Redefine Trolling

I've already spoken about this topic a tad in a comment, but I figured it could use a bit more discourse. Trolling, as it stands, is a completely ambiguous term. Looking through all of the posts all of you have made shows that every single one of us has a different definition for the word trolling. The fact that a word as silly as trolling can describe such a wide range of topics is pretty awful. Light teasing and jokes are called trolling, but so is misidentifying a criminal or sending someone death threats. In one of the Room For Debate articles we read, Manivannan touched on this subject. What would greatly help the fight against incivility on the internet is redefining trolling. Teasing, jokes, insults, antagonistization and all around mischief can still be defined by that silly word because they aren't serious offences. Harassment should be called exactly that though, harassment. By calling harassment "trolling," we give the perpetrators an out when they are caught. "Oh, I was just trolling her, it was just a joke." We can't let this happen. The word trolling illegitimizes the plight these victims of harassment went through and makes them and others much more likely to be attacked.