BlogHer - Ignore or get rid of the creep on your blog - Comments

This novice blogger thanks you all.

skeeterbess — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 23:17:32 -0600

As one who is brand-spanking new to blogging, I've not yet had to deal with these situations. You've helped me to be a little better prepared should it ever happen. Now if I could just write something interesting enough to attract attention ... ;0)

It's NOT a democracy -- it's a dictatorship.

madmumbler — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 20:08:47 -0500

I say that (see subject) because it's YOUR blog. You can set it to be moderated comments. Then delete, delete, delete, and ignore. Who cares if they don't like that you didn't approve their comment? It's YOUR blog -- YOU make the rules. If they don't like it, tough.

I have, in the past, forwarded copies of nasty letters to their ISP -- which usually gets their account cancelled PDQ.

I've only had to do this in three cases, and in all three cases, I never heard from them again. (And yes, I DID warn them that I would consider their attacks harassment and forward to their ISP.) Which leads me to believe the ISP took care of them, and they re-thought if it was worth losing another ISP/mail account because they were a butthead. (See, most people threaten. I never threaten. I do. *LOL*)

Other than that, usually a good ignoring will take care of most of the idiots. But if they don't give up, I let them have it with both barrel. (Use this option judiciously, because you never know how far a whack-job will go.)

Fortunately, I rarely have to deal with this problem!

My troll is persistant

Catherine — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 12:30:42 -0500

I have tried not allowing anymonous posts and using moderation. But eventually I decided that I wouldn't give her that power over my blog. I left on the moderation, so I am the only one to have to read her personal attacks, but I took off the anymonous block, so others with something worthwhile to say could post without having to sign up to Blogger first.

It's been at least 6 months since I have allowed one of her nasty attacks to appear on my blog, yet she still continues. I don't know what her enjoyment is, since I never respond?

Not once has she posted anything other than personal attacks, trolling a forum I post on, to comment on my life. So I stopped posting anything personal about myself or my family months ago - still she continues. I don't know why she hates me so much, yet checks my blog several times a day!?

I wish I could ban her IP address, but she uses a proxy, so there is no way to ban her. Unfortunately, it's to the point when I would rather not post anything personal to my blog either - so what's the point??

Don't feed the trolls

rubyji — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 11:58:08 -0500

Almost any action you can take against creeps will satisfy their desire to bug you, or at least let them know they're getting to you.

I have had some virulent trolls at OrangePolitics.org, and ultimately I had to institute more security bu verifying real e-mail addresses before allowing comments. You'd be amazed how differently people act when they are held accountable for their words.

Sort of like your house

heivilinj — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 11:14:40 -0500

Consider your blog sort of like your house. It belongs to you, you're paying for it (one way or another). You invite people in to chat, to listen to your rants, your musings, all that other stuff. Sometimes they may have something interesting to say, something thought provoking, something evocative. Sometimes they may just read and lurk in the corners people watching.

But if they don't behave then you can do what you do for interlopers (intruders?) in your house. If you have a party crasher you ask them politely to behave. If they refuse then you ask them politely to leave. If they refuse then you kick them out. If they hang around outside then you call the cops. (which is to say some form of: 1) warn, 2) ban usernames, 3) ban IPs, 4) ban the public)

My blogs are mostly for my personal venting and my friends but I have had a few rude, mean or moronic posters and I have no problem with banning them and deleting their comments. It's MY blog. If you don't like what I'm saying then don't come to it.

Which isn't to say that if you disagree with me I'll shoot you down and delete everything. If you present a dissenting opinion in a calm, reasoned, respectful manner I'm more than happy to debate things with you. But I think we all need to post like our grandmother is going to read it.

Jim Heivilin
(just my $0.02)

Stick up for eachother

prlinkbiz — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 23:14:38 -0500

I ignore when appropriate, and have as many "safety nets" set up as possible. This past weekend there was a guy who left a jackass comment on a nice girl's blog- so I stood up for her. Sometimes it's better to have other people come in and be the bad guy (or girl!). I try to stay out of harms way, but I'd rather stand up for the girls! (It helps to know the right people online as well... lol)

"I believe the key is for women to not set any limits." No Limits Ladies.

