WELCOME

But, even this definition of trolling could still be misleading.

March 23, 2019 by Paul Fletcher

But, even this definition of trolling could still be misleading. A few years ago, we noted that "trolling" and "humping" (as well as "trolling" and "scamming") were very common and could be considered "hate speech." It wasn't until this year that Valve added a new category of "harassment," which we called "harassment of a person for doing the same thing over and over, with an asterisk, and without the person's knowledge or consent."

It's not that this makes trolling offensive, or that "harassment" is wrong or that we're all racist. It's that it's too hard to define, and we've long been concerned about the way we interpret these kinds of broad definitions. Let's take a look at some of Valve's definitions of harassment and how they differ.

What are "harassment" and "harassment of a person for doing the same thing over and over, with an asterisk, and without the person's knowledge or consent."

A "harassment of a person for doing the same thing over and over, with an asterisk," is an activity that has been perceived as a "troll campaign" that demands information about an individual (such as where they live).

A "harassment of a person for doing the same thing over and over, with an asterisk," is an activity that has been perceived as a "troll campaign" that demands information about an individual (such as where they live). "harassment" includes "lacking the ability to participate in a campaign of harassment, including a campaign of harassment of a person for doing the same thing over and over in an effort to gain a large amount of money, in a way that will not affect other gamers, or for the benefit of an individual who does not live in a community where harassment of a person for doing the same thing is a problem, or for the benefit of an individual who does not have a strong sense of fairness in the way that harassment is judged, or for the benefit of an individual who does not have a strong sense of fairness in the way that a campaign of harassment is judged, or for the benefit of an individual who does not have a strong sense of fairness in the way that a campaign of harassment is judged, or for the benefit of an individual who does not have a strong sense of fairness in the way that a campaign of harassment is judged, or for the benefit of an individual who does not have a strong sense of fairness