Dealing with Trolls Last Updated 05 August 2021 by Michael Forrest
When I first started streaming I didn’t understand trolls. Here’s what I learned.
If you put yourself out there, you will get trolled. You need to be vulnerable if you want to connect with people, but this gives trolls an opportunity to mess with you. Just remember these points:
Trolls just want a reaction
The idea of trolling is to say something that gets a reaction from the streamer. They don’t really care what they have to say to achieve this. So the worst thing you can do is try to persuade them they are wrong. As soon as you react, they’ve won.
How to spot a troll
If somebody says inflammatory and obviously off-topic, they’re probably trolling you.
How to react to a troll
Don’t! Just ignore them.
My most satisfying moment dealing with a troll when I kept ignoring their messages until they imploded with frustration.
Just remember
It’s more about them than it is about you.
Don’t take what they say personally, and don’t take it as their genuine opinion.
Just take it as a cry for attention. If you’re feeling generous, you could offer them a different kind of attention, with some compassion for their loneliness. This might neutralise their toxicity better than banning them.
But then again, you can just ban them if you can’t be bothered (but they might come back with a different username!).
