[FRIAM] So what IS trolling: WAS oxytocin, again

[uǝlƃ ☣]

Well, your "dragging the conversation into your own cave" does qualify. Trolling is a spectrum of behavior. But it all goes back to *provoking* a reaction. If one's intent is to provoke, then one's trolling.

But trolling isn't bad. I lump it into other provocative roles like Devil's Advocate, gadfly, contrarian, etc. At its best, trolling is a kind of critique, like irony or sarcasm, where the provoked reaction depends on the sophistication of the provoked person. An emotional cripple like Trump responds like a child when trolled. The people on FriAM are mostly adults who are either immune to trolling, or respond with the layered reactions one would expect.

On 3/4/20 1:00 PM, thompnickson2 at gmail.com wrote:
> 
> I think of trolling as attempting to destroy an internet conversation by ad hominems or other forms of harsh dismissive argument.
> 
> But when I think of trolling as a metaphor developed on the child's story of the Three Billy Goat's <https://americanliterature.com/childrens-stories/the-three-billy-goats-gruff> gruff, then perhaps lurking under interesting arguments in order to provoke arguments only of interest to the troll fits the bill.
> 
> The one is a kind of cruelty; the other is a form of cluelessness. 

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☣ uǝlƃ