Troll!

[Castiel]

It is only polemics if you take a contrarian view to stir up debate that you are interested in (even if you are taking a devil's advocate position) in order to learn from it and understand people's viewpoints.

Trolls will take a controversial view in order to stir up argument for trivial (or highly emotional) issues such as nvidia vs. amd, intel vs. amd, microsoft vs. apple, abortion vs. non-abortion, atheism vs. religion. The purpose differs. For example, posting a thread on 'is there a god' in SC may constitute a polemics-posting technique, doing it on GD would be trolling. See what I mean?

So you have to consider the intent of the poster, and obviously the previous history of said poster to ascertain whether they are trolling or not?

That could be quite hard to do in some cases, especially with serious topics such as the Abortion and Religion ones you mentioned.

 

[No1newts]

It has. The word has been bandied around and used for everything. Such as disagreeing with the general consensus in a thread getting you a 4 day ban even though it's your first 'transgression' and a valid point.

Havent really seen that happening, though if I am honest I do not venture into GD as much as I used to as some of the keyboard warriors I used to clash with used to really get on my nerves

For all that I do enjoy GD and the occasional troll thread is amusing, if as others said it is well put together and thought out, however if it is as poorly put together as most it just annoys me and I tend to click away rather than being drawn in.

Just remember kids

 

[HAz]

its like the "thats racist" crap all over...

 

[ntg]

So you have to consider the intent of the poster, and obviously the previous history of said poster to ascertain whether they are trolling or not?

That could be quite hard to do in some cases, especially with serious topics such as the Abortion and Religion ones you mentioned.

It is hard to figure it out indeed, especially in forums where a poster may be new, so there is no history to judge from. That's why accusing somebody of trolling is always a bit of hit and miss (e.g. someone may be honestly a hardcore right-winger for example and take extreme viewpoints on social issues that you may instantly deem as trolling attempts).

There are some quality factors (triviality of the issue being raised, especially post-and-run which indicates a troll - but it's not necessarily a definition, tone/style of posting etc) to look at that will increase the degree of confidence you have on judging a trolling attempt but there is no hard and fast rule so to speak. That's why it's open to interpretation and views will always be divided on whether somebody is trolling or not.