Comments on: 4 Types of Blog Comments That Make You Look Like a Troll [Opinion]

By: Ryan Dube

Ryan Dube — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 13:19:20 +0000

Good points. I think a lot of bloggers do take comments to heart when they probably shouldn’t. It’s hard – but probably if they saw where the comments were actually coming from, they wouldn’t care so much. Good advice though, I’m sure other bloggers here will take it to heart as well.

By: Rum DMT

Rum DMT — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 22:24:55 +0000

People who nitpick at grammar errors are usually trolls. To be honest, faulty hardware can make an English prof. look like a complete moron. You can’t base criticisms on internet comments, most are unedited opinions rather than finished term papers, and those critiqueing them have no insight for the artist or what is happening on the flip side of the monitor.

By: Jon Smith

Jon Smith — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 22:14:37 +0000

You forgot “First!” lol

By: Ryan Dube

Ryan Dube — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 23:54:55 +0000

^^ seconded… good one.

By: Ryan Dube

Ryan Dube — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 23:54:19 +0000

Agreed John, the fact that trolling is just part of the fabric of the Internet is a difficult pill to swallow when one has so much hope for intelligent and interesting exchangers – rather than those sort of useless ad hominum remarks. You’re right though – they’ve always been here and they’ll always be here. DFTT – Don’t Feed The Trolls, very true.

By: Ryan Dube

Ryan Dube — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 23:52:32 +0000

Cliff – good points. Although the flip sides holds true…if you are professional on a technical topics, and you complete a detailed, complete and technically thorough and accurate article, and then someone comes along and only bothers to correct a single overlooked grammatical mistake in a 2000 word post…it makes the reader look like they sort of missed the entire point of the article.

Of course, as a writer, I guess if a reader misses the point of an article, it’s ultimately our fault – so I guess the writer has to take the fault for that either way.

By: Ryan Dube

Ryan Dube — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 23:50:33 +0000

haha…If I could Like comments on here, I’d “like” yours Bruns – that was funny. :-)

By: karthik chandrappa

karthik chandrappa — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 19:06:46 +0000

can we include Wikipedia edit wars in first category

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Edit_war

By: P.F. Bruns

P.F. Bruns — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:29:58 +0000

That’s an excellent example of types 1-3 all rolled into one! Well done.

By: P.F. Bruns

P.F. Bruns — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 15:29:04 +0000

I am working to stop myself from nitpicking people’s grammar and spelling. In my case, the habit stems from developing a very strong affinity with communications and English from a very early age (I was reading before the age of 3, and by the time I reached kindergarten the next year, I was already capable of sight-reading in a full-blown narrative style). As such, grammar and spelling mistakes jump out at me (metaphorically speaking; I can’t afford a 3-D monitor!). I don’t have to go hunting for them.

By: John Wilson

John Wilson — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 14:45:22 +0000

On sites such as Techdirt which focus on mundane but important topics like the economics of the Web/Internet which, inevitably, brings in discussions of hot issues like copyright and patents.

One group of trollers are those who made ad hominum remarks in each and every post ending in an attack on someone or another, often the author of a post or the site owner himself. Given that the topics are often emotional in themselves many, myself included, ignore the rule “don’t feed the troll” which just gets more posts from said troll.

On grammar mistakes many are handled humourously with the mistake pointed out and a suggested correction followed by FIFY! which translates into Fixed It For You. Those, at least, are responded to with humour and a thanks

Trollers have, sadly, existed all the way back to dial up days on platforms such as Fidonet. If nothing else, they’re an enduring collection of beasts. So remember the rule — Don’t Feed The Troll by responding to them.

By: Shehan Nirmal

Shehan Nirmal — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 02:47:46 +0000

I love blogging and commenting…!!!

By: Cliff Mccullar

Cliff Mccullar — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 23:41:54 +0000

I agree with this in “theory” however i do think both sides get carried away sometimes. However if you claim to be a professional at something then a “novice” shouldnt be able to point out your doing it wrong. If you are getting offended that a “grammer nazi” is after you when your writing something in a professional setting…then your just not a professional writer. Though as OP stated for something like this i dont CARE if its picture perfect, never have, never will, im not a english major or a professional writer :P.

By: none

none — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 23:31:53 +0000

omg what a cry baby, leave us alone article. Why is your website possibly one of the slowest on the www, in my opinion, is it all the advertising/data mining crap you have on it?

By: Perspicacious

Perspicacious — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:27:31 +0000

“It might be pointing out some very minute technical error, or something as mundane as pointing out a grammar mistake.”

I don’t point out grammatical errors when I’m on a forum where the postings are often fast and furious and don’t allow for thoughtful reflection, but I will do so if I’m reading something written by a self-professed “professional writer” for two reasons.

First, the reason behind writing anything is to communicate ideas and/or information. Grammar errors interfere with that purpose often as much as murky thought processes.

Second, while not universally true, materials written by “professional writers” tend to be read by many more people than forum postings. If I comment about a grammar error, the error can be corrected by a conscientious author, thereby preventing the next 5, 50, 500 or five thousand readers from stumbling over the same material I just did. In my mind, the balance swings to the author spending 60 seconds correcting the error versus 5000 readers having to read the same thing two or three times.

No “professional” writer should ever take offense at having a grammatical error pointed out (assuming that it wasn’t written as “that’s ‘affect’ not ‘effect’, stupid!”). Your job is communication. Proper grammar only helps you communicate. And no one gets it correct all of the time, anyway.

Actually, in my opinion, a true “professional” would be pleased that any errors made are quickly corrected so that the “meat” of the article is clear and not obscured by an easily fixed mistake.