The Trolls Behind the Curtain

So I work in social media. And one thing that never ceases to amaze is how rude, offensive, and negative people will be when they’re hidden behind a computer and not face to face with the people they’re addressing. There are days where I can be very Zen about it all, water off a duck’s back and all that. Then there are other days, like today, where it takes everything in me not to want to just GO OFF on someone and give them a taste of their own medicine.

But I’m better than that. I’ll just complain here about them instead. ;-)

Really though, on days when I’m already feeling less than 100% and I’m handling an online community and someone just rails on me, it’s hard to stay professional. I’m good at it, most days. But sheesh, some people are just mean, and bitter. And boy is it easy to get sucked into that. But its also such a self-feeding cycle. Negativity breeds negativity. But if you can hold out against it and Judo someone’s negativity into something positive, its so much better. And on days like this that is what I have to do.

The other thing that helps is to maintain perspective. I’ve been through some serious things in this life already, and when I start to get caught up in some online troll’s ridiculous antics, I remind myself that THIS ISN’T IMPORTANT. Not remotely. Why get upset by something so silly an inconsequential? And like that, my frustration and anger lifts. What a relief.

My words of wisdom? Don’t be a jerk online, because there might be someone like me working on a site who has to put up with it. ;-) And there are already enough jerks out there.