Don’t feed the trolls – End of the Day for May 23, 2014

Despite what people might think and say, there can be some close analogues between how behave in face-to-face relationships and how they behave online. That sad fact is, some people just seem to like making other people’s lives difficult. It is hard to say whether they do this out of some odd desire to make others unhappy or only to make their own life feel better in comparison. Of course, the results are the same for those around them — general happiness, disappointment and sometimes even anger.

Source: xckd.com

While this is bad enough in the real world, the expanded effects these people can have online can sometimes make it feel even worse. Instead of just making 1 person unhappy, they can offend, annoy and anger thousands of people with one email, blog post or Facebook comment. Once this process is started downhill, it can be very difficult to rein it in. The dirty snowball of anger and angst grows larger with each passing moment and each additional comment on the thread. Before you know it, hours of time and countless amounts of energy have been expended on a “conversation” leading nowhere, solving nothing and helping no one.

There is a way to short circuit these people and the problems they cause. You may have heard the common Internet phrase, “Don’t Feed The Trolls!” This is so important to remember, both IRL (in real life) and online. It is important to be able to spot obvious trolls — those seeking to make life difficult of others — and simply ignore them into oblivion. Trolls only gain power when other people feed the flames they start. Left alone, they disappear as quickly as they arise. It can be difficult to ignore them of course, as the comic above shows, but it is soooooo important to do so.

Don’t waste your time and energy on trolls. They won’t change. They can’t change. They don’t even want to change. They get a charge out of making life difficult and no matter what you do, it will only give them pleasure. Don’t feed the trolls — IRL and make everyone’s day just a little bit better.

Previously on End of the Day: