Facing Attackers on Your Blog

Opening your ideas, artwork and writings up to possibly millions of strangers may not seem like your idea of fun, but blogging has become a popular past time. You don't have to look far to find family members, school mates and friends who have left some kind of mark on the blogosphere.

Blogger.com, has one of the best definitions of what a blog is on the Internet. "A blog is a daily pulpit, a collaborative space, a political soapbox, a breaking-news outlet, and a collection of links." It is a place to share "your own private thoughts, and memos to the world." No matter what you have decided to blog about, a blog is your place. You control that little piece of cyberspace, and you are free to create to your heart's desire.

However, it is important to know that with blogging comes critics. Writers are not typically novices when it comes to criticism. Professional writers can face rejection on a daily basis, whether from a copy editor for a website, a news paper editor or some sort of publishing house. These kinds of critics are generally professional and remark solely on your work. Unfortunately, when it comes to blogging, many critics do not follow that same rule of professionalism.

Your blog's critic may find something you wrote unprofessional, indecent or revolting. Many of these times those accusations are unfounded or a result of a misunderstanding on the reader's part. Fortunately, most of these people simply move one. However, there are some people compelled to make snide comments about your work and in some cases you.

Personal Experience

As a relatively new blogger to the blogosphere, I looked upon blogging as a way to collect my poetry in one place, and share my love for imagery that is induced by the written word. While I don't believe myself some great thing or equal in ability to Lord Byron, I wanted to share my ideas with the world. I looked forward to reading the few comments I received every other day or so. Until "Anonymous" came along.

For some reason, unknown to me, one of my poems set this anonymous reader off. While I take criticism of my work relatively well, I like most people, don't respond well to personal attacks. Unfortunately, my reader figured this out early on. Soon he or she was leaving personal attacks on my blog several times a day. The entire time he or she would leave these comments, I would try to answer them politely, and express my point of view. After three days of this "game," I realized this was not working and something had to be done.

It was the last comment that my reader left that pushed me over the edge that I had been teetering on. I hadn't wanted to set a comment box that required readers to register to the site before posting, but I learned quickly I had no choice. Once my mother, my best friend Ruth, and I were all being spoken of in such a lewd way, I had to take the steps to further correct the situation that my anonymous reader had caused.

Facing Attackers

It is important to know when facing attackers in the blogosphere, that they are not your friend. These people, most likely, do not know you, and never will. They may try to coerce you into believing that they are your friend, or act like they have your best interests at heart, but they don't. Do NOT let their words ruin your day, or your desire to continue your blog.

I must admit that during my three day nightmare, I cried a lot, I had a bad dream about being bitten by a snake (something my reader referred to) and was not too easy to live with. Looking back, I realize this was not beneficial to anyone, least of all me. (I had several article rewrites to do at work, and even had an article rejected by a copy editor, because I was so preoccupied with an anonymous person.) So, if it is possible, don't let your attacking reader ruin your day!

You can choose to answer your attacker or push delete. You have options on your blog. You can answer your attacker, or delete his comments. It is important to remember that you are the "ruler" of your blog, and you should set the example and the tone. Never answer an attacker with personal attacks. Always be calm and reasonable even when defending yourself. You must be the bigger person. If you find that impossible, your best option is to push delete. You don't want to ruin your credibility because of a disgruntled reader!

If deleting your attacker's comments doesn't work, some blogs have the ability to block people from viewing your blog or leaving comments. This may be an option you have to consider.

Hopefully, you won't have to face personal attacks on your blog. But, the chances are they will come. It only took 300 page views to result in my first attacker, and I expect there will be more. Now, I know how to deal with it. I hope you do too.

References:

What is a Blog?