as with most people, they do not act the same way when someone is standing right in front of them, but there are exceptions. Not to prove how tough i am, but to show them that there is an actual person on the other end, and what ever happens after that, well. However, if i did find out where they lived, yes i would go and confront them. But even then, i never get personal, there is no point. Trust me, i have been ridiculed and actually threatened, even had someone threaten my family (not on this site, political website, crazy Bernie sanders supporters), although they did not know if i actually had any kids. This is the reason i do not say anything about someone on a a personal level, because they are not standing in front of. My point is, people would be a lot more cordial if you're standing right in front of them. For things I do care about, my responses are less angry and less critical and more level headed. It's not that I try to troll sometimes, I just don't care. Chinese tacos from Istanbul? What a load of shit. Real name or not, I'll give my fucked up opinion on anything. Doesn't affect us in the least, but we're going to give our outside opinion on it! Then, those that we have less investment in and not much interest - we can just trash on that all day. Those opinions won't be changed and we will fight for those opinions. We all have our issues we hold strong opinions on. But, since we're on the topic, let's go ahead and give my opinion on it without any context. In person, the topic wouldn't even come up. There are things that I say on a topic that I really don't give 2 shits about, I'm just putting in my couple pennies. So, you can have an opinion on things you normally don't give a shit about. Online you can jump from forum to forum, thread to thread. In real life, the conversation is only a few topics. It's easy to comment with so many different topics available.
Sometimes, trolling is less about your personal opinions and just wanting to stir the pot.