How do you deal with rude readers? | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

Call me crazy but I freaking love them (I haven't read either post yet)…The reason I started blogging was to engage people and if everyone agrees with you where the hell is the fun?

Engage the guy try to talk it out! Worse comes to worse some random dude 1200 miles from you thinks you suck…so what?

8:21 am
November 18, 2011

themodernfinancial

Member

posts 57

retireby40 said:

Left a comment. I think it's good to have a few controversial posts. It's more fun to read the comments when there are disagreement.

Thanks! What I'm liking about the situation now is that readers are debating amongst themselves, and I'm sitting back, observing, and feeling somewhat proud of the post. LOL.

Kamara

@kamarakroeker

8:23 am
November 18, 2011

themodernfinancial

Member

posts 57

Tony Chou @ Investorz' Blog said:

I'm totally fine with people leaving rude comments. At least it shows that you've hit something key in the other side's weakness. But sometimes, you just got to let it go. If you feel that it's too offensive, you can always delete the comment.

True. I'm not too offended…yet. The commentator hasn't come back for more. I don't know if that will last.

Kamara

@kamarakroeker

8:28 am
November 18, 2011

themodernfinancial

Member

posts 57

The Single Saver said:

Written communication is a funny medium. If you don't know the person's "voice" in real life it is very easy to misjudge a person's true intent simply by what they wrote. I know I have been unjustly accused of trying to stir up trouble before when, in fact, I wasn't and was only stating an opinion… but I also can understand how the true meaning of my words could have been confused as people have varied definitions they use which can change tone and meaning significantly.

Knowing this (and having experienced it) I try to give my readers the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps their "angry" comment wasn't as mad, sarcastic, cranky, mean, etc. as I was making it out to be? Maybe it was mad, sarcastic, mean…. simply because the author was having a bad day? Maybe the author has some valid thoughts that negate mine and they just aren't good at putting those thoughts into words? I'd rather ignore the writer than attack them back, especially if their intent wasn't to attack me initially. Or, I will respond (politely) expressing why I feel they are wrong.

If this commentator had just written a comment, I would have been able to give him the benefit of the doubt and let it slide, but he publicly attacked me on Twitter saying my post was full of "errors and asumptions". I left the spelling error, his, in the the previous sentence intentionally. So the post obviously struck a nerve with him, and it was clear to me that he was attacking my opinion.

You are right though, we should all practice giving the benefit of the doubt. I've met some very sweet people in real life, who write very cold and abrupt emails.

Kamara

@kamarakroeker

8:30 am
November 18, 2011

themodernfinancial

Member

posts 57

Melissa (Mom's Plans) said:

I have had the same experience as you and SPF with someone attacking on another site and writing an entire blog post. I refrained from commenting because really, what can you say to someone like that? All you do is give them fuel to write more. Those people aren't rational. Just ignore it and go about your business. Sometimes the blogging world feels like you are back in middle school. :)

Sustainable PF said:

I've only had one questionable comment on our site.

I reminded the commentator, in the comments, to play nice on our site – politely (which isn't always easy for me to do!).

I've had some, what I consider, attacks on other sites – one in particular. I commented about the content and then never visited that thread, or the site, again.

Middle School – yes, exactly! I definitely don't want to fuel his writing, and have him benefit from any additional traffic, so unless I hear more from him, that actually warrants a response, I will let it lie.

Kamara

@kamarakroeker

8:32 am
November 18, 2011

themodernfinancial

Member

posts 57

MyJourneytoMillions said:

Call me crazy but I freaking love them (I haven't read either post yet)…The reason I started blogging was to engage people and if everyone agrees with you where the hell is the fun?

Engage the guy try to talk it out! Worse comes to worse some random dude 1200 miles from you thinks you suck…so what?

HA! You're totally right. I was just saying to someone the day before the fateful post "I can't wait until I get some disagreement on my blog. It means I'm doing something right." I guess…I've arrived!

Kamara

@kamarakroeker

11:19 am
November 18, 2011

Dominique Brown

Washington, DC

Member

posts 510

How To Fix Your Credit Ebook on Amazon – Details!

