I'd wager that the amount of troll posts and bait threads aren't actually increasing, it's probably because a number of more active users have been driven away from the forums in one way or another, so the spotlight is more on the trolls than usual.

I will say though, it's kind of sad when you see people who say they don't like the trolling are usually one of the first to respond to a thread created by the troll they claim to dislike.