Dealin‘ With Those Darn Gather Assho….er, Trolls!

You know, I never thought I'd be writing an article like this. That being said, have y'all ever found yourselves in a situation as a writer where you've seen enough and read enough of something that you now feel you have to write about it? I think that's the point where I'm at now, so I'm going to follow my instincts and scribe whatever this turns out to be.

In the past three or four days here on Gather I've read two articles where both writers shared deep anguish. Their themes were both similar and simple - someone or somebody on here on Gather had either mocked them, mocked their writings, or were simply being a "troll" towards them. In both cases the people involved expressed anger, hurt, and were even considering leaving Gather in order to solve the problem. That bothered me, because both people seem to be very nice, solid types, and a quick check of their writings didn't indicate anything that should be bothering anyone else. So, I looked deeper into their situations, and in doing so discovered first hand their "trolls" and their comments. After reading them, I figured it was time to add my two cents worth in on this whole assho...er, troll issue. So, here goes...

First, Gather is a good place, a much better online hang-out than most of the popular social networking sites available. Generally speaking, the people are more professional, more mature, and it doesn't have the "meat market" feel of a MySpace or Facebook.com. It's a great place for writers, a great place to hang out, read other writers' offerings, and to simply enjoy oneself.

That being said, in any population of people you have good people, benign people, and then you have assho....er, trolls. These are the people who, in the end, regardless of what tact they use, are there simply to hurt someone else. It's that simple. They may be jealous of the person involved, jealous of how they write, or jealous of something else equally stupid. Sometimes they want attention so badly that they utilize the pro wrestling "heel" methodology, that is, they go negative because it gains them attention that they can't achieve any other way. Their personalities in and of themselves won't draw flies, their writings are typically mediocre to poor, so they resort to jumping up on a virtual chair and screaming hate. And, down deep, they fervently hope people respond. It's to them what blood is to the vampire, ill-gotten, but needed. Some tell-tale clues which will always identify the troll-ish amongst us:

1. They typically offer no real picture of themselves.

2. They typically they hide their names.

3. The person they target has probably never met them in their lives and actually knows very little real information about them.

If you read their pages you'll always understand why. Usually boredom reigns supreme when you really take a dip and understand what they're all about. And, that's when you start understanding why they're what they are, and why they go on the attack. They offer nothing else, and it's easier for them to blame others than accept the fact that they're boring, less than talented, or all of the above.

Now, let's get on to some good stuff. The good news is that these type people are amazingly easy to deal with. You only have to do two things:

1. Ignore them. Publicly responding gives them the fuel they thrive on, as you're really telling them that they're getting next to you, that you notice them. Worst thing you can do. Just forget their existence and move on with yours.

2. If they post something on your page or add comments to one of your postings and they bother you, simply delete them. Get rid of it. You'll find that when they have to use their own pages to shoot arrows at someone that they're not nearly as effective as they are when they use yours. Why? Hell, just take a look at the assho/troll's page, you'll find out! They usually can't draw anyone to theirs on their own, so they know, down deep, that they have to use yours in order to gain badly desired attention. Badly needed attention. And believe me, they're brazen enough to do so with a straight face, in fact, sometimes they'll even get self-righteous on you on your own page as a means of justifying their own sleazy conduct.

Let's face it, if you don't like someone or their writings, the simple, polite, and most common sense thing to do is just not read them at all. There's some great content here on Gather, and there's also a bit that's so banal that you end up regretting even the mouse click it took to get to it. I think most of us accept and understand that. So, if someone goes out of their way to say something nasty or mean towards you, in the end it says much more about them or what they're about than it does about you, their intended targets. They don't like you, they want to hurt you, and they're not above using your own profile to accomplish that. Don't let them!

So see how easy dealing with it can be? If you'll just make yourself do these two things you'll get past it. For God's sake, don't publicly write about it and give them even more cause to go after you! Attention drives them! Just move on, move past them, and spend your Gather time dealing with people who are worth expending your time on. Gather is a wonderful place, and these two common sense steps can make it even better!