My New Definition of Troll

A CoH group on Facebook suffered an uprising of over-bold trolls who required chastisement with a flaming Banhammer, and this triggered the usual drama wallowing and hand wringing among the troll groupies- those who enjoy the trolling but won't risk their own virtual hides by participating directly.  The trigger for this uproar was a thread urging everyone to let bygones be bygones and give Wildstar a try in spite of NCSoft's involvement.

You can imagine how well that went over.

During a brief exchange with the disgruntled (I proffered my usual comment on the definition of 'free speech'- which baffles so many- and the presence of many other CoH groups where the afflicted could seek asylum), someone proposed the usual semantic derail, who's appearance in these situations is as reliable as the sun rising in the east - WHAT IS A TROLL, really, and who among us is qualified to identify them!

My final comment included that useful illumination of the boundaries of free speech, shouting 'fire' in a crowded movie theater- the connection seemed obvious to me, as for many exiles (myself included) the name NCsoft remains anathema and its mention guarantees a wrathful reaction.

And one of the troll groupies, who is always, always on the fringes of these conflicts in whichever FB group they occur, replies "Actually, that's a bad example" and went on at length describing the various circumstances in which someone would be completely justified in shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater.

So, that's my new definition of troll- someone who's instinct is to shout 'FIRE', or, if lacking the courage of their convictions, someone who springs energetically to the defense of those who shout 'FIRE', striving mightily to justify their irresponsibility with hair splitting and obfuscation.