The Only Real Way To Defeat Trolls

Trolling is a beta strategy. Here’s how to maintain the upper hand with them.

Photo by Grianghraf on Unsplash

Dealing with trolls is a reality of modern life, exacerbated by the hyper-partisan times that we live in. Inevitably, it is nearly impossible to have any sort of discussion online without a troll coming in to derail the conversation.

The key to defeating trolls is to understand that their goal is to rile you up to the point of derailing the conversation. It is a strategy that is aimed at distracting you.

Trolling is a beta strategy.

They implicitly acknowledge that you have the upper hand. It’s an act of submission. The only thing they can do is try to cause you to give up your high ground by upsetting you. In other words, they are losers that can’t win on merit, so all they can do is drag you down.

Trolls aim to upset you, not to have a conversation.

So, starting from that point — the best strategy is not to engage.

Let me dive into this.

What is a troll?

To be clear, a troll is not somebody who simply says something you disagree with.

A troll is somebody who tries to disrupt an interaction, rather than have an actual…