 99/100 posts they make are just inflammatory bullshit, why should it matter that it’s in the pit? The poster is contributing nothing of value to the board, other than making it a slightly worse place to be. We shouldn’t have to wait for them to cross lines which are absurdly easy to not cross (say, hate speech) to make that call.
This is particularly disappointing when I note that there are quite a few posters who are considerably less dickish and who actually contribute a great deal to the board’s culture who still nonetheless manage to get banned.
Something to keep a close eye on.
Hopefully the mods should be on top of that kind of thing - a board full Blinkheads would indeed kill it.
Since it’s only in rare, extreme cases that posters are mod’ed for trolling in the Pit, I think you’re going to have to tell us specifically which poster you are talking about.
I dunno, I’ve picked up a few really good recipes.
I bet its blinkypinky or whatever he is called, and I also bet a lot of other people immediately thought this thread was about that poster, which rather illustrates how obvious his trolling has been.
Moderator Note
Accusations of trolling are not permitted in ATMB, so please do not mention specific posters in this thread.
If you find a post by some poster that you think makes it clear that that poster’s purpose, not simply effect, is to rile people up, then please report that post.
I think there’s a clear distinction to be made between a regular poster in other forums who also posts in the Pit to get a rise out of people he can’t tweak elsewhere, and someone who only posts in the Pit to troll (someone who only posts in the Pit, but Pits outsiders/his life/the government is not trolling).
The Pit is supposed to be the safety valve that keeps the rest of the Board more-or-less civil, not a honey-trap designed to attract free-roaming trolls in-and-of-itself. Or at least, that’s my feeling.
Note we recently banned a long term poster for trolling in the pit, when, up to that point, he hadn’t seemed like much of a troublemaker (to me at least). No suspension 1st, just more or less instantly deep-sixed. Likewise with another one from 15 months ago…
I had thought that, with that example being clearly made for all to see, that others would soon follow as the rules were tightened and enforced more strictly and evenly. I just wish I knew what the distinction is, exactly, between the above two bannees and the ones who still are allowed to go and feed at the trough…are mods supposed to be mind-readers or such?
I think these situations occur because the Mods have to attempt to find the line between trolling and someone who legitimately has strong but unpopular opinions.
Not as easy of a task as it may seem.
In general, I tend to favor letting them run under the assumption that such beliefs are strongly held and defended. It takes some work to convince me that someone is just posting to elicit a response.
The line between “dead” and “alive” is vague, but when faced with a 200-million-year-old fossil, clearly we are past a line. I would not have started this thread if we did not have an example more clear than any comparable I have seen since I joined this forum.
If no one feeds it, it will go away.
I hear this alot…but is it true?
Good point. Not in my experience.
In all the history of the internet, it has yet to be tried.
Really? In all the history of the internet, no one has given trolls free rein to do what they want without opposition?