Trolling is a concept that has been aggressively misunderstood by the general populace. Trolling is not "pissing someone off", it is not "rage-baiting", it is not being an asshole on the internet. Authentic Trolling is a sophisticated psychological operation on the micro scale.
Before one can understand trolling, one must understand the psychological landscape of the people who fall prey to it. I am going to borrow a term from Ted Kaczynski – oversocialization.
Socialization is the process by which children are taught how to operate in society. Operating in society requires micro-decisions to be made on a nearly constant basis. What clothes to put on, what to say to the random people you interact with, how to speak to your mother, your father, your nonexistent girlfriend. Socialization is the process by which heuristics are embedded for each of these tasks. A properly socialized person does not have to think about what to say to the pizza delivery guy, they just make small talk and then go back inside. As people become less socialized, basic interactions that should require zero conscious thought or effort transform into impossible tasks that send people into anxiety spirals.
Socialization is the installation of this subconscious framework that allows for a functional society. It encodes the rules, regulations, taboos, and social norms deep within the nervous system, where it operates without the necessity of conscious control. Without it, people would be either paralyzed by anxiety, or completely insufferable to the people around them. This is typically what happens to low functioning autistics, schizophrenics, and the like.
Oversocialization is the malefic form of this process – where social norms get embedded so deeply and totally that they colonize the identity of the person internalizing them. Where a socialized person possesses both the subconscious framework and a distinct identity capable of superseding or modifying it, the identity of an oversocialized person IS the framework. An attack on the framework is an attack on their very identity. This framework takes the form of whatever subgroup they belong to – if they are part of an anti-natalist group or something they will experience any positive messaging about babies as an attack on their very being. This is why people like this will respond in completely deranged, over-the-top ways to opinions they disagree with. To disagree with their framework is to say that it is false or damaging, which is to say that they – as "agents" of this framework with no identity outside of it – are false and damaging.
The mechanism of note here is the self-correction process that maintains this framework. Nervous systems can be rewired. In order for a nervous system framework to maintain dominance, it must systematically reinforce itself.
Reinforcement occurs both on the social and psychological level. We will begin with psychology.
The primary symptom of having social norms encoded into your identity is that possession of an errant thought becomes psychologically damaging. This is commonly referred to as "intrusive thoughts". A person with intrusive thoughts has absorbed a social framework into their identity, and where this social framework conflicts with their biological drives, the drives are shoved into the closet, never to be spoken of again. The inevitable outcome – it comes out in intrusive thoughts, overreactions, trauma responses, etc.
Whenever a thought arises that conflicts with the social norm, this thought is fought, destroyed and packed away. They then undergo a kind of "penance" ritual, or perhaps even a "confession" where they tell their subreddit about how they accidentally had a racist thought and how they feel so horrible about it. Their subreddit will then pat them on the back, assure them that it is an inevitable part of the process, and reinforce the behavior. This is the social element. Without it, the internal psychological correction still occurs.
When this "dangerous thought" arises externally, they respond like a white blood cell to a disease. They immediately seek to attack and destroy this thought, and by extension it's carrier, by any means necessary. They operate completely outside of the framework of logic. Not illogical – alogical. Without logic. The way you would react to a cockroach under your bedsheets.
It is important to note that oversocialization is not a blanket diagnosis. Somebody can be oversocialized, properly socialized, and undersocialized with regard to different things. This is actually the norm in modern society – people not socialized enough to talk to the pizza delivery guy, but so oversocialized that if a racist thought pops in their head they have a panic attack.
Heavily oversocialized people, the ideal targets for trolling, will be henceforth referred to as "bots" in this address.
Now, we must take a closer look at bot psychology. We've established the external response. Now we must articulate the internal experience.
