# I've been warned for accusing another of trolling. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 4, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835 "2012-05-04T03:52:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/21 "2012-05-04T05:43:15Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > Wait, seriously? If someone posts that they are “baiting the hook” and someone points out that that is, by definition, trolling, they can get warned? That’s not an insult, it’s a definition! And could the other poster get warned simply for saying that they are “baiting the hook”? After all, they are _literally_ admitting to trolling! Thank you. People forget. He said “I didn’t bait the hook properly”. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/22 "2012-05-04T05:55:35Z")
Everybody think about that for a second. Republican/Gay/Farmer is bait on a hook. Bait. Bait for a message board. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/23 "2012-05-04T06:37:21Z")
Then report it. It’s not like the topic is verboten _unless_ the guy admits to it. The other poster is not responsible for what you choose to post. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/24 "2012-05-04T06:49:09Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > Wait, seriously? If someone posts that they are “baiting the hook” and someone points out that that is, by definition, trolling, they can get warned? That’s not an insult, it’s a definition! And could the other poster get warned simply for saying that they are “baiting the hook”? After all, they are _literally_ admitting to trolling! I think that’s different. Not sure what I would, personally, do in that situation. That is NOT, however, what happened in this case. From the thread: > [@Missouri Republican legislator 'comes out' in response to anti-gay bill.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missouri-republican-legislator-comes-out-in-response-to-anti-gay-bill/620762/18): > > Let me clarify something, though. **Sicks Ate** , I don’t think you are A troll, **I think you are trolling.** Just don’t do make a habit of it. Bolding mine. It’s a pretty clear cut case of saying someone is trolling here and that’s against the rules. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/25 "2012-05-04T06:50:41Z")
If Monkey With a Gun had said “Baiting the Hook” and only that, it would have been a much more gray area, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/26 "2012-05-04T07:01:57Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > Bolding mine. Bolding yours?! I underlined the “ing” for a reason. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/27 "2012-05-04T07:21:46Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > **Colibri** , I’ll take the god damn warning. Just consider this thread as me registering a protest. > > I’ll take it, and I won’t fight it that much, but I am damn sure going to post my displeasure about it. So, you’re taking umbrage with it, then? ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/28 "2012-05-04T07:43:43Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Bolding yours?! > > I underlined the “ing” for a reason. And that changes the fact that you said someone else was trolling, how? ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/29 "2012-05-04T07:44:51Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > So, you’re taking umbrage with it, then? Yep. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/30 "2012-05-04T11:19:12Z")
More to the point. It does seem obvious that a poster was intentially trolling in that thread. Has that poster been warned? ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/31 "2012-05-04T11:50:22Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > More to the point. It does seem obvious that a poster was intentially trolling in that thread. > > Has that poster been warned? I think this is what is troubling me a little. MWAG got called out: fair enough. A rule was broken, but it also seems pretty clear that the other poster was intent on winding people up. If I admitted doing that I would expect to get my backside kicked. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/32 "2012-05-04T12:05:00Z")
Personal insults are not permitted outside the Pit. There is a clear difference between “you are stupid” and “what you said is stupid.”\* Moderators in most forums and most cirucmstances recognize that there is (often) a slight difference between “you are an asshole” [insult] and “you are behaving like an asshole” [constructive criticism.] However, that’s a matter of degree. Note that neither elaborate hedging nor humour are excuses for personal insults. Thus, it is still a rules violation to say: “You sometimes have, under many circumstances, remarkable similarities (in part) to the creature known as a jackass.” We long ago recognized that troll/trolling were a special subcategory of insult, and thus we devised a specific rule to cover it. So, the clarification you seek, **Monkey with a Gun** , was in the Rules long ago. The REASON for the special treatment is, as **Colibri** quoted above, that we do not want people feeding the trolls. There are two scenarios: (a) They really ARE trolling, then they’re thrilled and delighted at yet further shit-stirring. (b) They’re NOT trolling but just hold an unpopular opinion (for example), then it’s an insult. Thus we ask you to refrain from using troll/trolling as an insult and instead report it to the mods. If you like, try this analogy in the real (non-Message Board) world: If you think someone is an asshole, you might tell them so. If you think someone is a terrorist, you keep your mouth shut and call the authorities. - [sup]Please note that “you” in this context is the generic “you” that does not refer to any individual, alive or dead, posting in this thread or elsewhere.