7. You may be dealing with a troll if all they can do is accuse and insult. While this is related to previous descriptions, trolls love to say things demeaning to others and their views. Most of the time they aren’t able to differentiate between people and views, so most attacks are ad hominem. Rather than differ with an idea, trolls will write things like, “So and So quoted from a Catholic, so they are idiots and have denied the gospel,” or “That pastor read a book by a Fundamentalist or Charismatic or Baptist or [insert tradition] so they are heretics and are going to hell.” Notice that ideas weren’t addressed? It was largely a “guilt by association” approach and quite accusatory and insulting. Troll away, logical fallacy, troll away. Unfortunately I couldn’t get past your inability to engage the ideas in question so I blocked you.
8. You may be dealing with a troll if they think they own your website, Facebook wall or Twitter account. These trolls are my favorite. After you’ve posted a link to a book that you recently read, they comment with the following:
“That’s a stupid book. You need to write a review of my new book on [insert some stupid subject here].”
OK, maybe their book’s subject isn’t stupid. That was a little aggressive on my part. But trolls seem to have a sense of entitlement that is beyond me. They post comments on your website or social media status and think they own it! These are the type of people who, upon reading your status update about a free book that is available for Kindle, write a snarky comment about how much they hate that book and can’t believe that all of the blogs that they read are mentioning it … blogs that they have absolutely no affiliation with. Hey … troll … if you start paying me to blog for you or post on my social media accounts, we can talk. Until then would you please remember that these are free services or things you do not control or own? Troll away, Mr. Entitled, troll away. Regrettably I unfriended you, blocked you and minimized all of your comments because I got sick and tired of reading how frustrated you were that people didn’t post what you wanted!
9. You may be dealing with a troll if they strongly state an opinion and you later find that they have actually not studied or experienced anything related to that opinion. A wonderful example of this is found when someone tells me that a certain book is absolute garbage and should be avoided and, after I ask them if they have read it, they say, “No … but I heard it wasn’t any good.” Really? You heard it wasn’t any good? You are qualified to trash a book (or movie or organization) and you have no experience with that book (or movie or organization)? Can’t you qualify your opinion with something like “I heard” or “someone told me”? Of course not … you are a troll. Troll away, arm-chair critic, troll away. Unfortunately I stopped reading your comments as soon as you said, “No, I haven’t actually read the book … I just know it’s not any good.”
10. You may be dealing with a troll if they always post links to their own posts or comments. Now I did say that you may be dealing with a troll, suggesting that just because someone posts a link does not automatically indicate that they are a troll. There are plenty of people (including myself!!) who post links in online conversations because those links are considered helpful. There’s a fine line between “self-promotion” and “here are more of my thoughts on this matter and they are a bit more developed than a Facebook comment thread.” Yes, share your links if they are helpful, but if you continue to link me to a book you self-published on Amazon that has absolutely nothing to do with what we’re talking about, you are a troll. Troll away, marketing guru, troll away. Lamentably I’ve determined that I will never ever buy your book.
How Do You Deal With a troll?
I’m sure there are some great websites that will give you a lot of good advice on how to interact with trolls. You may find yourself doing one of the following:
1. Ignore the troll.
2. Continue arguing with the troll and troll back.
3. Post “don’t feed the troll.”
4. Mess with the troll and pretend that you don’t understand he is a troll and keep twisting everything the troll says by misinterpreting it.
5. Pretend you totally agree with everything the troll says in ridiculously sarcastic comments.
Personally, I’m at the point in my life where I will either just start ignoring them or will delete their comments if they are on my social media wall or website.
And yes … plenty of this post was tongue-in-cheek and trollish … ha ha ha!