The larger your site grows, the more internet trolls and hate you will receive. You can post an innocuous opinion about something, such as why a permanent life insurance policy could be a good idea or why you think a Roth IRA is a bad idea, and the trolls will come out in force to knock you down.
As a blogger who has an opinion and who is also building a great brand true to yourself, you don't want your site to be all things to all people. Instead, you want to have a focused audience who believes in your mission. They will be your biggest ambassadors who will not only share your work, but also buy your products and get others to subscribe as well.
Once you've established some core principles for your site, make sure you stick to them. If the noise starts getting too loud with too many complainers, negative commenters, and trolls, your readership needs a culling.
It is a weird phenomena that people who dislike your work and leave bad reviews will continue to follow along and give you traffic. They always say something like, “You've lost a reader!” “I've unsubscribed!” Yet they always seem to come back, addicted to everything you have to say. I’m not sure why this is. Perhaps there's some kind of chemical imbalance to those with stalker tendencies.
But for your happiness and growth, it's important to eventually remove them since they take up precious time and energy. As a father of two kids, I don’t have time for all that negativity.
Much like how you regularly cull your e-mail list if subscribers haven't opened one of your newsletters for at least 6 months, you can do the same with regular readers. Here's how I do it to maximize traffic and minimize annoyance.
How To Get Rid Of Internet Trolls
I want Financial Samurai to attract intelligent readers who read beyond the headlines. The ideal Financial Samurai reader is one who gets deep into the content and shares his or her perspective in a respectful manner.
Even if they disagree with what I have to say, they do so with solid logic and backing. They aren't easily triggered by every little thing, and find joy in intelligent banter.
I welcome different perspectives all the time. But I don’t accept trolls and definitely not racists.
Then there are some internet trolls who say they'll never read my work again, yet harasses me publicly on Facebook with political and racial slurs when I publish new posts.
Yes, it's nice that internet trolls are always clicking on my posts to give me more traffic and revenue. And as they say, any publicity is good publicity. But I'm tired of the name calling and illogical conclusions. I feel like I get dumber every time I read internet troll comments. You may feel the same way too.
Best Tips For How To Handle Internet Trolls
Let's say you've got a lot of internet trolls leaving nasty comments on your website and harassing you online. Here are the best tips for how to get ride of internet trolls so you can focus more on doing what you want.
- Don't feed the trolls. If you don't pay them any attention, they will eventually leave you alone.
- Have a moderator review all your comments before you do and remove the nasty ones. This way, your burden of having to deal with internet trolls is removed. Add Moderators to Your Roster. …
- Create a comment commentary post series that calls them out. Using the internet trolls comments and your experience is a great way to create more content. In fact, this is why this post was written!
- Be like the Buddha and treat internet trolls with more empathy and kindness the meaner they get.
- Poke fun at yourself before internet trolls try and put you down. If you hang a lantern on your problems, you take away their weapons.
- Block, ban, and report the internet trolls. It's easy to do nowadays on social media. However, it's not that effective sometimes.
- Take it easy and go for a walk or do something else before replying. If you just can't ignore your haters, then take a minute or 30 before responding.
- Stay professional is a good one. But it's harder to do if your internet troll is being very offensive.
Now that you've got the best tips for how to get rid of internet trolls, let's go through some advanced techniques! These techniques will help you boost your website's popularity and increase profits.
Solutions To Profit From Internet Trolls
There is this one internet troll who is a bitter person who is taking out her anger on me because she's unhappy with something at home. It's interesting to think she has the power of telling me what and how I can think and write just because I'm Asian. Unfortunately for her, there is no white privilege in thought or writing. Post-pandemic, we recognize there are a bunch of people like her called “Karens.”
The way she thinks and how she treats others might be more common in Georgia, where they have a 6-week abortion law, but it is not common in cities and states like San Francisco and California where there is tremendous diversity and freedom of thought and body.
The solution for getting rid of internet trolls? Let them comment on your Facebook, but hide the comments. This allows the internet trolls to get out their rage, but doesn't let their virus spread. You can also just delete or ban people internet trolls. But that's not as fun or profitable.
Another great solution is to publish a post that will enrage internet trolls. This rage post will either permanently push them away, or make them become an even greater consumer of your work. Whenever somebody brings something up you've done, they'll go into the forum or comments section and bash on you to bring about more publicity.
Who Are These Internet Trolls?
In case you're wondering, hurt people hurt people. If you're happy, confident, and successful, you aren't trolling the internet hurling insults. Instead, you're praising people and providing love and support!
Take a look at this fascinating chart about demographics of long-term antidepressants. White women over the age of 45 account for 58 percent of adults who have used antidepressants for at least five years.
If you are angry, lonely, and depressed, there's a greater likelihood of turning into an internet troll or joining the Internet Retirement Police.
Because women spend more time on the internet, there is a greater percentage of women who are internet trolls. Specifically, there is a growing number of older white women who are hating online. We've seen this with the the creation of the term “Karens” since the pandemic began.
Write Controversial Posts To Fire Up The Internet Trolls
Controversial posts that are well-written will also allow your site to stand out from the noise as well. I always recommend writing an opinionated post with an interesting title around once a quarter to keep things fresh and interesting. Further, you might learn something from your readers after writing your hot take as well.
You can do what a lot of bloggers do and just write boring affiliate posts with freelance writers. But that's soul-sucking. If you are writer or true blogger, you want to write with passion and opinion!
