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Training Your Troll
Always remember. You have options!
If you have been writing on Medium (or on any other platform) for any length of time, and your topics are anything more controversial than your grandmother’s recipe for strawberry shortcake, you have probably attracted a troll or two. At one time or another, you will almost be forced to make a decision about what constitutes a troll as opposed to someone offering constructive criticism or an alternative opinion, and more importantly, what you will do about it.
What exactly IS a troll?
A commonly accepted definition of an internet troll is someone who posts inflammatory responses or posts with the intent of provoking the author of the original post. They resort to name-calling, belittling, sarcasm, threats, and other non-productive comments in an effort to get the author or other people on the thread to respond to them. They want to argue and fight. They have no real interest in learning more about what you had to say or offering an alternative perspective based on reason and fact.
On Medium, a troll is fairly easy to pick out of the crowd. They are the responders who either cite nothing from your article at all or zoom in on one small part as the launching pad for their attack. They might make fun of you or your idea. They might mock you, or resort to…
