On Internet Trolls and Critics

You can always tell you are doing something right because people start trying to tear you down.

When I worked as a community manager for an MMORPG developer I had plenty of practice dealing with internet trolls and other loud, bilious and spiteful people. Read on past the jump my thoughts on internet trolls.

Great Advice

The best advice I ever got was "Never go negative." No matter what others say always keep your responses positive. This means in public and in private. You never know when something said "in confidence" will somehow be made public.

Another rule that served me well was "Don't feed the trolls." Trolls thrive on agitating and getting reactions from others. If you don't react how they are anticipating then they don't get what they want and you win.

The Definition Of a Troll

My favorite definition of an internet troll comes from Wikipedia:

"Troll (Internet) - In Internet slang, a troll (pron.: /ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion."

Perhaps a slightly more accurate (but certainly more NSFW) explanation of an internet troll was posted by Penny Arcade in 2004.

Image Source: Penny Arcade - Green Blackboards (And Other Anomalies)

The truth is it is easy to criticize and try to tear others down. It is much harder to build something and provide a positive force in a community.

Don't Like It? Do Better.

If people don't like what I do (or the way I do it) my advice to them is: "Do better."

Make your own creation. Build your own thing. Put in your own effort. Make something better than what others are doing.

If your work really is better creation then it will succeed and you'll have done it without tearing anyone else down in the process.

A Parable

This parable will hopefully explain what I'm getting at better than I can. Over the years it has helped me keep perspective.

"The Parable of Two Lamps

…One summer evening I sat musing studiously and withal restfully in the open air outside the door of the room in which I lodged and studied. A stranger approached. I noticed that he carried a satchel. He was affable and entertaining. I brought another chair from within, and we chatted together till the twilight had deepened into dusk, the dusk into darkness.

Then he said: “You are a student and doubtless have much work to do of nights. What kind of lamp do you use?” And without waiting for a reply, he continued, “I have a superior kind of lamp I should like to show you, a lamp designed and constructed according to the latest achievements of applied science, far surpassing anything heretofore produced as a means of artificial lighting.”

Argand Student Lamp. Image Source: A Fine Collection

I replied with confidence, and I confess, not without some exultation: “My friend, I have a lamp, one that has been tested and proved. It has been to me a companion through many a long night. It is an Argand lamp, and one of the best. I have trimmed and cleaned it today; it is ready for the lighting. Step inside; I will show you my lamp; then you may tell me whether yours can possibly be better.”

We entered my study room, and with a feeling which I assume is akin to that of the athlete about to enter a contest with one whom he regards as a pitiably inferior opponent, I put the match to my well-trimmed Argand.

My visitor was voluble in his praise. It was the best lamp of its kind, he said. He averred that he had never seen a lamp in better trim. He turned the wick up and down and pronounced the adjustment perfect. He declared that never before had he realized how satisfactory a student lamp could be. …

Rochester Lamp. Image Source: Democrat and Chronicle

“Now,” said he, “with your permission I’ll light my lamp.” He took from his satchel a lamp then known as the “Rochester.” It had a chimney which, compared with mine, was as a factory smokestack alongside a house flue. Its hollow wick was wide enough to admit my four fingers. Its light made bright the remotest corner of my room. In its brilliant blaze my own little Argand wick burned a weak, pale yellow. Until that moment of convincing demonstration, I had never known the dim obscurity in which I had lived and labored, studied and struggled.

“I’ll buy your lamp,” said I; “you need neither explain nor argue further.”

-Three Parables—The Unwise Bee, the Owl Express, and Two Lamps by James E. Talmage

What I love about this story is that the lamp salesman didn't need to try to tear down the student's lamp. All he had to do was show how superior his lamp was.

The same is true for people who create things. The person who created a better thing will succeed without needing to disparage what others do. The superiority of the creation will be self evident.

Trolls don't build anything worthwhile. They only try (and the key word here is "try") to tear down what others build.

Don't Waste Your Energy

Don't spend more time worrying about what trolls say then the time they actually spend criticizing you.

Do you think the troll gives you a second thought after the 20 seconds it takes them to write a comment on your blog/YouTube video/forum/chat channel? No. 

Many trolls have honed their skills over many years to get the maximum amount of response from people for the minimum amount of effort.

If they put so little time and effort into criticizing us why are we spending the entire day worrying about what they said? Why are we letting them stop us from producing work we love?

Instead we should simply block them, delete their comments and go about our day.

Focus On The Positive

It is easy to pay attention to the negative. To focus on the critic to the near exclusion of any positive feedback we may receive.

What we have to train ourselves to do is focus on the positive.

Surely that will contribute more to our success than looking back at what any internet trolls or critics may say about us or our work.

Cheers,
-Jim Younkin