Douglas Adams once wrote that “Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.” The same can be said about the internet, it’s a really big place. Pretty much anything you think of can be found out there on the internet.
While the internet is undoubtedly one of humanity’s greatest inventions, there are some downsides to this vast electronic landscape. For as many great things there are on the internet, there are hundreds of nefarious sites and mean people that can come to your site and wreak havoc. The most common place that havoc will show up is in the comment sections of your blog posts and on your social media pages.
The amount of chaos that crops up on the internet has gotten so prevalent that a name for the people who intentionally provoke readers, start internet arguments, or post inflammatory or off-topic messages has been created. They’re called trolls. For today’s post we’re going to look at a few steps you can use to identify and deal with these mean spirited people who invade your website.
1. Make sure you know what you’re dealing with
A troll is a person on the internet who gets a kick out of tormenting people and instigating emotional reactions from people. However, it can be difficult to tell whether a person in your comments section or on your social media page is intentionally being a jerk (troll) or if they are simply a very unhappy customer.
The best way to find out the difference is to take some time for a quick interaction with them. If they are just an unhappy customer, they should respond in a reasonable manner that will give an insight into how you can help them. However, if they are a troll, they will not give an inch or provide any way you can make the situation better. If this is the case, you should move on to the next stage.
2. Leave them alone for a bit
If you’re still not sure whether the person is being a troll or not after interacting with them initially, let them sit for a bit. Everyone needs a little bit of time to cool off, and sometimes a virtual time-out can be the best course of action for everyone.
3. Re-engage carefully and re-evaluate
Without attacking the person or leaving room for them to fight with you, carefully open lines of communication with the potential problem person again. If their virtual time-out was successful and they cooled down, you can now have a reasonable and useful conversation with them. However, an internet troll will not be satisfied and will not be reasonable. You should tell them that their previous behavior is not allowed and will result in a removal if further infractions occurs. If they don’t relent, it’s time to move on to the final step of dealing with them.
4. They don’t get to play anymore
Remember, it is up to you who gets to participate on your comments section and social media. If you’ve been nice, done your due diligence of trying to make a situation better for them, and they’re still posting inflammatory or unnecessarily mean comments, it’s time to pull out the ban and block tools. Each social media site has a way for users to block or ban another person from interacting on their page and you can block people from commenting in your comments section. These tools are necessary because if you let these trolls run rampant, they will drag down the site experience for everyone else on your site.
And another thing
Remember that you are not required to have a comment section on your website. Social media can be your avenues for interacting with your customers and you won’t have to worry about trolls directly affecting the content of your website. With these steps in mind you can take control of your social media and blog sites and get the chaos and trolls cleaned out.