Many people create blogs because they have a message they want to share and want to make a positive impact on others. As a blogger, you can impact so many people from countries that you didn’t even know existed but not without running into a troll or two who will do their best to make you feel like your work doesn’t matter. Some bloggers have more trolls than others but if you write about politics or anything controversial sometimes you may have issues with people hating on your blog. Internet trolls can affect a blogger’s mental health and is the reason why many people do not blog for more than a few months which saddens me because a lot of bloggers have so much talent. I have not experienced a lot of trolls because half the people that read my posts are family and would never dream of making me feel like my work doesn’t matter but like most people, I do experience an occasional troll. I hate trolls and feel bad for people that think the only way to get attention is to hurt others. In this post am going to talk about what you can do when people are hating on your blog for no apparent reason.
Create a comment policy- When I first started blogging there was no real need to have a comment policy because for the first year or so I didn’t have a large amount of readers and most of the people that read my blog were family and friends who don’t care to send me hate mail. As my blog grew and my family wasn’t the only people reading I started experiencing an occasional troll that was rude for no reason. I decided to create a comment policy and put it at the end of every post because although you still can get haters with a comment policy if it’s very clear what is acceptable and what isn’t there is no confusion as to why a comment wasn’t approved.
Set your comments up for moderation- If you ever wondered why a lot of bloggers do not automatically approve comments it is because people are constantly spamming our blogs and leaving rude messages in the comment section of our blogs. A majority of people who comments will like your posts and are responding to your words but there will always be that one person who violates your comment policy to get free promotion for their business. It is hard to keep track of every comment if you are letting everything post automatically and the only way to truly be in control of all comments is if you set them up for moderation. When all comments are set up for moderation you don’t have to worry about rude comments being posted without your knowledge that could end up destroying you. I always recommend all bloggers set their blogs up for moderation because that way you won’t forget to respond to a comment or have to worry about half of your comments being people trying to get free promotion.
Disable the comment section- I don’t usually recommend disabling the comment section of your blog because blogs thrive on engagement and without that ability you won’t know what people think of your words but sometimes it’s necessary. Some bloggers get more internet trolls than others and sometimes your only option for stopping the hate is to disable the comment section. The only problem with shutting off your comments is that you are taking away the ability for readers to share their thoughts and it will be harder to figure out what posts readers liked and what ones were total duds because stats can only tell you so much! I think disabling the comment section should be your last resort but there is no shame in it if that is your only option for blogging without the extra stress!
Try not to take it personally- The biggest mistake I see a lot of new bloggers make is that they take a comment from a troll too personally and act like everything everyone says is right. When I started blogging I got an occasional message from a troll and at first, it totally wrecked my mental health because I let these trolls get to my head and took them very personally. You probably have heard people say to not take hateful comments personally and I get it’s hard when you work hours on creating a great post only to have someone tell you it’s awful. The next time someone hates on your blog I want you to ask yourself is what this person saying right? In most cases, it’s completely ridiculous and trolls know that and only say it to draw attention to themselves.
Ignore them-I don’t get a lot of trolls because often they target new bloggers who haven’t developed a thick skin for haters and will break at the thought of someone not liking their posts. There are two ways that you can deal with a troll and you can either react to it or totally ignore them. I personally think ignoring works better because when trolls see you’re not giving them a reaction often they will stop doing it and move on to someone who would be more upset because it’s not fun to mess with someone who just deletes your message.
Block them- I am a big advocate for supporting other bloggers but I have zero tolerance for hate! You can’t control every troll on the Internet but you can block and report someone’s social media if they are being particularly bothersome.
When people hate on your blog often it will be nothing useful and an attempt to make you feel bad about yourself but there may be times when someone is truly offended by your post so you shouldn’t always be on the defensive. Most people quit their blogs because of trolls and I hate that sometimes the only solution to end the hate is to stop blogging completely. There will always be that one person who will tell you that everything you create is wrong but have to remember all the people who love your posts and would read them even if you wrote about rocks and were boring people to tears. Haters are going to hate and there is no excuse for bullying someone in real life or on the Internet but sadly it’s the world we live in and the only thing we can do about it is to try and understand them and hope we are positively impacting them. How do you manage Internet trolls?
Comment Policy
I read all comments because I love hearing your thoughts but please be kind, keep all comments relevant to the post you are commenting on and your language clean. You don’t have to agree with everyone but you should be respectful of everyone’s different points of view because rude comments toward me or any other commenters will not be tolerated. If you see that someone is struggling it’s okay to offer support but please do not give out any kind of medical advice in the comment section of my blog even if you are a doctor because I am not qualified to diagnose anyone and can be held liable if it’s bad advice. The comment section of my blog is not for promoting yourself and any links that are dropped without my permission will be deleted without warning. If you violate my policy your comment will be edited or completely removed from my site.