If you’ve spent time in social media, you’ve probably been warned not to “feed the trolls.”’
Trolls, as Wikipedia will tell you, are defined as “someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.”
Give them gasoline and a match, and they’ll start a fire on your blog. So don’t feed them content that might encourage them to, you know, troll.
But not feeding the trolls is a lot easier said than done. Why? Because trolls eat anything. The web to them is like an all you eat buffet.
Write a post about your favorite breakfast diner and a troll will claim you’re sleeping with the owner.
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