[Air-l] list behavior

Another aspect of list behavior I find interesting is some folks' tendency to respond to a troll. Why do it? Despite Cornwell's truly abysmal behavior on the list, some folks insist on looking for a silk purse in his messages, and responding as if he were just another internet scholar, and thereby legitimize his presence and previous behavior. I've seen this before. I find it bizarre. Can anyone explain? Has anyone seen or done any research on this? (BTW, to the list member who find's Cornwell's stuff on education and technology so groundbreaking and insightful: Its not. It may be new to you, but that ground has been broken for some time and is being tilled by lots of other folks.)