I've trolled. I blame two things: frustration, and myself.

I would get frustrated that there was no reward (and often there was punishment) for correcting errors in others posts. It's incredibly rare to see a rebuttal followed by the original poster simply saying "I was wrong about that, thanks for the information." It's far more common for the OP to simply insult you, or mischaracterize your argument, or otherwise engage in nonsense as their response.

I would get frustrated that comments and posts are promoted on style, not substance.

I would get frustrated that substance was judged inaccurately; often resulting in people whose knowledge was either entirely absent, or only Google deep arguing fiercely with people who'd worked and studied the topic for years.

I would get frustrated at the general lack of respect for truth, for civility, and for each other.

I would get frustrated at pedantry.

I would get frustrated at double-standards and hypocrisy, with people posting uncited nonsense, but demanding citations from their opponents.

I would get frustrated at debate opponents who would willfully misrepresent their opponents side in the argument.

I would get frustrated that semi-plausibly-deniable passive-aggressiveness was accepted by moderators, but direct responses to that aggression were not.

I would get frustrated that sticky lies beat dry truth every time, in votes and moderation.

And once I got frustrated, I lost respect for the forums, but I didn't leave them. I liked what they could be, but not what they were.

So I trolled. I disrespected people who, I felt, were being assholes in one way or another and thus "had it coming".

This wasn't a great response, and for this I blame myself.

I should've done something more constructive with my time. The forums are going to revert to the mean with or without my help; there's no need for me to accelerate the reversion.