I’m curious what you mean by “well-meaning troll”. The way I use the word, a “troll” is someone who posts for the enjoyment of disrupting discussions, pissing people off, or wasting people’s time and making them look foolish. As such, “well-meaning troll” is an oxymoron.
This probably isn’t what the OP means by it, but I’ve encountered a number of trolls who justified, or rationalized, their trolling by claiming to act as a counter to groupthink, or as predators in the ecosystem of ideas, or as some kind of Socratic gadfly. It’s up to you how much you want to trust those claims, but they are arguably altruistic and do seem consistent with the definition you offer.
I’m curious what you mean by “well-meaning troll”.
Basically, the posts were exactly what a troll would post, but I get the impression they were not posted by way of trollish intentions. Since consequences are what matters, ‘troll’ is still a good description.
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is useful to refer to “that duck” even if you think it’s not a duck. It is actually a cleverly-disguised kitten with a speech impediment.
I’m curious what you mean by “well-meaning troll”. The way I use the word, a “troll” is someone who posts for the enjoyment of disrupting discussions, pissing people off, or wasting people’s time and making them look foolish. As such, “well-meaning troll” is an oxymoron.
This probably isn’t what the OP means by it, but I’ve encountered a number of trolls who justified, or rationalized, their trolling by claiming to act as a counter to groupthink, or as predators in the ecosystem of ideas, or as some kind of Socratic gadfly. It’s up to you how much you want to trust those claims, but they are arguably altruistic and do seem consistent with the definition you offer.
Basically, the posts were exactly what a troll would post, but I get the impression they were not posted by way of trollish intentions. Since consequences are what matters, ‘troll’ is still a good description.
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is useful to refer to “that duck” even if you think it’s not a duck. It is actually a cleverly-disguised kitten with a speech impediment.
Would the sentence “As such, “well-meaning troll” is an oxymoron by definition,” have a different meaning than what you wrote?
Yes, it would. My intent was to present my definition and ask what one the poster was using, since it clearly differed.