Just curious. Because there are a couple of painfully obvious trolls trolling happily along and the only actions moderators have taken is to mod-note the people who have called them out. Sadly I can’t link to the threads because then I would be noted or warned for stating the obvious. But I am wondering what the policy on trolling is.
I think all I can say is what’s painfully obvious to you might not be painfully obvious to everybody. Trolling does involve interpretation about a poster’s motives, so we try to give people a certain amount of leeway.
Basically, it seems that trolling is allowed as long as you’ve been here long enough to become a “fixture” of some sort. If you’re a newbie, it’s an easy ban, but if you’ve flown under the radar for at least a few weeks you’re pretty much free to troll your little heart out.
What Marley said. If I see someone who I think is trolling, I will send a report, then leave it up to the moderators to decide. That way, you’ve done what you can without being mod noted for making a public accusation.
See, that is what I was thinking, and why this board is so easy to troll. You will never know another posters motives, unless they openly state them. Not unless you happen to be psychic. What you can know is what they are doing. That is what you should focus on. One thing you need to remember is that a troll can be perfectly sincere in their beliefs. And a person who is insincere might not be a troll. (Someone playing devil’s advocate, for example.) It doesn’t matter what a poster’s motivations are. If they act like a troll, they are a troll.
I thought it was clear that (outside of The BBQ Pit) privately reporting a suspected troll was allowed, but publically calling someone a troll was not allowed.
I’ve also reported trolls though I won’t in the future, since nothing gets done. It seems that trolling is technically against the rules, but won’t ever get modded, since the mods define trolling in such a way that it is impossible to tell who is a troll and who isn’t, barring psychic powers or a public declaration.
It’s rare. The registration agreement defines trolling as “purposely inflammatory remarks,” and in most cases we define a troll as someone who is trying to irritate or upset other posters. There’s not too much room for sincerity there.
That’s pretty circular. Usually we’re lenient in trotting out the t-word because we want to give people room to discuss all kinds of topics even if one poster might be full of it. That said, people who come off as trolls right away usually don’t last long.
Gotta concur with Marley. I see many accusations of trolling where it’s clear - not saying this about anyone in this thread - that the reporters definition of trolling is “This guy disagrees with me and it pisses me off.”
There’s a lot of gray area and interpretation of intent with a judgement of trolling. Those accusing could easily find themselves accused by someone on the other side of an argument.
So if you have a concern, please report it privately. No harm, no foul. But I do appreciate the alerts and do my best to view them as I get them.
At least until TPTB decide the troll has enough rope, which is when they take up the slack and cause said troll to hang itself. Metaphorically speaking.
As the starter of one of the threads at issue, would it work if I petitioned to have it moved to the Pit? (I don’t know if that’s possible, but it sure would be useful.)
If you’re convinced that reporting trolls doesn’t work if the poster has been around for more than a few weeks, how many people have you reported and none of them got hand-slapped? Two? Eighty? How much would be a representative sample?
I’ve personally reported many that haven’t had any type of mod response. Sorry, I didn’t keep a tally.
I haven’t kept a tally either, but it’s between two and eighty.
I’ve reported a few folks that received public warnings or mod notes. So it appears that the problem is the reporter, not the reported. 
I suspect the OP might have a different definition of trolling than I do, one that is more expansive. So the OP needs to define his key term. I acknowledge that defining terms is not a straightforward exercise and is vulnerable to endless quibbling.
I would say that a necessary condition for being a troll is to be one who enjoys drama. A sufficient condition would be non-explicitly expressing a position different than one’s own combined with an unwillingness to engage with other posters and honestly clarify their stance. eg “The K in KDE stands for Krap,” or “Object-oriented programming is difficult to use and doesn’t increase productivity.” Get Some PRIORITIES!
Another take was provided by the perfect master and an assistant in the year 2000.
In the primary thread that probably led to this question, I don’t think the poster is simply trying to get a reaction or inflame people. I think he really is that stuck in the past and convinced of his own superiority.
That’s only my opinion and I could be totally misreading it. I’ve seen other threads that I thought were trolling and allowed to go on too long, but there were probably others who would have disagreed with me. So I appreciate the mods being conservative with their judgment. I can always quit reading threads that I personally feel have crossed the line.
In case anyone is unaware, we have a Staff Report that addresses some of the issues raised in this thread: What is a troll?
ETA: Oops—didn’t see that Measure for Measure had already posted a link.
Not sure why obvious trolling is a problem. If you see any just turn away.
Because many others won’t, and then it hijacks the conversation.
And whether they are a troll or not, jsgoddess’s thread at least has been completely hijacked by that user, so a report of trolling should have at least resulted in being told to get off that topic. A debate about the subject was clearly not what the OP intended, and would not fit in that forum if it were. Trolling or not, the poster in question did completely disrupt the thread.
(Assuming that we are talking about the SSM thread she made.)