When Your Readers Disagree With You...
Perhaps my content was somewhat controversial in my specific niche, but I shared a blog post in a Google+ community just now and a lot of comments came flooding back, many of which did not agree with the content I wrote.
Not that there was any unpleasantness and for better or worse, I at least managed to get people discussing my blog post and offering their own views in opposition to my own. Hey, it's engagement - even if it was a tad controversial - and that's what we want, right?!
And if I've learned anything from this: prepare to be challenged in what you say and be prepared to come up with the answers.
But what happens if you really ruffle some feathers?
This made me think about the potential pitfalls of running an online business or a blog - you could potentially open yourself up to thousands of trolls and haters that make spammers seem like pleasant folk compared.
It's one reason why I have some reservations when posting blogs in the 'give and take' for other WA members to comment on. Most of us tend not to write comments that cause trouble or rock the boat, since we all follow the mantra of helping one another.
It's the readers within your niche who are far more qualified to comment about your niche that you will need to be prepared for. People who will challenge you if they feel you're speaking out of your rear end or worse, you suggest something that appears to attack the beliefs of the reader.
Maybe it depends on the niche you're targeting as well. If you're writing about owls, I suspect you won't get that many angry birds (see what I did there?) throwing diatribe in your comment boxes.
But for those who write about football (I refuse to call it soccer), computer games or D&D, these communities are often breeding grounds for haters, keyboard warriors and trolls.
I suspect once you start to really grow your following and your authority increases, you will start to get a few unpleasant folk lurking around. But I think the most important thing is how you deal with it and whether or not you actually have the mental fortitude to keep marching forth despite these things.
I've only had one troll so far, but I solved that by simply deleting his comment.
So I would like to ask: if you have been on the end of abuse, ridicule or even death threats, how did you deal with it? And what advise would you give those who have only just started their journey and prepare them for what might happen down the road?
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If it is something you believe in, just hold your head up high and move on. Hope you didn't have a death threat though.
Ah, no - I didn't get any death threats. Why would I - I'm only small fry after all :).
But some well established writers online in the video games industry have apparently received a lot of hate mail. I suspect it's not so bad in some niches compared to others.
I agree with you on holding your head up high. Especially once you become successful on a consistent basis.
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Moderate them out of the room if you can. If you can't then act with integrity, and always be polite, if they keep pressing they take up screen real estate and others on the community will become disenchanted and take things up- but it is usually better to let things burn themselves out, IMO.
Andy