[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/33 "2012-05-04T12:41:56Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > So if you think that’s what they are doing, report it. > [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > We long ago recognized that troll/trolling were a special subcategory of insult, and thus we devised a specific rule to cover it. > \ > Thus we ask you to refrain from using troll/trolling as an insult and instead report it to the mods. If you like, try this analogy in the real (non-Message Board) world: If you think someone is an asshole, you might tell them so. If you think someone is a terrorist, you keep your mouth shut and call the authorities. People seem to be glossing over this part and concentrating on the “insult”. There really isn’t a need for a “special” rule for this insult, as what it come down to is the person doing the accusing is being a junior mod. Post #7 touched on this, but it was ignored. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/34 "2012-05-04T12:54:44Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Stretch?! It’s the etymology. [cite](http://computer.howstuffworks.com/troll.htm). I don’t think that’s quite right. The word “trolling”, in this sort of situation, is an internet misspelling/mispronunciation of the word “trawling”. “Trawling: to fish with a trawl net or seine” Norwegian mythology really doesn’t come into it. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/35 "2012-05-04T13:07:09Z")
> [@srzss05](#): > > Post #7 touched on this, but it was ignored. Hah! Don’t put that on me. **Twixter** said the guy was “coming across as a complete [twat](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15030452#post15030452)”. I don’t know what he’s mad at me for. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/36 "2012-05-04T13:16:23Z")
[QUOTE=Lightnin’] I don’t think that’s quite right. The word “trolling”, in this sort of situation, is an internet misspelling/mispronunciation of the word “trawling”. “Trawling: to fish with a trawl net or seine” Norwegian mythology really doesn’t come into it. [/QUOTE] nope. [Trolling (fishing)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolling_%28fishing%29) ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/37 "2012-05-04T13:17:36Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Hah! Don’t put that on me. **Twixter** said the guy was “coming across as a complete [twat](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15030452#post15030452)”. I don’t know what he’s mad at me for. Maybe cause Twickster is a female? And she kicked her own bum for saying that as well, which was pretty cool. "[mod]twickster, you know better than to call another poster a twat in an MPSIMS thread – and, yes, saying that he or she is “coming across as a twat” amounts to saying he or she is a twat. Don’t do this again. No warning issued.[/mod] " So, in saying that she effectively closes out your argument about the difference about troll/ trolling. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/38 "2012-05-04T13:17:48Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > Both are bad, but it’s the difference between “an asshole” and “being an asshole”. Uh, both of those are warnable offenses as well. If this is the line in the sand you think you’ve drawn, you’re still several feet on the wrong side. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/39 "2012-05-04T13:27:28Z")
n/m ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835/40 "2012-05-04T13:36:58Z")
> [@Alan\_Smithee](#): > > Wait, seriously? If someone posts that they are “baiting the hook” and someone points out that that is, by definition, trolling, they can get warned? That’s not an insult, it’s a definition! And could the other poster get warned simply for saying that they are “baiting the hook”? After all, they are _literally_ admitting to trolling! I think that you’re making the point that the warning was justified, because not only is calling someone a troll specifically and unambiguously against the rules, but so is junior modding. Seriously, when you call someone a troll, you’re basically breaking at least one rule - calling someone a troll. If you’re right, you’re also junior modding. And, you’re probably breaking the rule of insulting them, too. For good measure, you may also be being a jerk (although I don’t think **Monkey** was here, at all). I guess that that’s why accusations of trolling are “verboten” - they usually break a handful of rules at once. If someone trolls, you click the little “report” button. Seems simple enough. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-warned-for-accusing-another-of-trolling/620835.md?page=3)