MyJourneytoMillions said:

Call me crazy but I freaking love them (I haven't read either post yet)…The reason I started blogging was to engage people and if everyone agrees with you where the hell is the fun?

Engage the guy try to talk it out! Worse comes to worse some random dude 1200 miles from you thinks you suck…so what?

I've actually engaged you on a post before.. Before I started blogging under YFS

Name: Dominique Brown

Email: admin@yourfinancessimplified.com

Web: http://www.yourfinancessimplified.com

12:28 pm
November 18, 2011

MyJourneytoMillions

Member

posts 1012

YourFinancesSimplified said:

MyJourneytoMillions said:

Call me crazy but I freaking love them (I haven't read either post yet)…The reason I started blogging was to engage people and if everyone agrees with you where the hell is the fun?

Engage the guy try to talk it out! Worse comes to worse some random dude 1200 miles from you thinks you suck…so what?

I've actually engaged you on a post before.. Before I started blogging under YFS

That's awesome, which post?! Did you agree with me or think I was an idiot that needed a blog b/c no one in his life wanted to listen to him anymore?

1:16 pm
November 18, 2011

TightFistedMiser

Member

posts 361

Your post seemed pretty balanced to me. I've found that my biggest critics usually bash me for things they think I wrote rather than what I actually wrote.

Visit me at TightFistedMiser.com.

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1:29 pm
November 18, 2011

The Saved Quarter

Member

posts 531

If a person has a wildly different opinion but shares it without vulgarity, I'll politely engage them and try to explain my position in a different way. I've had several readers apologize for their original (sometimes rude, judgmental) comments, or acknowledge that they had read more into it than I'd written, like TightFistedMiser. I've also had readers say that they still felt that my ideas were wrong, but I offer other helpful content and they keep reading. I'm fine with that!

You can't please everyone. You can be glad that your post brought readers out to share their opinion, be the bigger person in how you respond, and appreciate that there are probably readers clicking "refresh" to see if the debate is continuing. :)

The Saved Quarter

1:29 pm
November 18, 2011

The Saved Quarter

Member

posts 531

The Saved Quarter

7:44 pm
November 18, 2011

themodernfinancial

Member

posts 57

TightFistedMiser said:

Your post seemed pretty balanced to me. I've found that my biggest critics usually bash me for things they think I wrote rather than what I actually wrote.

Thanks! I did notice that a few readers jumped to their own conclusions based on what I wrote, when it should have been interpreted more literally. Oh well…

Kamara

@kamarakroeker

7:48 pm
November 18, 2011

themodernfinancial

Member

posts 57

I've had some disagreement on the blog and I don't edit/remove unless they're personally attacking me and/or being vulgar. That's only happened twice and I deleted those; I also emailed those people to let them know why their post was deleted and inviting them to reword their comment and try again without vulgarity. One did, and we had a conversation about the topic. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but I do expect people to disagree without being jerky about it. If a person has a wildly different opinion but shares it without vulgarity, I'll politely engage them and try to explain my position in a different way. I've had several readers apologize for their original (sometimes rude, judgmental) comments, or acknowledge that they had read more into it than I'd written, like TightFistedMiser. I've also had readers say that they still felt that my ideas were wrong, but I offer other helpful content and they keep reading. I'm fine with that!You can't please everyone. You can be glad that your post brought readers out to share their opinion, be the bigger person in how you respond, and appreciate that there are probably readers clicking "refresh" to see if the debate is continuing. :)

Kamara

@kamarakroeker

6:13 pm
November 19, 2011

Marissa

Member

posts 385

I find people who leave mean/rude comments somewhat sad at times. My best friend refers to them as trolls. Its completely acceptable to have different opinions, its expected, but to people who deal/share those opinion in ridiculous ways make me giggle. You have the all right points and opinions, and just share it wrong, and there goes your credibility. That being said, I react differently in person than I do online. I rather have a debate face to face with someone any day.

-Marissa

PF Blog: Thirtysixmonths.com Finance Triggers

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Reach me: Marissa @ Thirtysixmonths.com

9:37 pm
November 19, 2011

Dominique Brown

Washington, DC

Member

posts 510