Ignore Ignore Ignore

Karen Rani — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 20:18:11 -0500

Oh, and? Ignore.

I banned my own father. He left a nasty comment, and seeing as I met him at 7 years old and saw him maybe 30 times between 7 and 19, he really isn't one to critique my parenting.

Karen

--
Troll Baby

Troll Baby Graphics

While I've not had the

maryrwise — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 20:09:00 -0500

While I've not had the experience of a troll commenter, I have been "honored" with a mention on a site that mocks various blogs and journals. When I read their post carefully, though, I saw that they had a point -- I didn't agree with it, because I felt they had misinterpreted the entry, but I still edited that entry to remove the source of the criticism. I did not respond to them, either, preferring to just let them move the spotlight onward to other, more deserving blogs than mine.

Chick Lit Meets the Circus: Girl Clown

Having a blog is sort of

successfulmom — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 17:06:42 -0500

Having a blog is sort of like throwing a kegger at your house. You have to expect a little messiness sometime. I think you could start out with "ignore" and move on to "delete" from there, and finally if they don't get the message "ban IP address." But I have little experience; I've only been blogging two months. So what you have here is pure opinion not backed by empirical evidence.
Missy
Missy's Big Fish Stories

I vote for "ban IP address"

Average Jane — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 16:43:56 -0500

Amy Gahran has what I think is the definitive blog post series on this subject, Handling Porcupines, Trolls, and Other Online Vermin.

Like you, I've had very little in the way of negative interactions on my blogs. However, I don't hesitate to delete negative comments and ban a hitherto unknown commenter's IP address when they give me the creeps. After all, it's my blog.

The only exception so far has been on a group blog that I established. Someone once left a long and passionate comment that I didn't agree with at all. However, I felt that because their comment revealed everything any dispassionate observer would need to draw their own conclusions, I chose to leave it up without commenting on it. No one else jumped in to comment after that, so it died a natural death.

Ignore or get rid of the creep on your blog

Chantel Williams — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 15:54:31 -0500

I can say that Iâ€™ve had very few bad experiences on my blog. I can also say this about internet dating, online chatting and MySpace. I donâ€™t know why Iâ€™ve been so lucky when others seem to be brimming over with bad stories. Of course, we all knew that my little peice of internet utopia would be blown to bits by an undesiralbe some day.

What do you do when you have a person commenting on your site and you know you donâ€™t really want them there? They havenâ€™t done anything wrong but their presence simply makes you uncomfortable. What do you do when you are constantly barraged with emails to â€œmeet upâ€? or â€œgo for a drinkâ€? when you would rather pluck your eyebrows in a tank full of scorpions instead of socialize with this person?

There is no real etiquette about dealing with weirdoâ€™s on your blog. Other than to hit the ignore button. Is there such an ignore button on my keyboard? However when dealing with real live weirdoâ€™s Iâ€™ve always thought that no engagement was the best rule. I know could hit the â€œban IP addressâ€? button but what reason would I have; other than â€œI think youâ€™re weird?â€?

How about the troll?
When I was searching the net looking for solutions and advice I did com across a really great article on LifeHacker that has a list of tips to deal with trolls and what they call â€œinternet meanies.â€?

The article:How to Deal with Internet Meanies recommends a few steps:

Some perspective
When you're a victim of a personal attack online, the first thing to remember is this: It's extremely difficult to put yourself out there on the web, but it's supremely easy to critique or mock others who do.

Step away from the computer
The first thing to do when you're subject to an outbreak of Internet Meanness is to take your hands off the keyboard. Responding in the heat of the moment when you're hurt or pissed off or defensive will only escalate things to a pointless, time-wasting frenzy that Google will cache forever on its servers for your grandchildren to read 50 years from now.

Separate the hate from the message
If you're getting a lot of angry, personal criticism about a particular point, try to strip away all the extraneous stuff and boil things down to the real issue.

Grow a thick skin
I want to tell you that I've replaced my outer epidermal layer with an invisible, chink-free Internet armor that repels Meanies like a giant, glowing bug zapper in the summertime. If I did I'd be lying.

Tell me, how do you deal with trolls and creeps on your blog? Do you hit the ignore button or do you have another strategy? What about internet resources for safety and etiquette?

Share them in the comment section.