I got involved in Youtube and webseries during the time when people looked at you funny when you told them what you did. “You make…web…series? What’s that?” At the time, the field was still small and Lonelygirl15 and The Guild were my typical responses and even then, people were still perplexed.
To me Youtube was an unconquered land and you could fly wild and loose. I took this platform as an opportunity to showcase my talent, how I wanted to be seen. My only fear was the fans. Some were scary and mean. But I pressed on. Encouraged by a producer friend, I started creating online content. Character and camera in hand, I started filming, and people came, and it was great. Until that dreaded day: “You should really learn what you’re talking about before you put this garbage out there.” “I’m not going to watch your channel because you’re a horrible role model.” — Fun comments that were left for me. I immediately went to their page to see what they were posting online. Nothing, but hateful comments not only on my page, but on others as well. Trolls!
According to Urban Dictionary, an Internet troll is: “A person whose sole purpose in life is to seek out people to argue with on the internet over extremely trivial issues.”
With the ability, to hide behind the anonymity of the internet, some people take this as an opportunity to promote their ignorance, and some refer to them as trolls.
“Wow!” In my shock and anger I started to type an ugly reply. But before I hit enter to spout this venomous retort, I took a moment, re-read my reply and caught my breath. “Ok, you cannot say that” I thought to myself, but it sure did feel good to write it out. I stepped away from my computer for a while to shake this person off. How dare they make assumptions. Who the heck are they??
After a few hours, I returned to my laptop. A bit more level headed, I re-read their comments and started typing a reply. “Thank you so much for watching my video and taking time to comment. I am by no means an expert and am still learning. So if you have anything that could help me and others, that would be great! Thanks Again.”
I know I know. Most experts will tell you: “don’t feed the trolls”, just ignore them and they will go away. But the reason I make videos is to engage people, make it social! My strategy is to kill them with kindness. My response may be a bit long, but I feel it important to show these trolls that this is my home on the internet, and you can’t come into my house and tell me how to decorate. Besides, you’ll never know the circumstances of people and their expertise in the area, and I never want to miss an opportunity to connect.
Sometimes the person will further comment and the conversation can get ugly, but I always comment with more questions and ask them to illustrate why I’m wrong and what they would do. Most people stop and have nothing further to say. They don’t reply back. The few who do continue the conversation have nothing constructive to add, except a litany of profanity and obvious ignorance. This is why some people will tell you “don’t feed the trolls”, just don’t give them an excuse. They play off anything you say in your response and they just want to create chaos.
To me, the harm comes from people who refuse to state their case. Just calling me a “dumb B*tch and telling me to go back to where I come from”, does nothing to further understanding. Yes, these people are scary and I try to engage them in a positive way. After my first couple of troll like comments, I stopped making videos. But after much thought and some encouraging comments, I found I was not about to be chased off YouTube by some ignorant person.
Remember if you have some favorite blogs or channels, do leave a comment to tell the content creator you appreciate their work, it’ll make their day. As for feeding the trolls, do what makes you happy.
*photo courtesy of Dollar Photo Club