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Depends.

Are these the kinds of trolls that hunt people down in the physical world, or send nasty letters to employers to get people fired, or send SWAT teams to people's houses?

All of those have happened. All of those are trolling.



None of those are trolling. Those are harassment. Trolling can be used for harassment but is not the same as harassment.


Judging by what the media has called trolling, I doubt the line is as clear as you seem to think:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29


Hate to break this to you but media is not always right.


Words are defined through usage, unless they're technical terms, which "troll" is not.

The media both reflects and creates usage. Therefore, yes, it is very much right in this case.

Whining that it's un-PC isn't going to help you.


When it comes to defining what a word means, the popular consensus is always right, and the media both reflects and influences that.

The exception to that is technical terms used in a technical context. That doesn't apply here.


Lol what? You seem to be grasping at straws.


That's basic linguistics. It's not new or controversial among linguists. It's why dictionaries are built by looking at usage and citing sources, as anyone who knows how they're made knows.


Look up descriptive linguistics some time.


Look up "two wrongs don't make a right" some time.


How do you think dictionaries are written?




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