Asshole provoking anger and resentment , not just opposing view

A troll is a mythical creature in Scandinavian folklore, who is often used to represent the forces of nature. Often associated with giants, they are usually represented as dirty, untidy, comically ugly and very hairy, judging by the photos there are quite a few on here.

I've seen the term used here, as well as other social media sites, far too loosely than what I feel is applicable. I've called one here a troll, never blocked or banned, but do avoid them like Ebola. It takes far more than expressing a difference of opinion or being passionate about your stance on an issue to truly be a troll. The way I see it, a troll has the primary objective of deliberately antagonizing or inciting an inflamed response and is explicitly consistent with that intent across the board with their interactions. You can be passionate and even perhaps aggressive about a stance on an issue, but otherwise engage in a more productive manner on other issues, and that does not make you a troll. If your only and exclusive method of engagement is inflammatory and abusive or you get obvious joy from posting things such as pro trump stuff to the trump pinata group or blatant false conspiracy theories to an academic forum, and those are the only ways you engage on a site, you might be a troll.

Trolls spot you. They’re one-dimensional, rarely adding to ‘human’ thoughts, but sticking to ‘their agenda,’ whatever that is.. They’re not here to date

My favorite way to deal with them is: when you see one’s ‘replied’ to your post … there’s a satisfying little ‘X button’ in the upper right corner that removes them from your sight.

For them: at the bottom left side of a page, there’s a counter that shows ‘who’s last looked.’ When they fail to see ‘you’ - they’re left writhing

Pretty sure this is a Troll.

I think the word is bandied about too much. Anyone who seems to have contrary views can have this label applied whether it is justified or not. There is rather more jumping to conclusions and labelling on the site than I expected from a group who think of themselves as critical thinkers.

What one individual may interpret as a an offensive provocative post or comment another individual may think the opposite ,so this is subjective .The people on this site have a habit of calling members trolls when they strongly disagree with them .This term is often misused ,especially on this site and is used as a form of intimidation and an insult. .I have never used this term , nor do I ever intend to.

So I think a troll can be someone who flames. I think if someone always wants to argue or change the subject to what they want to talk about. I think when someone is overly persistent on multiple occasions that's trolling.