Because bots experience social norms as their identity, words are not treated as separate entities. Social systems are, in effect, rules about words. To a person whose identity IS social system, words ARE reality. They are not separate from it. When they encounter "bad words", it pollutes the sterile hospital room they have carefully constructed in their mind. This triggers a severe trauma response, and they look to rectify the source of this contamination. If the contamination occurred from within, they aggressively prune their own mind to avoid it happening in the future. If it occurred from without, they aggressively attack whoever is responsible.
These are the only "release valves" they have for this psychological agony. The agony is experienced, and it is transmuted into either external or internal attack. They attack the person who said the bad words, or they attack themselves for thinking them.
This is where trolling comes in. The art of trolling is very simple. Trigger this psychological trauma response, while DENYING them a release valve.
This is why "rage-baiting" is not trolling. The release valve is clear. It's standing right in front of them. Some guy is there, being an asshole, and they can easily direct their distress onto them. This solves the psychological stress cleanly while providing a dopamine hit in the process. It does the same for members of their group who witness it. This accomplishes nothing but reinforcing their beliefs. It may be amusing. It may be a good time. But it accomplishes nothing but your own satisfaction. This is not trolling.
An easy example of trolling is to go back to the anti-natalist example. A statement like "Babies are good.", timed right, can be extremely damaging to the psyche of one of these deranged lunatics. The reason it works is precisely because it's so innocuous, so innocent, that no sane person could possibly react badly to it. Even better if done while larping as a mom or something "Babies are so beautiful and are truly a gift from God 🥰". This cuts right to the core of their visceral hatred of infants and what they represent, while being delivered in such an innocuous and cute way that any negative reaction from them looks completely unhinged. If they take the bait, this will release the pressure somewhat, but the incoming public mockery is guaranteed to multiply the pain tenfold. If not, they have to sit in the prison of their own fractured mind, simultaneously enraged and bewildered at why they feel the way they do. Either way – psychological rewiring. When the programming itself causes the suffering, and there is no scapegoat to take the blame, they are forced to rewire the programming for the purpose of psychological self-preservation. This does not occur all at once. But every successful troll is a step in the right direction.
An excellent example of society-wide trolling: "It's Okay to be White".
Not "White Lives Matter", or "All Lives Matter", notably. These two slogans, while they have the same idea, fail because they are inherently framed as combative statements against Black Lives Matter. While they may work to some degree for the people watching the argument, they are completely ineffectual against the target and "It's Okay to be White" functions far better on every level.
A statement like "It's Okay to be White" is perfect. It is completely innocuous, not because it "hides" some "evil white supremacist ideology". Because it is a blatantly positive, innocent statement, that reveals the twisted psychology of anybody who becomes enraged by it. There is no jab about BLM, no wink and nudge to some racialist political philosophy, nothing. Again, this works even better when presented in feminine clothes - "It's Okay to be White 💖". Authoritative statements alone present as masculine, when you add a cutesy emoji to it the character of the message changes completely, in a way that is perfect for the operation at hand.
Applied to a specific example, you could say something like "I love being White! My boyfriend's White and he's soo handsome 😍🥰". Any negative response to this statement reveals the psychology of the person who made it in graphic detail. A deranged lunatic on the side of the road, screaming at a teenage girl for thinking her boyfriend is handsome.
When they go silent, you've won. When they argue with themselves instead of you, you've won. When they freak out and start ranting, you've won. Once you've won, disengage. Any further engagement reveals you as being invested in them. You are not. You did your job, you made them look like a retard. Now move on. There's a whole world to troll.
A few further notes on feminine presentation. It's extremely potent for "masculine" political ideas. Talk in cutesy language, be super nice to people, make your pfp a flower garden, whatever. All of it serves the cause.
This principle, abstracted, is of critical importance to understand. People are inundated with information, ideas, philosophies, all of it. The only way to operate in such a landscape is to fit people into boxes that you can hand-wave away. The "violent skinhead loser", the "crystal waving astrology girl", the "incel who can't get laid". If you want your ideas to be noticed, read, and understood, you must make a point to break the mold so totally that anyone trying to make sense of you is forced to engage with your ideas earnestly.