Dealing With Comment Trolls

There are a group of low life people out there on the tinterweb who like to leave hurtful and derogatory comments on people’s blogs in the hope it will elicit a reaction.  These people hide behind layers of anonymity and strike out at people for fun.

This post gives you my coping strategy for trolls, check it out, it may work for you.

You Are In The Public Domain

Unless you click on the check box to stop your posts being added to Google, once you click on publish that post is in the public domain.  With that public nature you are inviting people to read and comment upon your posts.  You should never forgot this, anything you write is open for criticism, what annoys me is when people attack without just cause just to get a reaction from me.  This is know as a bite where I come from.

Zero Tolerance Policy

I have a zero tolerance policy for Trolls on my sites.  My blogs are exactly that, mine, they represent me and my business, if I don’t want to deal with a person I will not, I invite you to read and enjoy or disagree with what I write but I will not let you disrespect me.

I would not invite someone who was unpleasant into my home or social circle the same goes with the community I build on my blogs through the commnenting function. That is why I have zero tolerance for trolls.

Grow a Thicker Skin

When I first started on my blogging journey, I used to let these scum bags bother me and effect the way I posted in the future, then I said no, this is my voice and I will write what the f*ck I like.

I grew a thicker skin and will review troll comments for anything useful to help me develop as a blogger, else I shrug it off.

Constructive Criticism

I am not adverse to constructive criticism on my posts, but it must be that adding to my posts a simple “you suck” or even worse is not criticism or helpful.

Add to the conversation as I said in my post 7 reasons to leave comments expand on it or even disagree but keep it civil and act like a member of the human race not a knuckle dragging numpty.

A Mantra For You

Whenever you get a troll, simply mark it as spam (hopefully there is some sort of AI in Akismet which will start marking the troll as a spammer) and delete it and say the following tantric soothing mantra:

fuck you, you fucking fucker who the fuck do you think you are, you fuckwit!

Say it with passion, say it out loud then drop the whole subject, they are not worth your sweat :-).  It helps to get the frustration out in the open.  I am sure there are some hippy words for this such as externalisation of rage.

Parting Word

I don’t get a lot of comment trolls (none here at WPDUDE but some on larger blogging sites where I guest post) and they sometime get my back up, but I have learned to grow a thicker skin and let it wash over me, trolls return to your spot under the bridge before I call in the Billy Goats Gruff.