How to Deal with Travel Blogger Trolls

Have you picked up my eBook for dealing with blogging criticism?

This could be a helpful read if you don’t know how to effectively deal with blogging trolls.

I read a post from rocking blogger Jo Karnaghan on a travel blogging group run by Meg Jerrard. Jo encountered her first dyed in the wool, major league, travel blogging troll. For the uninitiated, trolls are critics. But we are initiated, aren’t we, Bruce? (I work Batman lines into posts.)

I recall writing a Huffington Post piece advising folks visit Turkey after the coup attempt. I spent a month there 1 week after the attempt. A few folks sent angry messages telling me I was not responsible, assailing me for making such a suggestion, in nasty fashion.

Dealing with trolls feels uncomfortable. Wouldn’t it be so much easier to crawl into your blogging cave, to avoid these folks? Nope. All exponential growth ends if you pull back after meeting a travel blogging troll or 2.

Follow these tips to effectively deal with blogging critics.

1: You Are a Mirror

Travel bloggers; you are not the object of criticism. You are a mirror, reflecting back to the critic something about themselves. All criticism is a projection, since we are all connected. All trolls speak of themselves. Trolls say nothing about you. Knowing this, you can breathe a bit more easily, because it is not about you.

2: Cultivate Compassion

I am typing these words in a sleepy village in Northern Thailand. Pretty cool experience.

I imagine how angry and in pain I’d have to be, to send an email to Jo, like the email she shared. I imagine how fear-filled and in pain I’d need to be, to message me as trolls-critics have messaged me in the past. These people are not sick; they are afraid and in pain, calling out for attention in bizarre fashion, one way fear-filled, pained people call out for attention.

Have some compassion for critics. Critics suffer. Otherwise, they would not be critics.

3: Turn Complaints into Creations

Commonly, we travel bloggers do a bit of complaining in response to critics, or troll-slaying. But turning the complaint into a helpful:

• blog post
• video
• podcast
• eBook; like mine above (or below)

is a smart way to help people and to prosper.

Complaining about critics or fighting trolls or trying to prove right-wrong, all waste your energy. Ultimately, you learn from criticism or you regress by fighting critics, or, by fighting your feelings.

4: Be with Feelings

I recall facing my first few angry critics. Embarrassment, rage, anger, fraud-feelings, annoyance and all types of fear-based energies coursed through my being, indicating a part of me agreed with them. I saw truth in their criticism. I sat with the fear, felt it, cleared it, and freed myself of fear-fight-fright. Clearing fear-fight-fright allowed me to see future trolls as pained, afraid people I could release instantly. No wasted energy on these folks.

Do not fight troll-induced fear-pain. You need to clear it to handle criticism with grace, ease and detachment.

5: Do Not Gang Troll Bash

Again; newbie bloggers or newbie troll facers often share updates of their encounter, leading to mass troll bashing. Not good. Not effective use of energy. No human benefits from a large group of hurt, pained, afraid bloggers saying, “Hey that guy’s a freaking jerk!”, because the troll is not a jerk, but afraid. Have you been afraid? I have. No sense kicking a dog when it is down. No sense showing your fear-pain by piling on, because only unclear, unfocused folks spend time or energy judging an obviously hurting, afraid individual.

Trolls actually like what you do. If they did not like what you did, these critics would ignore you.

Betcha you didn’t think of criticism that way, eh?