In the sweet natured and generally wholesome world of internet blogging lies a rare and somewhat strange character of the blog troll.
Blog trolls, as far as I can make out, fall into two broad groups.
They are either
The severely mentally ill or trouble making loners who get fixated on a particular topic or blogger with varying degrees of anonymous and often abusive contact.
The first group should be pitied and helped as the internet can be a frighteningly vast breeding ground for delusion and unreality but it is the second group that net areas such as blogger needs to be more robust with, for, like mischievous sad children, they can wreck anything from mild irritation to severe distress , to the victims of their faceless rants and comments.
Of course like anyone who gets their kicks from trouble making, it is vital to be able to put your finger on their Achilles' heel. This is easier to do when the interaction is face to face, so to speak, but it's not impossible. You just have to be clever.
A while ago, I was one of many people who were on the receiving end of an abusive phone caller.
After several graphic and sometimes upsetting interactions, I asked the caller in a very calm way, just why they had called and amid the following abuse suddenly realised that it was the ending of the call that was the hub of the abuser's motivation. When I ended the phone call on my terms, I removed the abuser's power and broke the satisfaction of their fantasy.
Recently, I was fortunate to have a conversation with a retired psychologist.
I asked her about trolls ( it was at the time of the whole twitter troll thing.) and her thoughts were interestingly just common sense.
She said
Report them to the powers that be ( including the police if the contact is abusive and/or threatening.
Delete their input quietly and without fuss...failing that ignore em totally.
If you do feel that a reply is necessary , just tell them a simple " I am bored by what you write"
