A few years ago I used to consider myself one, but since then I've matured and learned a few things. Now I decidedly don't like trolls. For the uninformed, a troll is an individual who deliberately posts inflammatory, disruptive, or contentious stuff on the Internet to produce an emotional response from legitimate users... or something like that.

Idiot-baiting doesn't make you smart, nor does it make you look smart.
No. It actually makes you look stupid. Profoundly stupid.

Only someone who is patently insecure about their intellectual abilities would try to bolster their sense of self-worth by ridiculing others for being unintelligent. Smart people know they are smart; they don't need to compare themselves against others because their mental abilities are self-evident to them. Furthermore, most intelligent people are too busy thinking and creating to worry about the benign mistakes other people make.

Compassion is the fruit of wisdom. Understanding people, the way things work, and the consequences of actions makes an individual kind. To arrive at wisdom one needs to be dispassionate, open minded, objective, and non-partisan. These qualities demystify the other and promote an understanding of the commonalities of humanity. When one understands just how much they share in common with other people, witnessing (and especially causing) distress will cause that person to experience the pain of the other as their own through the understanding of this commonality. Therefore only an ignorant peorson could relish in the emotional upset of others.

There are many other reasons why trolling is a contemptible act, but I need to go get some lunch.

-Vlad