The word 'troll' is used often in politics. Trump is considered the most famous troll by many. But this definition has made a great shift since I first heard it used in the late '90s. (There were few trolls and conflicts on newsgroups were mostly flame wars before then, AFAIR.) There use to be a whole sub culture dedicated to the deceptive 'art' of the troll. Now the term has a much wider scope in its common usage to describe any person that makes other people upset or hostile, which includes your basic a-holes throwing insults, but includes anyone that is upsetting others by arguing their beliefs in a forum hostile to those beliefs. (Like a person voicing their argument in opposition to the Covid vaccine in their job's insurer's Covid vaccine Q&A forum). Hence, Trump, the greatest disruptor of American politics since who knows when, is labeled a troll.
Mainstream dictionary definitions don't imply that deception is needed:
Merriam-Webster: to antagonize (others) online by deliberately posting inflammatory, irrelevant, or offensive comments or other disruptive content.
Cambridge: the act of leaving an insulting message on the internet in order to annoy someone.
Urban Dictionary has a different opinion:
#1 Trolling (verb), as it relates to internet, is the deliberate act, (by a Troll noun or adjective), of making random unsolicited and/or controversial comments on various internet forums with the intent to provoke an emotional knee jerk reaction from unsuspecting readers to engage in a fight or argument
Trolling on-line forums as described above is actually analogous to the fishing technique of "trolling", where colorful baits and lures are pulled behind a slow moving boat, often with multiple fishing lines, covering a large bodies of water, such as a large lake or the ocean. The trolling lures attract unsuspecting fish, intriguing them with the way they move through the water, thus enticing these foolish fish to "take the bait". Not unlike unsuspecting internet victims, once hooked, the fish are reeled in for the catch before they realize they have been duped by the Troll/Fisherman
#2 The art of deliberately, cleverly, and secretly pissing people off, usually via the internet, using dialogue. Trolling does not mean just making rude remarks: Shouting swear words at someone doesn't count as trolling; it's just flaming, and isn't funny. Spam isn't trolling either; it pisses people off, but it's lame.
The most essential part of trolling is convincing your victim that either a) truly believe in what you are saying, no matter how outrageous, or b) give your victim malicious instructions, under the guise of help.
Trolling requires deceiving; any trolling that doesn't involve deceiving someone isn't trolling at all. As such, your victim must not know that you are trolling; if he does, you are an unsuccessful troll.
Mainstream dictionary definitions don't imply that deception is needed:
Merriam-Webster: to antagonize (others) online by deliberately posting inflammatory, irrelevant, or offensive comments or other disruptive content.
Cambridge: the act of leaving an insulting message on the internet in order to annoy someone.
Urban Dictionary has a different opinion:
#1 Trolling (verb), as it relates to internet, is the deliberate act, (by a Troll noun or adjective), of making random unsolicited and/or controversial comments on various internet forums with the intent to provoke an emotional knee jerk reaction from unsuspecting readers to engage in a fight or argument
Trolling on-line forums as described above is actually analogous to the fishing technique of "trolling", where colorful baits and lures are pulled behind a slow moving boat, often with multiple fishing lines, covering a large bodies of water, such as a large lake or the ocean. The trolling lures attract unsuspecting fish, intriguing them with the way they move through the water, thus enticing these foolish fish to "take the bait". Not unlike unsuspecting internet victims, once hooked, the fish are reeled in for the catch before they realize they have been duped by the Troll/Fisherman
#2 The art of deliberately, cleverly, and secretly pissing people off, usually via the internet, using dialogue. Trolling does not mean just making rude remarks: Shouting swear words at someone doesn't count as trolling; it's just flaming, and isn't funny. Spam isn't trolling either; it pisses people off, but it's lame.
The most essential part of trolling is convincing your victim that either a) truly believe in what you are saying, no matter how outrageous, or b) give your victim malicious instructions, under the guise of help.
Trolling requires deceiving; any trolling that doesn't involve deceiving someone isn't trolling at all. As such, your victim must not know that you are trolling; if he does, you are an unsuccessful troll.