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There’s been a lot of lively back and forth in Inman recently, especially with some recent articles on door-knocking. It’s fun to see people putting their opinions out there and taking positions, even when (or especially when) they sometimes disagree.
Some of the disagreement is substantive, based on people’s personal experiences and taking into account the fact that other folks’ mileage may vary. Some of the disagreement, though, is straight-up trolling.
In a recent article by Jessi Healey, she offers information and advice on how to deal with online trolls — those people who always seem to have something to say in the comments section or on social media. In her article, Healey provides rule No. 1: Don’t feed the trolls.
The reality is that it can be hard to ignore folks who are purposefully trying to instigate an argument. I think we need to address the comment carnage that can happen when the trolls unleash — and how to tell the difference between a troll and something else.
Do you know a troll?
There are definitely people who make it a habit to get into the comments on every story. Often, you can scroll down and see regular names of frequent commenters. Here on Inman, many individual writers have folks who regularly comment on their stories, either because they always agree or because they always disagree.
Check out the Facebook or Instagram for Inman News sometime and read the comments on posts. A lot of the comments you’ll see are from people who do not even have a subscription and are clearly only responding to the headline or blurb in the post.
So I ask the question: Should you or should you not comment if you haven’t read the whole article? Does an uninformed comment equate to trolling or just bad social media etiquette? Also,…