What criteria is used to determine whether or not someone is a troll?

If you see someone respond to a question with a post that is argumentative to others, but does not answer the question posted, you may start thinking of them as a troll. If they do that repeatedly, they will be considered a troll.

A big clue is if they argue one side on a question just to argue, but argue the other side on a similar question, merely to get a rise out of others.

Some trolls post a question that seems to lean towards a position, but the argue vociferously with anyone that agrees with the original slant of the question.

By the way, i am not a mod or anything, I don’t even know if the Fluther powers that be even have a guideline for designating someone as a troll. I am only offering how I decide someone is trolling.

Anyone who attempts at straight up logic no matter how it hurts and avoids insignificant games seem to be the criterion here for troll.

Maybe it’s best to understand plainly, a troll wants to invest less time on a thread, to have you invest more of your own.

Total time other thread participants invested / Troll time invested = What a troll cares about.

You are asking how the site would differentiate between slightly off topic, slightly misinformed, or trying to minimally troll. Only the poster would know. No one else could determine it given your criteria.

Low lurve/new account . Pissing every one off. No fruit in conversations.

^^fruit? Froo-it? Of the dev-ill?

Same as @zenvelo, someone who comes here only to shoot every responses for their thread down.

Someone who asks the same questions again and again with questionable details can be a red flag.

Troll is a verb more than a noun.

A troll is someone who deliberately flame-baits, attacks, sows discord, and veers conversations off-topic. Their entire purpose for participating is to manipulate your time and emotions for their amusement.

I thoroughly enjoy the practice of anti-trolling – trolling the troll. Back in the Answerbag days there was a group of us who had oodles of fun aggravating the hell out of the aggravators.

We don’t have objective measures for this. It often comes down to a judgment call. Does the user’s primary motivation in participating here seem to be creating drama? Do their posts seem consistently designed to draw a backlash from the community? Does attention-seeking seem more important to them than thoughtful discussion? Is there evidence of deceit or fabrication?

I want to be clear that having unpopular opinions is not what makes a user a troll here. Also, publicly accusing someone of being a troll is not allowed. If you feel someone is trolling, let the mods know.

What @thorninmud said, though I’m going to add that trolls are much more obvious when you have all the information. Very often, we deal with returning trolls who give themselves away – or trolls who have already caused trouble on another site.

A troll is someone who provokes discussion when you didn’t feel like being provoked. It takes two to troll.