If You Have a Blog… Keep Calm

I’ve been blogging regularly since 2007. That’s a long time for blogging. Throughout my blogger’s life I’ve written posts on many different topics, some personal and some professional. And I’ve had my own trolls (those characters who start arguments and upset people deliberately by provoking off-topic discussions).

Trolls are, by definition, anonymous. So if someone with a known name starts an argument or upsets you or your readers by provoking them with off-topic discussions, he (or she) might be rude and unpleasant, but not a troll.

In any case, not everyone who disagrees with you anonymously is a troll.

This being said, I had some ugly comments on a post a couple of weeks ago. They were not comments against my views on the topic — which I would have even appreciated. The comments were against me.

My first impulse was to answer, but I kept calm, because I know that rushing into this sort of thing doesn’t lead anywhere. A friend had shared my post and there some of his contacts commented. He soon messaged me to tell me not to worry and that he was going to stop the discussion.

He did.

There was a rude Irish man (his origin matters because, being Irish, he is supposed to be a native English speaker) complaining about the English of the article; my friend answered him that English was not my mother tongue. I re-read the post. Again. Twice. But, frankly, couldn’t see any typos or grammar mistakes. And, as I have an editor, I was pretty perplexed about his complaint. As I say, I had to bite my tongue and not start writing, but what I really wanted was to tell him things like, “Can you write in a language that’s not your mother tongue?” or “Have you actually read the article?” or “And you’re Steinbeck’s cousin, right?”

But, as I said, I kept my mouth shut and my fingers clasped because I know these answers wouldn’t have led me anywhere, and because I respect my friend, and this was happening on his wall.

Anyway, if you are a blogger, you have to know that these things happen all the time. Well, not all-all the time, but quite frequently. Not everybody is going to like you and that’s perfectly alright. There’re rude people in the world, yes, and you can’t do anything about that. There’re people that just scan, they don’t have the time, or the intention, or the ability to read. Accept it. You don’t have to take it personally. They don’t know you, they might have had a tough time waking up that morning or had an argument with someone else and they’re venting their anger on you by complaining. We all know people like this, don’t we?

Revenge (as it were) is best served cold. Keep calm, breathe deep and wait until you have a clear mind and have had time to think of a proper answer. That is it.