How to deal with an internet troll?
I am dealing with my first internet troll! I can’t help but think that this is a first sign of success ?
The funny part is… It wasn’t even on my content. It was on one of Alex Ikonn‘s vlogs. I left a comment and was interacting with other people, then came a comment out of nowhere with a polite but yet very rude point of view. I couldn’t help but respond.
Few hours later, I got answered back, with the most disrespectful, and still out of topic comment. Then I realised…. I JUST FED A TROLL! ? How silly of me! So I want to cease the occasion and address the issue.
After that, seeing no feedback from my side, the troll went right to my Youtube video to spam it. So if you see any nasty comment don’t be surprised. I am trying to delete as much as I can, but I am sure he is capable of creating another accounts just to keep spamming, or maybe he has a whole troll secret community to help him with that. Don’t worry he will tire out eventually, especially if there is no reaction from my side.
Why did I let myself into a troll’s game (backlash)??
Okey, he was not the typical simple troll, that just leaves meaningless dumb comments like “stupid video” or “you’re so ugly”. He had good syntax and no grammar or spelling mistakes. He was also giving an actual argument, an outraging and out of topic one, but an argument nonetheless.
How to identify a troll? There was some solid red flags though…
- Alias: The guy name on Youtube is “Banana flavour”, who but a troll, would name himself “Banana flavour”?
- Getting attention: Even if his argument was pretty well wrapped, it was very mean and provocative… and the main goal of a troll is to provoke and get reactions and attention…. and I did just that!
- Out of topic: this person responded on one of my comments as I said, but was totally out of topic, he kept doing that all along. I read somewhere that it was a pattern of a troll behaviour.
The good side of it:
- The troll alone got me more views on my video than all my social media channels reunited
- I am totally immune to trolling (except for the auto-backlashing for reacting to it), even if he was trying so hard to point out potential flaws. You have to take it for what it is : Trolling. Which means only one thing about you or your content: NOTHING. And don’t ever take things personally. This is why it’s very important to be 100% ready and confident before putting yourself out there on the internet.
- I learnt my lesson: DON’T FEED THE TROLL! I completely stopped answering any of his comments and just deleted everything.
Note: In my case, I am an almost 30 year old woman who has it share of confidence, so I was totally clear about what it and it didn’t affect me at all. But internet bullying is a real issue though, especially with teenagers. Please be nice to each other and let’s spread some love together ?
Dalal
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Exactly and no one will wonder why you’re not responding to a troll – ignoring them is just common practise
You are totally right, I didn’t identify the troll from the beginning. I stopped as soon as I realized.
Ignoring is really the only way to get rid of them, you definitely went about it the right way.