I typically don’t engage trolls. It seems like such a nugatory endeavor. These bots have no real intention of having a rational discussion. Their only purpose is spreading vitriol, hoping to provoke a response.
To dwell on the rantings of mad dogs is an exercise in futility. There’s no expectation for normal conversation, their arguments only get more personal and belligerent. There’s no history, or prior interaction. It’s guerrilla warfare, ambushing with words. I don’t get it. It’s really sad and pathetic to think that this is all they do, or all they live for.
It’s the pointlessness that confounds me. Why would someone spend their time cruising the Internet, usually without knowing anything other than what is read in a single entry, dropping turds of hate in the backyards of total strangers? And, it’s exactly that. They are full of shit and are dropping steaming piles of turds everywhere.
Their words, their comments, their arguments are no more compelling than what the neighbor’s mutt leaves on my lawn. While more annoyed than offended at having to clean up the filth, it’s simply a matter of tossing the muck in my trash.
There’s no point in trying to dissuade further deposits, inconsiderate trolls, like inconsiderate neighbors, can’t be reasoned with, there is that sense of entitlement to do as they please. Childish and boorish, both unworthy of my energy and attention.
I’m fortunate in that I rarely get trollish comments. (I’ve probably jinxed that now.) Since the majority of my blog features photography and fiction, there’s little to contradict.
I’m not a Comment Purist. I have absolutely no problem trashing any comment that is a personal attack on me or another commenter. My unwritten rule is, “play nice, or go home.” You can disagree, offer a different view, but keep it civil, or you get deleted and “blacklisted.”
Thin spiral notebook 
Great post and fantastic take on the prompt.
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Once I “introduced” Blogger A (long-time blogger friend) to Blogger B (someone I’d recently discovered), and Blogger A took big offense to a post of Blogger B’s and attacked her quite strongly. I like them both and thought A overreacted, but what do you do? I’ve only had 2 trolls of my own, really, one a couple years ago, who was a psycho gun nut before psycho gun nuts were in fashion, and one just recently, who told me I was a “complete idiot” for expressing my (I thought humorous) distaste for my own Norwegian ancestry! Yes, the delete button is a wonderful thing. Most people are “cool as hell” and will disagree with you, if they do, with civility.
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Wanderoneday beat me to it! I was going to pretend to be a troll! Great post! I run into those ppl on Twitter sometimes…
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Twitter can be terrible about trolls. There is so little transparency there, so many people using pseudonyms. It’s difficult sometimes to tell if the suspect account is a real person or a bot.
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Grrr. bark. woof. Bad trolls.
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Maybe you could help us re-write our instructions page. 🙂 How to have a different opinion without being a jackhole about it.
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I love this post so much! Your line “dropping turds of hate in the backyards of total strangers” is just awesome. Well said!
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Cowards with too much time on their hands. I don’t know how so many people out there sleep at night. Great post, Tara, great analogy.
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“…dropping turds of hate in the backyards of total strangers?” Love this line. Couldn’t agree with you more.
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While I don’t get the trolls, I do get a lot of people offering me “unique business opportunities” or asking my advice on their sites, which are usually dating…or *ahem*…sites.
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