[cuban leaf]

I see calling any person a troll as an ad-hominem attack.

If you don’t like what someone is saying or proposing, prove them wrong.

[woodbutcher1963]

There was a vanity poster the other day from someone who had been a member since 2009 I think. They got thoroughly trashed. What surprised me was that I had never seen this poster’s tag name prior to a couple days ago.

Unlike yours or several others that I see all the time.
I figured they were a sleeper cell troll.

[MeganC]

“I see calling any person a troll as an ad-hominem attack.”

Not everyone is a troll. But when someone proves to be a troll we have moderators and JR who will make the call and then zot them away.

I no more consider calling a troll a troll than I do calling a Democrat a Democrat. Both are equally offensive terms, granted, but they are frequently accurate.

Sometimes they’re synonymous.

[Lakeshark]

Of course you're wrong.

Troll......

Proof. I just gave you proof.

:-)

[Gay State Conservative]

Some time ago I was a troll at democratic underground (aka: The DUmpster Kids) and at The Guardian.I didn’t last long at all with the DUmpster Kids...I was banned within a week or so.The Guardian finally banned me after a few years when I pointed out that there are only two genders (I kid you not!).

[fr_freak]

I see calling any person a troll as an ad-hominem attack.

If you don’t like what someone is saying or proposing, prove them wrong.

A person, even one who is clearly on the "other side", who would listen to reason or proof or logic is, by definition, NOT a troll. If we had a lefty on here, for example, who posted "I am a lefty and I think you're all Nazis" that wouldn't be trolling. That would be a lefty trying to argue with us.

A true troll is someone who is not here to have a reasoned debate. A troll is here to subvert, undermine, and destroy, if possible. A common troll tactic is simply to agitate in order to try to get regular posters to leave the site all together.

A true troll, and I have seen a few on this forum, will not reason at all. If you present a logical response to a comment that a troll cannot refute, the troll will simply ignore your response, and either continue with the same argument, or move on to another one. The objective is not reasoned argument. It is subversion.

With that in mind, trolls should be identified.