Sealioning

Sealioning is a form of trolling or harassment in which a person relentlessly demands evidence or explanations, often for points already addressed or only loosely relevant, while maintaining a veneer of politeness and feigned sincerity. The exhausting, bad-faith persistence is the point: the target is worn down by endless "just asking questions" while the sealion poses as the reasonable party. The term comes from a 2014 Wondermark webcomic by David Malki.

Sealioning matters on Reddit and similar platforms because it exploits the norms of good-faith debate to harass without obviously breaking rules. Because each individual message looks civil and inquisitive, it can evade automated filters and even human moderators, who may struggle to distinguish genuine curiosity from a coordinated war of attrition. Recognising sealioning as a named pattern helps moderators and users see that harassment can be procedural and polite, not just abusive in language, which is relevant to how harassment policies and tools like the harassment filter are designed and applied.