Just a general comment for everyone, to be ignored, I'm sure, by most:
Some people are very passionate about certain topics. It might be gay marriage, or abortion, or feminism, or children - or something totally combustible like homeschooling. Whenever that particular topic is discussed in the Bloggernacle, these people come out of the woodwork and comment on blogs they don't give a large rodent's hairy hindquarters about on a daily basis. They don't participate regularly, so they don't know everyone who does - so their diatribes are based solely on assumptions about regulars.
My unrequested advice:
Understand that these people are topic-shoppers, so don't take their comments personally. They believe what they believe, and they don't comment on any other threads. Let them launch their broadsides; let them not even try to understand you; let them live in their own world - and don't begrudge them their passion, whether or not you agree.
They probably aren't trolls in real life - only when it comes to their particular passion. They don't participate to become part of a community; they swing their swords in defense of truth and right - and they do so from both sides of each issue. Understand their topical trollishness, and just endure to the end. This too shall pass.
End of sermon - Stepping down from the pulpit.
4 comments:
I love it! So true. I think some people also come out for the express purpose of criticizing. I have an anonymous commenter that likes to make personal digs every once and awhile.
Is there a like button?
As one who is passionate about women's issues, I guess I resemble this post.
But that doesn't mean I don't seek to understand.
There is a pattern to some of the trolling, one I've witnessed in people who are close to me. The pattern I refer to is when a person is caught up in iniquity and becomes disassociated from what he knows to be true. He is then faced with a choice: humility and repentance, or pride and justification. The pride path leads to the kinds of attacks we often see from trolls, as they lose the light they once had and attempt to justify their self-deception.
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