I feel the word 'troll' has been used too negatively on this site. Trolls are looked upon as a 'distraction or a 'nuisance' to the site. But are they really? I am here to explain.

What many fail to realise is that 'Trolls' are responsible for many things:

• They bring life to the forums, their threads tend to be controversial which creates debate. Which leads to community participation. These threads tend to create huge discussion unfortunately some get out of hand but most have a satisfactory conclusion.
• They are misunderstood. They defend their console of choice with grace, honour and respect. They always seek to maintain the reputation of their console and always interact with their fellow gamer.
• They bring entertainment to the forums. As outrageous as their predictions or posts maybe one cannot fault them for the entertainment they bring.
• Their controversial threads require us to prove them wrong, they challenge the community to outsmart them, which is not easy

You may find this surprising but 'Trolls' are responsible for bringing the community closer. Picture the following scenario.

An Example.

"If I was to post a controversial thread in the 'Microsoft forums' stating that the Xbox 360 had reached it's peak. Mrstickball would disagree with me arguing his points as to why the Xbox 360 has not reached it's peak. By than the community would have joined in and voiced their opinion leading to mass discussion. I would than counter my arguments with Mrstickball as to why I think the Xbox 360 has reached it's peak. 120 replies later the discussion comes to end and the community is brought closer, priceless."

The new term for 'Trolls' = 'Entertainers who bring life to the forums'.

Please I ask you to use the word troll delicately, only few us are true entertainers

Megaman2 out.

being illogical in no way contributes to healthy debate. If you can back up your claims with fact and proper reasoning it isn't trolling. Troll != entertainer. Troll = pain in the ass.

What if their prediction or post are illogical despite being controversial, it leads to a healthy debate is that a bad thing?

Example: I say that the ps3 has outsold the Xbox 360 because it's half the price so therefore it's sales should double. Despite it being illogical it leads to a healthy debate and community participation is that still pain in the ass? or quality entertainment?

Well if you can troll and not get banned (by posting valid points as nordlead said) then you are definitely bringing the forums to life... but that wouldn't be trolling would it?

Conclusion: Troll, entertain and get banned.

OR

don't troll, be boring, eat sushi, jump up twice, play kz2 and live happily ever after

Well some trolls are entertainers, others (most) are truly painful to watch. While I disagree with "defending their sonsole with grace", I can agree with bringing the community closer... and your other claims. I think this may be a thread of the "bringing the community closer" type.

trolling is bad. D=

and some mods consider troll to be flaming!(i should know).

We dont have trolls on this site. All users post reasonable arguments. Yes they do

I think you have a different definition of "troll" than most of us.

To me, a troll is not someone who is defending their console.  A troll is someone who attacks another console.  Most of the time, a troll doesn't even own the console they are talking about.  They usually don't have facts, and only speak in tired cliches.

Their only objective is to try and upset other posters.

Colonelstubbs always speaks the truth, good luck in afghanistan

I would say this is the case for 60% of them but the 40% is out to create discussions,