Today’s question comes from Maria @ Night’s Dream of Books.
How do you handle negative comments left on your blog?
I’ve only recently started book blogging again, and my readership is pretty small, so I’ve been lucky enough not to have to deal with negative comments on my blog.
I did have someone on YouTube call me a nigger once, and I decided that rather than engage the troll, I would delete the comment. It definitely made me unhappy. And, as with any microaggression, I wondered what I’d done to provoke the person to leave said comment, like it was my fault.
I actually think I like having a fairly small readership/viewership. It means that I’m less likely to have to deal with such comments. I’ve been enjoying the engagement I’ve had with bloggers so far this year, and I am thankful for readers who leave thoughtful comments or comments that challenge my assumptions or ideologies.
How would you answer this question?
the (book) supplier 
I don’t have to deal with negative comments, I moderate everything!
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I thought about doing that, but ultimately decided to moderate the first, then let people through. I guess it’s more convenient for me that way.
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I’m a new blogger. Have just blogged for 3 months, so I’ve been very lucky, so far, not getting many negative comments. If I get in the future, I’ll choose to keep being nice. I’ll keep looking at things positively like I always do, even though sometimes it’s really hard.
Btw, I’m sorry to hear that you got that comment. 😦
Yes, I enjoy blogging so much too. This community is awesome. 🙂
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Thanks. It’s one of those things where it wasn’t the first time I’ve been called it to my face (one of my students did in my first year of teaching) and it’s not the last time, you know? I’m going to surround myself with people who are awesome. Not perfect, but awesome nonetheless.
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I’m lucky to not have had to worry about negative comments on my blog yet. Also, I would love to destroy that person for you because what the actual smurf that’s not okay ever at all. I’m sorry he was how he was. You’re awesome. ❤
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Thanks. You know, I’ve found negative comments are few and far between. I think, though, that I probably could have left some last week. I bet you could have too.
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Easily. So many. I opted to unfollow people and stop looking through responses instead of being snarky and negative around the point where I got to the people who basically said I didn’t have the right to see myself at all in books. 😒
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My readership is also pretty small, so I’ve yet to encounter negative comments– although I got three spam comments today alone, what’s the deal with that? But I digress… I think I’d do the same as you: delete and ignore it. Trolls are just people hiding behind their computers and taking their anger out on people who find joy in life.
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I am sorry you got such an awful comment like that. That’s unacceptable. Like with alcohol, sitting behind a computer screen seems to lower one’s inhibitions and some people feel they can say anything, no matter how inappropriate and hurtful it may be.
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It’s one of those things I think is important to talk about – to make sure that people who don’t experience these kinds of thing know that it does happen. I’ve had nothing but good experiences since I started blogging again.
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OMG!!! I’m totally shocked that you actually got such a comment on YouTube!! How sad that racism has STILL not disappeared from our world….. You would have thought that something like this would now be a thing of the past. After all, we had the Civil Rights Movement and everything. But no, it’s still very much alive, although much more subtle and insidious. However, it does rear its ugly head in instances such as the one you’ve mentioned. And heck, look at WHO just got “elected”. I’ve been seeing more and more racist incidents mentioned on the Internet since that sorry excuse for a human being took over the White House.
Of course you did the right thing in deleting that troll’s comment! It’s not worth it to get yourself into an online fight with someone like that, as they’re definitely NOT going to change.
You know, having a small readership is not a bad thing at all. Quality is much better than quantity. I’m glad that most of the bloggers you’ve met and interacted with have been courteous, and have engaged with you without unnecessary drama and/or blatant insults. I think the book community is known for these traits. YouTube, well….you get a much greater variety of folks there, many of them ignorant, uneducated, and even BIGOTED.
We fellow book bloggers appreciate you, Eli!! ❤ ❤ : ) : )
Thanks for your thoughts!! Also, thanks for visiting my blog and commenting on my own BBH post!! : ) : ) : )
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Ohh that is terrible you got that comment on YouTube it really is ashamed there still are people like that in our world. But that’s good you delete it and move on it is so not worth the drama. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog hop. And here’s to many more years to Happy blogging for you.
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Cait from Paper Fury was commenting on my blog that she never had a problem until her blog became popular, so you are right… maybe we should be content with a smaller viewer base. As to what happened to you on YouTube I am sorry about that; some people are frightening. I don’t really have any trouble on my blog, but Goodreads can be a hostile place if you rate a popular book low, and Twitter, well, Twitter can go off for no good reason at all. Ha ha. I don’t spend much time there anymore.
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