My understanding of the term was that a 'troll' was someone who deliberately mislead another or served as the spark of a flame war for the sake of amusement. In essence, tricking people "because you can" and sometimes "because they deserve it". Someone who makes fools out of people through their own devices, with the troll serving as only the catalyst.
A griefer is more someone who makes life difficult directly, like sabotaging something ingame or making such a nuisance of themselves that everyone around them gets dragged down through sheer annoyance.
In this sense, people use the term "troll" in arguments when they feel the other person made a remark that seemed only to serve the purpose of inciting a flamewar, through the use of communication methods or stated points that naturally get everyone else wound up into a fighting mood.
By that token, I have to admit that Ioric does set himself up for being labeled a troll because of the way he acts. I've seen him several times where he will launch himself fiercely into a fresh debate and then make disparaging remarks against those who oppose him. He's even made it clear on a couple occasions that he didn't even really care that much about the subject being discussed. Most people would probably see that as trolling, where he will mock a fanatical devotion (to the point of being personally insulted by opposing points of view) to something for the sake of getting the other arguers riled up to the point of a flamewar.
Personally, I think he just likes fighting. Nothing strictly malicious about it.
As for the forum politics, I happen to think it's remarkably loose. Toady has time and again allowed various undesirable aspects for the sake of a greater good, namely the freedom of expression. Yes, moderator actions have gotten a bit stricter recently (very loose definition of the term "recently"), but that's somewhat to be expected with the massive influx of people the forum has received (not to mention Toady's own frustrations and stress over why we can't seem to play very well together).
Actually, I've been a bit perturbed by the occasional outburst of "evil overlords". We have a very great deal of freedom when it comes to expressing ourselves, and the extreme cases when moderation is required are generally deserving of it. No, I don't think the forum is a better place without Torak, but I am absolutely certain that more fights would have cropped up had he not been banned. This was just a result of severe difference in opinion and Torak's inability to roll over.
I'm not saying I agree with every moderator action taken by the brothers (this would of course make me a Toady toady), but I am saying that the rules set in place here are by no means crippling, totalitarian, or even strict. This is of course just my opinion, and I've never had any action taken against me. Everyone's entitled to their own interpretation.
Note: I probably missed something while writing this out. This post has been written over three stages of development due to my being called away repeatedly, and one of my fingers has a bandage on it so typing is difficult. This usually leads to missing letters, words, or even complete paragraphs as I forget halfway through what I was rambling on about due to the slow speed.
Cheers.
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Topic: Troll brains (Read 7513 times)