When does playing the devil's advocate become trolling?

[VicunaBlue]

During a discussion, it is common for one participant to take on the role of the opposing party. After seeing some of the interactions on this forum and others (Maybe a certain thread on sex), I was wondering where most people draw the line.

For me, it is when they begin actually harassing other participants.

 

[The Maddest March Hare]

When it is done in a purposefully offensive way, or when the arguments they use to back up their point become increasingly moronic just to make the others react in a more annoyed way each time.

A good devil's advocate knows when the other person has won the argument and uses real points, whether they believe them or not, to give some strength to their comments.

 

[tomtom94]

Playing devil's advocate is fine. I do it often.
Trolling is when you play devil's advocate constantly looking to provoke people into attacking you, deliberately use tactics to get them to attack you (such as deliberately ignoring evidence so that they will call you out on it) and do so aggressively.

 

[ramboondiea]

i thinks its when the advocate only do it for shits and giggles, and just making things up and just doing it to wind people up, so basically when the person doesnt actually care about what their advocating and just doing it for arguments sake

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

Intentionally taking the opposing side on a debate for the sole purpose of playing Devil's Advocate follows what trolling is verbatim.

that's not true at all. playing Devil's Advocate is about trying to get people to look at a matter in a way they might not have done. the best way to be sure you've made the right decision is to look at your decision from an opposing viewpoint. if you still feel your decision is correct, than you've made the right choice. if not, it may be that you just needed to account for something you hadn't previously considered.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

When they do it to piss people off.

For example, I might play devil's advocate to put something in perspective, or because people seem to be misunderstanding the opposite view. If I did it because I was bored and wanted some angry messages, that would be trolling.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Just playing the Devil's Advocate and giving your points to counter one's argument on a topic is just fine and perfectly normal. It's when you purposely makes statements to defame and insult that person just to provoke aggression out of them which brings the attention upon yourself is when you become a troll.

 

[face_head_mouth]

Usually it becomes trolling when people finally get tired of arguing with someone in that position and wants to end it, but at the same time don't want to appear as though they're giving up. They label it as trolling and usually it gets stopped.

Intentionally taking the opposing side on a debate for the sole purpose of playing Devil's Advocate follows what trolling is verbatim.

Playing Devil's Advocate is not posting intentional fallacies solely to get a rise out of others. Let me try to paint you a picture here. We're in a debate between the three major gaming platforms and I've decided to play Devil's Advocate for PS3, despite being a hardcore PC fan.

This would be acceptable for someone in my position:

The PS3 can do all sorts of things besides game, and it's easy for people to hook up and use. You don't need to be into computers to have fun with it.

Now, if instead I wanted to troll the discussion, I could drop something like this:

PS3 PWNS J00 ALL PC SUX"

Did that help clear it up?

If this were the case, then I wouldn't have thirty people in my thread call me a troll.

Some of the people in your thread think you are a troll because they can't conceive of a human being saying the things you are saying while still being honest and sincere. Saying that you ARE being honest and sincere won't help this either; they will simply take this as further proof of your deception. A troll gains nothing from admitting that they are a troll, so denying that you are a troll will only strengthen the positions of those who already believe that you are, regardless of the reality.

I personally believe you are sincere, although I certainly don't agree with you.

 

[Valkyrie101]

Devil's advocacy is throwing out a controversial idea for discussion. Trolling is doing so purely to provoke a reaction.

 

[BMA11995]

When umad...