Remember, most trolls don’t know that they’re trolls. In fact, most of them think they are making the world a better place by "calling you out on your BS".

I disagree with this.

Calling people out on BS is a very important part of having a coherent conversation. People tend to box themselves into a single POV. You need to break their frame if you want to move them.

Sometimes you can do it gently, sometimes you need to use a bit harsher language. But calling out BS is the first thing anyone should do when they see cow shit being peddled as chocolate.

I'm proud to say I'm guilty of just about every behavior on here. That doesn't make me a troll. Nor does it make me a Troll in denial, nor does it make me someone who "is a troll but just doesn't know it yet".

It makes me someone who has opinions and is prepared to defend them.
But it means I am also able to listen to others in the process. I do what I do, because I see problems in the world and I assume most people are rational.

Even if they don't listen to me directly, at least they aren't shouting into an echo chamber and they know that someone is out there who is willing to listen intently instead of just nodding in agreement. Someone who will deconstruct the idea, find it's flaws and try to help shape something better.
Even if that means getting passionate about it.

So here's the deal. What makes a troll isn't actually any of these behaviors. They're perfectly normal behaviors to engage in, even in polite discourse.

Trolling is all about intent.
Literally a troll is someone who is just trying to be a dick. It's a form of mental rape and these girls and boys have control issues. They literally get a rise out of making you feel what they want you to feel. It is a form of satisfaction that borders on the sexual for them. Don't answer them except to say they added nothing to conversation and are now being muted. Then mute them, unfollow them and ignore them. Others will do the same and eventually the troll will move onto other places they can get their satisfaction from.

Provoking negative emotion and adding nothing to the conversation, is all that makes a troll a troll.

This is vastly different than someone who is willing to be passionate showing you negativity or postivity, while trying to voice their dissent.

I urge you to reconsider your stance because by the definitions stated here, I am a troll in nearly every comment I've made on steemit including several you've upvoted and somehow I don't think you meant that.

Nice post though!