four_five_one
Infinition
The sophists weren't "trolls" by any stretch of the imagination, they were simply the established "professional" philosophers (sort of like modern-day academics) of their time.
Plato, of course, charged anyone who didn't believe philosophy was about eternal "truths" and "forms" with Sophism. And Badiou tries to do this too, as if "sophist" is still an insult thousands of years later. He might want to turn his critique on professional academics such as himself, who were the real target of Plato's antipathy.
Right, you're right. I just thought the comparison was apt; given, as you note, the shared metaphysical beliefs and disdain for relativism of Socrates/Plato/Badiou and the usual display of rhetorical irony (and concomitant disregard for 'truth') that the Sophist (as characterised by Plato & others) employed, and which trolls often aspire to, given the usual 'devils advocate' performance of yr typical troll.