You must decide whether you want more peace of mind from unintelligent, racist, and belligerent people, or whether you want more publicity and traffic from your site. Most would probably want less harassment and more traffic. But your goal is to always try to use a bad situation to your advantage.
I decided I wanted to experiment on one of my main female internet trolls, so I published a provocatively entitled post called, Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Gives Rich Private School Graduates Hope. The goal was to point out the irony of how a Democratic Socialist went to a private university that charges over $70,000 a year in annual tuition.
I figured the title would immediately anger people who either hate Democrats or hate women. Given my internet troll is from red-state Georgia, seeing AOC's name made her really mad. However, I also wanted to present to her some conflict given women tend to support other women. Can she overcome her bias against Democrats for her support of women?
Financial Samurai is an extremely diverse site. People who are racist, who never travel to see the world, who hate legal immigrants and minorities, who are easily triggered, and who are are very closed-minded aren't my target audience. But they come to Financial Samurai anyway because the internet is free.
I also wanted to use interesting logic in the post that required intelligence and patience to truly understand my conclusions. The post is about 1,600 words, and only the type of readers I want to cultivate can get through it.
Removing Internet Trolls Successfully
At the end of the day, as expected, my internet troll called me names on Facebook. It was entertaining to go back and forth. Other people came to my defensive. Some came to her defense for attacking me (this makes no sense). In the end, it helped increase traffic to two of the posts she disliked.
Then once the fun and traffic started dying down, I hid her comment so she could rage some more for my entertainment. Then I banned her from FB. Always feel free to do what you want with your own site and page.
It's good to boost readership for your site up to a point. That point is when you start feeling annoyed. Once you get to that point, just delete at will. Below is an example of the occasional racist comment I get on Financial Samurai. The person hails from Georgia if you look up the number below. So sad.
And since the pandemic began, there has been more reported targeting of Asians in America. This has got to stop.
Remember. The people who are angriest with you always have something bad going on with them. They're projecting their frustrations and anger onto you. Use their anger to increase your traffic, but then kick them off the bus once they're of no use to you anymore.
They're dead weight. And in my internet troll's case, she's really dead weight.
Ignoring a troll and blocking them is simply the best way. But it's not a bad idea to help cultivate a community of haters who will keep bashing your site behind your back to boost traffic. You just have to be aware of your tolerance threshold, because it gets old after a while.
Some Internet Trolls Can't Help But Stalk You
I was recently informed that I've got another troll who has picked up this post and started spreading it around to my original internet troll's dismay. She is in her 30s and is also a white woman. It is fascinating why there is such a high percentage of “Karens” who are internet trolls.
She is dissatisfied that most of the coverage about the FIRE movement is about men, and likes to derisively generalize men as “tech-bros.” She also tries to discredit those in the FIRE movement who earned higher than average paychecks because she doesn't earn much herself. Why not try to improve yourself instead of try and bring others down?
It's too bad because there's room for everyone to learn from each other, regardless of sex, income, or race. Unfortunately, she writes she suffers from tremendous anxiety and little things that are none of her business tend to set her off. I'm pretty sure that causing drama and attacking people does not help with dealing with anxiety.
15 bloggers, men and women, have privately told me she is unstable and going through a lot of internal frustration and dissatisfaction in her personal life. That stinks. I hope she gets some help as we all have problems.
I understand how she might feel better lashing out at others who have what she wants. But it’s not a long term solution to her own problems and frustrations. Protect your mental health so you can save your energy and focus on the positives.
I wonder whether she will realize that spending time hating on strangers, defending racists and trolls, and judging people about things when she doesn't know the full context is one of the reasons why she suffers from tremendous anxiety? Getting easily angered is not healthy, neither is letting someone live rent-free in your head.
Protect Your Mental Health
Sometimes it's hard to see through logic if you have a mental illness. But if you go out of your way to harbor a terrorist, you’re a terrorist yourself not matter how much you say or think you’re not. Never defend trolls, bullies, and racists.
Despite her hate, I'm thankful for my newest internet troll's obsession with Financial Samurai. She scans all my posts and pages to try and pick them apart. She says negative things about me on social media. And she helps bring in even more traffic that sticks around and generates even more revenue.
It is sad there are some many white and privileged women out there who have to always get in other people’s business. That's just the way the world works I guess. But at least the pandemic has called them out on their ways.
I estimate internet trolls help bring in an extra $1,000/month in revenue. Ironically, this money allows me and my wife to stay retired from Corporate America for longer.
In a funny way, the internet trolls are like a source of passive income! Maybe I should include them in my passive income ranking. In the end, always embrace the negatives and find ways to turn them into positives.
Embrace The Internet Trolls
I hope these tips and tricks have helped you better deal with internet trolls while also growing your site. They will inevitably come and you will inevitably have readers who hate you for your thoughts, your looks, your race, your politics, your wealth, or whatever.
Instead of letting internet trolls get you down, utilize their hate to create even more content and more traffic! Never let the internet trolls win. When you’ve had your fun, just ignore and delete.
As Dr. Sandra Wilson once said, “Hurt people hurt people.” It's true. Once you look into their backstory, you realize there's something that has really caused them pain to lash out. Therefore, eventually you want to show some empathy.
The best victory is having a successful site and business. Let the internet trolls drown in their misery while you live a great life.
If you're being trolled or bullied online, don't be afraid to stand up for yourself. Standing up for yourself in this often cruel and messy world is important to make them stop. And if they don't stop, now you know how to use bullies to profit and win!
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Reader Questions And Suggestions
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