Stop The Trolls!

As a growing number of people turn to blogs for commentary, news and debate on a wide array of issues, the problem of trolling is likely to raise its ugly head with ever increasing frequency. Alyssa Gregory, a specialist in online small businesses with nearly 15 years of experience, recently gave a series of tips on how all bloggers—from those just launching their blog, to the experienced ones with thousands of hits each day—can save their online project from those who wish to cause havoc.

Trolls refer to people who comment on a given article or blog entry, with the intent to cause trouble, deter the attention of other readers, get people off topic, insult and abuse or trick people into entering fruitless, personal arguments and disputes. The most widely accepted piece of wisdom suggests that it is best not to engage trolls; simply don’t let them suck you in by responding to abusive comments. While ignoring such trouble-makers might work in a limited number of instances, a better strategy for the persistent types is to actually be exceedingly respectful and pleasant with them, regardless of their own tone. If a blogger respond to insult with insult, he/she is simply injuring the credibility of his/her own blog. But responding politely and patiently, and asking the troll to explain what the matter is, might catch the troublemaker off-guard, and could also disarm someone who is genuinely irate.

If trolling becomes a constant problem, Gregory suggests that bloggers do a little investigating, in order to find out who might be hiding behind an avatar or e-mail address. It is relatively easy to determine the poster’s IP address—in fact Wordpress software usually offers this information automatically. But another method might be to conduct a Google search using the troll’s e-mail address, username or other information that might help identification. If he/she has a track record posting on other sites, this will become apparent very quickly. In more extreme cases, it may be necessary to strengthen your blog’s moderation policy in order to weed out trolls that keep coming back.