I’m apparently on thin ice in regards to trolling, and I may get banned if I continue to troll. Trouble is, I’ve got no fucking idea what trolling means exactly. So let’s discuss it.
IMHO, “trolling” means the act of taking on a persona or position just for the lulz generated by riling people up. So the rule against trolling allows banning of people who are found out to have been a complete fake who joined up just to rile others up and get attention.
Things that are not trolling include: (i) saying that one is trolling (admitting the ruse is OBVIOUSLY counter to the whole idea of adopting a fake persona solely to rile people up) or (ii) espousing sincerely held unpopular opinions or (iii) making the occasional post solely to tweak the easily tweaked (e.g. from my own repetoire: “Welcome to Obama’s America.”).
I just think that saying “I am a troll” cannot be trolling by definition. It’s like saying that someone who says “I am a liar, don’t believe a word I say” has violated a rule against lying.
Bolding mine. Trolling does not necessarily require that the position taken must be insincere. The principle requirement is that the post is for the principle intention of making people angry or upset.
Nor does the admission of trolling absolve the troller of the charge.
Here’s a case in which the OP opened a thread that was pretty blatant trolling, considering that there was considerable uproar on the board at the time about the issue in question. He was warned in the thread here.
Also, I don’t think this is a very robust definition. I bet I could find you 100 posts in threads on the front page of the pit that meet that definition.
What about all of the posts calling a poster a racist? Are those not made with the intention of making the alleged racist upset?
What about all the posts that denigrate all those that hold a particular opinion? I’ve seen scores of posts stating that everyone who believes X is evil or somehow inferior on some moral/spiritual/whatever level (I authored some of those posts).
You have illustrated the failure of your definition of trolling. My purpose in starting that thread was not inflammatory. It was entertainment-atory. There was lots of discussion of pedophilia at the time, and I had just opened a different “Ask the” thread, so I had “Ask the” on the brain and thought that thread would be funny. I didn’t intend to flame anybody.
It wasn’t merely the admission of trolling, but that you were in fact trolling in another thread, and continued to do so (and admit to it) in the thread in question:
Yep. I remember a thread in GD about the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and I said something to the effect that Japan should consider itself lucky that it even still exists as a country instead of having its land mass reduced to a burning pile of rubble. A moderator got on my ass (but I don’t think I was officially warned or whatever).
But that is actually how I feel about the matter (i.e, Japan attacked the US, so Japan can be completely destroyed and torn asunder as far as I’m concerned). I didn’t post that to get a rise out of people, that’s my opinion on the matter.
It’s not “my” definition of trolling, it’s the definition in the Registration Agreement which you agreed to. And I don’t believe for one second your intent in that thread wasn’t to stir people up; that was the “entertainment” you were seeking.
OK, we are getting somewhere. So you think that posting something with the intention of getting someone’s goat (i.e., to tweak someone on an issue they seem to care about) is trolling and is therefore against the board rules, is that correct?
The definition of trolling apparently keys off of the intent of the poster. I am an absolute expert at my own intent, and I didn’t intend to tweak anybody with that post. I considered the OP a throwaway funny line–I didn’t think the thread would go anywhere.
I even sent a PM to the nice pedophile guy (not cesario, I forgot his name–the guy who started a thread saying that he didn’t want to be a pedophile) telling him that I just thought the thread I started was a funny idea and I hope he isn’t upset and good luck with the not being a pedophile thing.
Also, your interpretation of the very few words in the registration agreement is very much YOUR definition.
These kinds of comments belong in the Pit, not ATMB. Please don’t do this again.
If you want an answer to your questions, this doesn’t help. Besides, almost nobody is banned for a single instance of trolling. You weren’t banned, right?
Also, Colibri, it’s very specious for you to rely on the Registration Agreement here. It apparently is not enforced to the letter because “insults” are very much tolerated here–and not only in the Pit.