What do you call someone who leaves nasty comments on your blog?
Did you know that I'm a Communist? I didn't either....until one of the people who reads my blog let me know.
You can't have thin skin if you're a writer. Not everyone is going to like everything you write. Not everyone is going to agree with your opinions. You have to be able to handle criticism. It comes with the territory.
I've written more than eight hundred blog posts here. That's a lot of opinions. That's a lot of words. At the bottom of each one is a space where anyone can make a comment. The keyword here is anyone...no censorship here. If you like something I've written and want to say so, that's great. If you think I'm full of it and want to let me know, that's also welcome.
My blog doesn't get very many comments...usually. Mostly it's from a fellow blogger or a friend showing support. Opposing and/or rude comments are rare. I'm not sure why. I have a nice sized readership and I also write about topics like our current President and gun violence that you'd think would lead to crazies well-informed citizens letting me know how fucked up wrong I am.
The first time I dealt with negative comments was about four years ago. It was a piece about how The Allman Brothers Band was breaking up. My view was that they hadn't been relevant in years and it was long past time they hung up their guitars. It brought out negative comment after negative comment after negative comment and so on. More than 180 of them. I tried to engage with some of them but after a while it was too overwhelming. Besides, what's your comeback to someone who says they're sorry you didn't end up in your mother's mouth? So you let them have their say, ignore them and at the same time count up the clicks/page views. For a couple of years, this piece was my most read blog post! CHA CHING...or would have been if we were paid by the click.
I never minded the negative comments. If they're constructive, you can learn something from them. If they're clever, like the guy who told me "Just because you're educated to write, doesn't mean you should", you can be entertained.
But I wonder where is the line that commentators shouldn't cross? Is there a line?
Two weeks ago I wrote a post wondering about who was watching young Barron Trump while his mother was in the hospital. IT WAS SATIRE!!! C'mon, no one really believed that I thought an eleven year old boy would be watching himself for a week, did you? Did you really believe that I wanted him sent to the Hannity's or Conways? Phew....glad almost all of you get satire...especially when it's labeled as satire.
A few days after the post was published, the comments started. Apparently my Trump supporting readers weren't too happy with my writing. Nothing I can't handle. Some name calling along with being accused of wasting valuable space on the internet. No big deal. My Twitter feed had a couple of guys who threatened to come to Chicago and beat me up. One of them said I was a tough guy hiding behind a keyboard. Hmmmm.....pretty sure he's doing the same thing. Btw, I'm really not that tough.
But then there was the guy who called me a Commie.
I really am not a Communist. I may be a Socialist but probably not even that. But one of my critics decided I am and found five different locations on my Facebook feed to let me...and my FB pals know that. He even found a picture of me and my daughter at her graduation and called me an ugly Commie wearing a tie. C'mon man, ugly? It was a nice photo and I am wearing a tie.
Hmmmm....Do I think stalking someone on a different social media forum is crossing the line? Maybe.
We bloggers have a term for folks who leave negative, nasty comments on a blog post. They're called trolls. I never liked that term. I always and still do believe that people who take time out of their day to read something I wrote deserve to have their say. I have respect for them. My term for folks who have left negative, nasty comments on one of my blog post is reader!
So to the guys who threatened to beat me up on Twitter and the guy who thinks me and my daughter are Commies and the woman who thought my post was a waste of valuable internet space and to anyone else who disagrees with any of my musings or just may think I'm totally full of it.....thanks for reading.
Related Post: Who has been watching Barron Trump this week?
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