In the four years that I have been blogging. Writing sometimes personal stories then publishing them on the Internet for all the world to see, I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve had very few trolls.
I did have a plagiarizer, the same person twice, but that’s another sort of tale.
When the first personal attack came, It stunned me. It was totally unexpected. I suppose they all are.
I very rarely write about anything that could be considered controversial. I sometimes talk about my struggle with my faith, but I don’t bash other religions. I have on occasion taken on political issues, but for the most part, any comments on those posts have agreed with me.
There are some perks to not being one of the cool kids. I’m guessing the number of troll comments are proportional to the number of visitors you have. Since I don’t have a huge following, that means I’m pretty much left alone troll-wise. (We’ll see what crawls out from under the rocks with this one.)
Regardless, I don’t have a written comment policy. I never really felt the need. If I were to have one, it would be something like this:
“My house, my rules.”
If someone disagrees with me, or someone else who left a comment, as long as it’s done with respect, that’s great. I don’t expect everyone to think the same way I do. I WON’T delete any comment simply because the commenter challenges my viewpoint.
I welcome discourse, and differing opinions, but I will not tolerate personal agendas and hateful speech.
I’ve met other bloggers who say they never delete a comment. They claim that it’s a matter of integrity to leave all statements and responses intact.
I call ‘bullshit’ on that.
Recently, I’ve received a few comments that basically called me stupid. Trouble was I got three of them, from three different names and IPs, on three different posts, that said exactly the same thing ~ verbatim. Before I might have been upset, have taken the statements personally, but now, I just laughed. Some people, it seems, have nothing better to do than troll the Internet and leave mean comments. They must be so proud of what they are doing with their lives.
My delete button isn’t used often, and the majority of time it is used, it’s because of obvious spam. But, when a comment gets ugly toward me personally, I have no problem blasting it into oblivion. Say nasty things about my kids, or husband – gone. Attack a friend or call people names – erased. If you can’t disagree with class, I am under no obligation to give you a voice, especially in my house.
I wouldn’t tolerate someone disrespecting me in my actual house, same attitude prevails here.
Submitted as part of Shell’s “Pour Your Heart Out” writing prompt at Things I Can’t Say. Please stop by to read the other posts, and give a little comment love.
Thin spiral notebook 
Totally reasonable. I’m glad the haters didn’t get to you! My first impulse is always to explain, defend, “like me!” But I’m learning to not take it so personally. Slowly.
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The is no justification for spewing hate. Delete, delete, delete!
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I totally agree. Saying you can’t delete comments on your blog is sort of like saying you couldn’t wash of spray paint from the side of your house. If you find it offensive why should it have to stare you in the face every day. I personally haven’t had any issues yet but like you said, it’s because I’m not big enough to attract the attention of the weirdos! 🙂
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Who says you’re not one of the cool kids, Kid?
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Absolutely! You get to set the rules! I’ve never deleted a comment (even when someone dropped the “f” bomb once – my parents are still talking about that one) but if someone said something that would be hurtful to my kids or my integrity, the comment would be gone. It’s not worth that~!
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One of my blogger buddies recently wrote “it seems that the blogosphere is more respectful and if you have nothing nice to say , don’t say it at all, than facebook.”
I agree with her.
Blogging is like visiting your friends and neighbors homes. Don’t put your feet on the furniture, don’t rummage through the fridge, don’t touch the remote control, and don’t call their kids ugly.
That being said, got any sweet tea, Tara?
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Excellent policy! I hope no more trolls crawl out of the rocks. Mean people suck.
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YES!!!! after blogging (almost) 7 years, I have had my fair share of assholes & trolls. I can also say that I’ve never thought to anonymously hurt someone like that… And I dont understand why people would want to ON PURPOSE. seems kind of ridiculous to me. Excellent post Mama!
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Oh, I totally agree!
I’ll leave a comment that disagrees with me- as long as it’s respectful. But, the mean, hurtful, personal attacks? No, those don’t have a “right” to be on my blog.
I think the best was one that left this long comment about how I’m a total b—- and that no wonder if I have this viewpoint that God didn’t allow me to have girls because they would grow up to be total b’s too.
Um, it was on a guest post on my blog. And I’d even said in the intro that the girl who wrote it would totally think I needed a fashion makeover b/c I don’t follow her rules.
Trolls are just not that smart. LOL
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I LOVE THIS, and I LOVE your policy.
I feel exactly the same way.
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