Why Your Story SUCKS | Writer's rants & discussions

Trolls/Haters

This isn't exactly exclusive to wattpad but it's a platform I see it happen/handled this way the most on.

Every now and then I see a situation unfold, it's usually a user posting on their message board to report another user, or they publish an entire "important" book because said user did XYZ (usually saying something blatantly racist, anti-rainbow nation, or telling someone to off themselves).

Should these users get removed from the site? Of course, but what irritates me is the people going to report the person, not the troll themselves.

Why?

Because people on this platform utterly suck at handling trolls. They give them the exact attention they want, when you go to the troll's page it's often times literally nothing but people rage posting shit back to the troll and telling them how they shouldn't have said what they did and how they're such a terrible person.

Do you not realize people doing that shit are doing it because they want your attention? I know for a lot of people here they've never experienced trolls but come the fuck on. People go out of their way to say horrible shit to/about random people online because they know it'll get a reaction out of everyone.

This is the internet, people love arguing and negative attention because they have mommy/daddy issues and are most likely emotionally neglected and immature children or sad adults. Look at more than half of TikTok for example.

And if we're being honest as fuck, stop letting internet comments get under your skin and bother you. If someone says something bigoted or offensive to you online, your three reaction options should be to either laugh them off/toy with them, try to argue your points logically unless it's not going anywhere, or just block them and move on. Someone online calling you a slur or telling you you should die in a message or comment section shouldn't matter or be taken seriously because that person doesn't even fucking know you, they're a nobody on a website typing words out.

No, not everyone has thick skin, but at least try to separate real life from dumb internet shit. I've been told a lot of horrible shit online in my years on the internet (everything from slurs and insults to DMs of how I should off myself), but it's never affected me because I don't give random users power over what I should think of myself or do. It can take a while to learn and no it may not be easy, but it will do nothing but benefit you.

So I say all this to say, I'm tired of watching people on Wattpad feed trolls/haters they get with a silver spoon.

If you get a troll, ignore them no matter what and no matter how much they try and harass you. Don't go posting on your message board about them and getting all of your followers to go spam them, don't flatter them by posting an entire expose book about them either.

(By the way, according to what an ambassador told me, a very well-known one too, mass reporting doesn't actually work or move the ticket up in urgency, only one report is needed). 

Don't reply to their comments/DMs, simply delete and block them.

Yes, it may be hard for you to do, but they will eventually realize they're not going to get shit from you and stop. There's nothing more damning to these people than being ignored.

And if you see anyone experiencing a troll, for the love of God please tell them to just ignore it, or send them this rant if you're feeling generous.