Personally, I'm perfectly OK with trolling and, in fact, I encourage it, but only as long as: a) It's clever. Anyone can be an annoying prick, but to know your enemy and his weakness, to have a well-thought out plan of attack in order to achieve maximum lulz... That takes skill, and it's something I appreciate. b) It's deserved. To me, anybody who's hateful or bigoted is fair game. Those who take things too seriously, as those mentioned in 51m0nn's post, are asking for it as well. And, of course trolls can and should be trolled back. If you can't handle the heat... c) It has no serious consequences. I might be a pedant, but I don't believe that trolling can be a pleasant experience for the both parties, since its aim is, by definition, pissing people off (of course, if the victim catches on and starts having fun themselves, that's all for the better, but it would mean that the troll has been unsuccessful). However, trolling that goes beyond being aggravating (such as a thread I saw on /b/ where they were trying to troll a dude into committing suicide) is most definitely not OK. So anyway, that's my two bits. Troll responsibly.
I personally don't think trolling is all that funny at all. Some people enjoy the anger and humiliation of others, and those people are usually the ones who have some sort of the same problem. They want other to feel the pain they did so they make others feel it. The vicious cycle continues. I don't troll and i don't try to involve myself with any trolls. Little teasing and messing around is ok, but when it starts to hurt somebody is when the line should be drawn
To my notion, trolling, in and of itself, is actually harmless. Its interpretation varies entirely by perspective, but if someone is getting upset because of the trolling antics of someone else, it's completely their fault for taking what the troll says at all seriously. Being facetious is the whole point of trolling, actually. What some of you seem to be describing here is internet bullying, which, in fact, isn't quite the same as internet trolling. By my experience, trolling has little to do with harmful experiences one has faced before, but rather, it has more to do with just brazenly wanting to f with someone/exasperate. It used to be common practice that people would give some clear indication that their attempt at trolling has been completed, or made "successful", usually in a funny way, such as posting a trollface or something. This marks the most prominent difference between bullying and trolling (to an extent): Bullying is particularly serious and has to do with personal problems and/or insecurities, while trolling, on the other hand, is (or should be) particularly waggish and shouldn't have anything to do with personal problems and somesuch, though I suppose a moralistic or ethic-based thing may or may not have a role in it. People troll out of boredom, literally because they have nothing better to do. As for drawing a line, I'd say the moment that you begin trolling, the line has already been crossed. For this reason, I don't draw much of a difference between someone getting angry and someone crying; they're both connotations of "upset.", and making someone upset or confused is the ulterior intent behind trolling itself. So the best line to draw for trolling is the point before you start, if you're not looking for all that it may ential. Trolling people on Xbox is hysterical, though, definitely. MinnesotaBurns is probably among one of the best at it. A calm, stoic voice really helps that a lot.
I draw the line at this point: If the one being trolled can't laugh WITH you, then it's going too far.
I haven't commented yet saying how much I agree with this, so I thought now would be a good time. Practical jokes are fine, but being a jerk because you think it's funny is just juvenile.
Trolling is good up to a point, but I'm against it when it goes too far and becomes flat out abuse. Of course, that's just me coming from the guilty pleasure of doing it... on occasion...
I actually just left a forum (digitpress.com if you want to know), probably forever, because the members were bullying this one guy so hard that they drove him away. Me and a couple others tried to stand up for him, but it didn't help. The worst of it was when one of the bullies sent a message to people the guy knew IRL in an attempt to get them to bully him too. THAT'S where I draw the line. People being jerks on the internet is one thing, but if they were trying to mess his real life up, that's going WAY too far and my concience would not allow me to stick around there any more. There is something of a happy ending, though, in that the guy sent PMs to those of us who were nice to him inviting us to friend him on facebook, which I did.
I have trolled many fan sites, and will continue to do so. As long you keep it appropriate, I have found that many fans actually LIKE trolls. They won't leave a fandom over a snarky comment or meme, and arguing with trolls helps to keep forums fresh and interesting. People need a bad guy, and I'm happy to accomodate them. I just make sure to never cross the line.
Just reminds me that I have argued with "troll" on youtube for like 24 hours, it was fun. Not really a troll, just a bronyhater who thinks that being a brony leads to being clopper and that clopping leads to beastiality, aka, idiot. I guess I am the troll :Trollestia:.
I love soundboard trolling. VideoCompiler's videos were some of the funniest things I've ever seen. This one in particular is just classic. Warning: The language makes this NSFW. [video=youtube_share;WvdRF2UdGJs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvdRF2UdGJs[/video]
The point of trolling is to actually anger or upset someone. Yes its cruel and all that but, that's trolling. There are many forms of trolling, but trolling can't be considered joking around. Cause then your just joking, not trolling.
I agree with this sentiment, and don't think I could put it much better. So I draw the line when it hurts people. If you are upsetting someone, it's not funny anymore and you are just being a bully.
I drew the line against trolling a few years ago, my friend (He was a Troll) decided to troll this kid. He said it would be fun, he told the kid that he put a virus on his computer, and that if he gave remote access to his computer he would remove it. This kid was little like 5-ish, so he agreed to letting my friend (Not friend anymore) onto his computer. So he turned his video on over skype, when i saw that he was really young, I told my friend i was uncomfortable about, and he told me that he wasn't going to anything bad. He opened his computer, and started to delete windows, and i tried to stop him, but the kid's father walked in, and yelled at him asking what he was doing. The kid didn't know what was going on, so I myself yelled at my friend to stop the process, but windows was lost for that computer. I felt bad just being in that call with him.
Most of the time I can't even tell, unless their language is super giving and is easy to read between the lines from. I just assume people take up their positions and are voicing what they actually believe, if they are just being unreasonable, I bail out anyways and don't really need a signal of trolling. Trolls are trolls, they exist to get banned.
