The concept of an internet "troll" makes little sense if you care about substantive debate

Re:The concept of an internet "troll" makes little sense if ... by alex_c on Monday October 15, 2007 @02:18PM (#68120)

That's what motivates some trolls - treating the discussion as a game in which they manage to trick people into voting them up. That's the difference between a "good" and a "bad" troll, isn't it? A bad troll will be exposed right away, a good troll manages to pass for legitimate arguments for a long time.

You can't really say voting is the solution if part of a troll's purpose is to subvert the voting process.

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Re:The concept of an internet "troll" makes little sense if ... by amichail on Monday October 15, 2007 @02:24PM (#68124)

...a good troll manages to pass for legitimate arguments for a long time.

You can't really say voting is the solution if part of a troll's purpose is to subvert the voting process.

Who cares what the person's motivations are?!

Why do you care so much about the pattern of electrical activity in his/her brain?

If his/her posts/comments are voted up a lot, then they are good ones in an objective sense.

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Re:The concept of an internet "troll" makes little sense if ... by alex_c on Monday October 15, 2007 @03:41PM (#68174)

I care what the motivations are.

A person with a strong but controversial opinion will stick to and defend their point of view throughout the debate. The end result might be that I now understand a new point of view, or that they alter their point of view.

A troll will duck and weave, change topics and backtrack. The goal isn't to express an opinion they believe in, but to annoy people and get responses. The end result is that I waste my time reading their posts, since they're not going anywhere with it.

Sometimes you can only tell the difference after the dust settles. I'm still trying to make up my mind about this thread ;)

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Re:The concept of an internet "troll" makes little sense if ... by joeguilmette on Monday October 15, 2007 @05:31PM (#68231)

to troll is inherently negative. regardless of their intentions, if they aren't bringing a discussion to a bad place, then they aren't trolling.

i don't quite see how someone could be a "good troll"; if they are being voted up then at least some users feel that they are contributing to the discussion.

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