This is worth saying again.
The SDMB glossary gives this definition:
[INDENT]Troll – This is general internet usage for "somebody who is posting just to be confrontational or to raise hackles…[/INDENT]
And even though Sick Ate used the phrase “bait the hook” (which relates to literal fishing and maybe trolling) he wasn’t posting to raise hackles.
In the OP he says, “I don’t have much more to say about it, but figured this would be good Dope fodder.” That’s a lazy way to post, but the topic isn’t controversial enough to think a fight is going to break out. It’s a MPSIMS post, and not a good one. Later in the thread Sicks Ate writes, “I wasn’t trying to start a fight or troll for inflammatory responses; it doesn’t appear that there’s actually that much to fight about. It’s more of a human interest story, as I see it. And yes, apparently I was mistaken as to how much ‘interest’ there would be in it.”
So MWAG was not only junior modding and violating the the rules with an accusation of trolling, he was also wrong about it being trolling.
[QUOTE=A Monkey With A Gun]
We dropped fishing lines out the back as we paddled. That type of fishing is called trolling. It is what the annoying internet behavior is named after. It means not doing anything except letting the fish in the lake do all the work.
[/QUOTE]
And as long as were discussing definitions, “trolling” doesn’t have much to do with letting the fish do all the work. Trolling for fish can also involve casting your line and reeling it slowly back in, which is a fairly active type of fishing – at least compared to watching a bobber.
Internet trolls can be active participants in threads. “Letting the fish do all the work” really doesn’t have much to do with internet trolling, which is more an issue of (in fishing terms) getting strikes.
Suppose he had said “c’mon, you’re having us on, right?” or “Sicks Ate, you’re such a wind-up merchant.” Would either of those be warning worthy?
Really, the authorities should reduce the the charges for two reasons: 1) He was set-up with the “bait the hook” line and 2) The usage wasn’t intended as an insult.
