alias_sqbr

I used to feel that way but had a few bad experiences with that sort of troll and so have more sympathy with people who are paranoid about them. I've had a few situations where strangers mistook me for such a troll and I was very offended..and then noticed where someone else started by saying very similar things to me and then went on to be really offensive and nasty.

I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt myself (while making sure not to give the sort of ammunition they might use if they are a troll) I find those sorts of trolls give themselves away pretty quickly, if only by quickly ignoring anyone who repsonds politely and focussing on acting all matryred towards anyone who acts aggresively (or trying to pit the two against each other, I once had one misquote me so that people would think I was on their side)

That said, even well meaning but clueless people can horribly derail a conversation. Which isn't that big of a deal a lot of the time (especially with threads on lj), but sometimes I think it's justifiable to go "I'm sorry but that's off topic, and I don't have time to go into it right now", sometimes quite impatiently if the question is innapropriatte and seems to be a sign of being too lazy to look stuff up themselves.

For example, I like helping people with maths, I spent several years as a uni maths tutor and have given free help to lots of friends. But pretty much every maths discussion community I've been on has been inundated with highschool students asking really basic maths homework questions, even though the rules usually prohibit it specifically. At this point I have very little sympathy or patience for them interrupting the more interesting discussion, and had to learn to be quite firm with various students in real life who expected me to help them for free.