Neville ChaimBerlin,
That’s not trolling. When David Duke publishes his Antisemitism, it’s not trolling; he really believes the stuff. It riles people up because he’s a jerk, not a troll.
Your definition is simply not correct. Using anti-Semites as an example like you did, an infamous neo-Nazi Web site makes itself a base for what it calls a “troll army” to attack prominent Jews in the media. The neo-Nazis on that site thus really do believe what they are saying, yet refer to themselves as trolls. Additionally, governments, organizations, and political factions are increasingly resorting to online trolling as a means to advance their agendas or products.
I understand that you may be concerned about someone with honestly held controversial views who unintentionally disrupts a forum or engenders highly emotional responses being labeled a troll perhaps unfairly, or people using troll as an ad hominem to attack those with differing positions, but your redefinition of the term is much too narrow. I would broaden the definition of troll to mean someone on an online forum who attempts to provoke, surreptitiously influence (e.g., caution trolls, or sockpuppetry), or cause pain, regardless of what his/her true views are.
Yes it does, but “trolling” is not CR specific slang. It’s a popular internet slang word which just happens to be misused a lot on this site.
I’ve typically seen it used correctly here, and with a few exceptions, those identified as trolls are usually rightly identified.