Dealing With Blogging Trolls

(Wiki) In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

At some point, we're going to run into trolls. These are those nasty negative folks who believe that the party should end, the lights should go out and the neighbors should be quiet. They like to often times snipe you with some expertise and tell you why what you said was wrong.

My favorite way to deal with these is not to go on the defensive because then your own stand you just made in the post looks weak and you look like you're scrambling to defend it. Instead, do a quick search for blogs on that subject and redirect him to, "Thanks for you insight and I hope you're enjoying the blog world. Here's a blog I think you might really like that's right in line with what you're saying--" and then give him the blog address. It seems terrible to pawn them off on someone else, but sometimes your blog is not a good fit for someone and it's better to send him to a blog that caters to his version of the world.

There is also a desire at times to trash can the comment, but that sometimes ignites a backlash from the "troll-ster." It's better to show your readers how you handle haters. The only time I've had to trash can someone was when someone comes on to make a comment that has nothing to do with the post and leaves their address to their own blog. That kind of spamming--not cool.

Invariably, people are not going to agree with what you say. There are those who crumble under such "hating," and some of us who smile slyly because we know we struck a chord with someone. If you feel secure in what you're saying, you should have two reactions:

1. It's okay for someone else to have a different motivation, experience and conclusion and they should not take yours, yours was developed by your own voyage in life.
2. You know what you know and no one can change that.

You want the key to a happy life and a happy blog? Here it is: Cognitive distortions will give you emotions that are way out of proportion and way over-the-top than they should be if you were thinking logically.

What are cognitive distortions?

They are asinine beliefs that are not based in reality. For example:

Everyone should have my belief system
Everyone should be nice to me
Everyone should support my stands on issues
Everyone should be kind to others

There are only a few examples of illogical distortions that make no sense. Everyone is different and everyone should have a different idea of what is nice, what is right, what is important. These sorts of distortions are the very reason we still have hate and prejudice in the world and people noticing their differences instead of embracing them.

That probably sounded a bit new-age for most folks, but it's a fact of life: Paris Hilton's life trek makes her priorities and people skills very different than say an inner city kid who lived on welfare and had a mother who smoked crack. So, let's get over ourselves. The world does not accommodate your beliefs, your ideals or your "should's," "must's" and "ought to's."

All of that being said, smile at the trolls on your blog, redirect them appropriately and for gosh sake's don't take them personally. You truly can't know what provokes others, what factors are in line or why they are such a cranky ass, but you can just be thankful you're not married to them and move on.