troll

Troll refers to a person who makes inflammatory or hostile comments, which by effect or design cause disruptions in discourse. Trolls provide a valuable service by making people question the validity of what is read both on the Internet and from other sources. Trolls show that expressing any opinion is as easy as expressing an informed and considered opinion and may get as much visibility. It is arguable that shock jocks and some newspaper columnists are trolling public opinion. Trolls are also a source of genuine humour, which depends entirely upon whether the troll is a good or a bad troll. It's usually fairly easy to spot the difference between such actions: a bad troll resorts only to weak uncreative arguments whereas a good troll will create a subtle set of arguments which draw people in with cunning twists to provide a thread of non sequitur humour.