Ask Lemmy

So as you say what people consider trolling can vary greatly. Im old school and consider trolls like trolls under the bridge. In the old chat rooms they would come to stir things up usually by bringing up controversial subjects that would get the group arguing rather than talking about the subject in general. They generally would lurk and find out what made a particular group all heated. That is trolling to me. I worked at a school though and a student was describing what they though trolling was and it was like. anything. he liked pushed my shoulder and was like. see thats a troll. like doing anything annoying or mean in any way or something. The funny thing is I was extrememly sarcastic and was the first to jump on devils advocate in discussions. This is great when you are in actual casualy debate type of convos with pretty smart people that have the energy to do it. Sucks in the internet age though. People don't pick up on it and I often say I fear being sarcastic lest I create a new conspiracy theory or belief. None of that was mean spirited though it was more of an intellectual challenge type of thing that was great when taken in stride. I never liked mean spirited trolling and as I said I even tamp down on my sarcasm and such as much as I can. Not just because of the internet though but also because I lack the energy. That is internet related as being sarcastic with people that don't get it is exhausting.