User:Leucosticte/Trolling

Accusing others of trolling is discouraged. ZackMartin's Law states that "In any debate, the first person to call someone a 'troll' automatically loses the argument." Most debates go nowhere productive as soon as someone drops the T-bomb. This is to be expected, because one can hardly have a constructive dialog by accusing one's opponents of acting in bad faith or hurling epithets at them. There also seems to be persistent belief (or argument, anyway) that if we don't give in to the demands of whoever calls someone a troll, then the trolls have won.

A Futurama Fry cartoon states, "Not sure if trolling ... or just stupid." (See also Hanlon's Razor.) If someone consistently acts stupid, one may as well act under the assumption that the person is indeed stupid rather than questioning his motives. The question then becomes, What is the best way of dealing with consistently stupid people?

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 * What is a troll?