It's never black & white. Ever. With anything in life. That's why I hate our judicial system, but that's something totally different. Trolling to my understanding is trying to cause flames and maybe start a flame war. There are clueless newbies who have no idea what they are doing, so they are excused, and then there are people who fully understand what's going to happen. You need to use common sense to see which is which. PL
If it could be summed up in one sentence, moderating would be an easy task. Trolling can come in various forms. (See the Field Guide to Trolls http://www.themartialist.com/pecom/fieldguidetotrolls.htm) Its easy to tell when some kid posts a blatant flame, such as "All TMA sucks" or "I can kick Bruce Lee's ass", but often people trying to cause trouble will have more intellegence than that, and bring up a topic they know will be controversial, then direct the conversation the way they want it to go. Just be civil to people in getting your point across, and don't make comments with the intention of causing trouble or starting a verbal battle.
My view of "Complex" trolling are people who make provacative statements about an art (whether they be broad or specialized) without any hint supporting data (ex: <start message> TDK's is completely useless for self defense</end message>) and when pressed they say that it isn't their responsibility to support their claim. These types of trolls also have the mystic ability to make threads more about themselves than about the actual subject of the thread. And finally, anyone who stoops to attacking the poster and not the post is trolling in my mind. Now, different question: is how important are trolls to the social interactions of an online community? I say very, provided they stay within certain bounds. - Matt
