All Comments on 'Why Trolls Live Under Bridges'

Interesting thoughts, I wonder how many anonymous comments it will get?

Loved it…..it’s easy to disparage others when hiding under a rock.

One...

One...

Think that they will get it? Naaaaa. That requires self introspection on their part. This was wonderful. Thank you.

Wieliczka

Look in the mirror, dude. LOL Apparently, the bullying rubbed off on you a little.

TL;DR

By posting this rant (one which I hope makes you feel better) under a different name, aren’t you guilty of the same thing as the anon commenters you are attacking?

You are a writer. I am not nor could I ever be. Write as much or as little as you please. I admire your ability to write stories. If I like it I will read it. If not, then I will just move on. I do not slam any writer nor would I ever. Continue writing if you enjoy it. I choose to not place my name on any site for personal reasons. I will never slam your ability to create a story as I do not have that ability. Ignore the fools who hide behind anon.

Respectfully,

It’ll get one anonymous comment lol (but then they are not a registered member). By a non author but one who only comments when they feel it favourable. If a story isn’t to their taste they only click the back button. But they do have a maybe sotroy for some distant time in the future

I think you make many good points. I'm posting as Anonymous, despite my being an author here of over 50 stories, for the practical reason that I do not want to have trolls trashing my own stories for my agreeing with you. Personally, I think that Lit's rating system is deeply flawed as it gives too much weight to low scores which are not the carefully considered evaluations of literary critics, but an indication that the reader hates that type of story or shouldn't have been reading it in the first place. It seems to me, that any score less than 5 is a down vote if the story has been generally rated over 4 by other readers. Even a 4 star vote pulls a story down that has been sitting at 4.45, which is nearly "hot". If a story has typos and bad grammar that is mildly annoying, but is otherwise a good story, I might give it 4, but generally, if I can't give a story a 5, I don't give it any. No doubt this sounds insane to some readers and authors. All that said, many of my biggest fans have commented (and voted) as Anons, so I don't assume that all anons are cowards. Besides, most usernames are just one step above Anon, as they don't usually give much of a clue as to who someone really is.

I can understand your anger but I think you might be missing a significant point. You are lambasting the anons that post threatening, hurtful, etc. comments but seem to be giving those with accounts who do the same a pass? Writers don’t mind criticism from anons or those with accounts. On this site though, it’s seems only a few of either know how to criticize without being insulting. That’s the real issue

Good try. But it will not make the trolls change their ways. They live for this, and only this. It gets them hard (probably the only thing that does)

Truth!

One does not need to know how to cook to be able to judge fine food. One does not need to know how to make wine or have ever made wine - to know a fine wine when they taste one. So, knowing or being able to write has no forbearance on how one judges a good story and comments on same.

Trolls will be trolls, no different than thieves will be thieves. The trick is to know when you are reading a troll and then paying it no mind.

The only strength trolls have is when you allow them to get to you. If every author paid no credence to trolls - perhaps many would go away.

It would be nice if Lit deleted trolls - but that most likey would be an endless task.

I thoroughly applaud all the people on this site who don’t publish anonymously. I do, however, feel bad for you trudging through life with a name like Oldbushy. What were your parents thinking? Oh, what? That’s not your real name?

Is everyone who makes a negative comment a troll? I’m an avid reader and have published nonfiction, but I don’t really have a creative bone in my body. I have criticized authors here, presuming that they might benefit from feedback if they are hoping to improve their writing skills. The authors aren’t getting any form of payment, so I might choose to give them some of my time in an effort to make them a better writer. What are you giving them?

As a disclaimer, I never read any of YOUR stories. Additionally, 100% of my LE comments are posted as non-anonymous account. However, this essay has so many things wrong with it, I just had to respond.

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Question 1. What exactly would the difference be between someone doing this "Anonymously" vs. non-anonymously? This isn't real life. You can't walk up to non-anon commenter and punch them in the face. You can't even walk up to their user page and leave an angry rebuttal. In other words, you are just using the "Anonymous" angle as an ad-hominem argument, by trying to make the negative feedback look worse. **there is literally zero practical benefit for the commenter to be anonymous** (unless the comment somehow violates site rules to the point that flagging it would resullt in user being deleted, which I suspect never happens). And there's zero evidence or logical reason that a comment is less accurate or valuable whether it's anon or not.

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Question 2: Have you considered that being able and willing to write a story, is NOT either necessary or sufficient criteria for having a valid opinion about it? Most of us have opinions of various paintings, even those with zero artistic talent (never mind having to be published painter). Most people have opinions of songs and music, despite majority not having any musical talent (never mind performing music live). This is a logical fallacy. I don't need to be an accomplished filmmaker to post that I dislike glorification of Stalin from a moral angle in some Soviet movie. Just as I don't need to be an accomplished writer to know that when the story glorifies violent rape or emotional abuse, that's a bad thing to do.

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Speaking of, there's a second logical fallacy. You equate publishing an LE story with "writing an publishing what you wrote". Do you have any evidence that your anonymous troll on LE have indeed never written and published stuff elsewhere (or even on LE, but prefers to keep their comments separate from writing).

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Now, I would be perfectly understanding if you propose a universal rule, "you are not allowed to comment on LE stories until you post at least one story yourself". I personally think it would be a bad rule detrimental to the site and to a large extent to the authors, but it would be logically consistent within a privately owned writing community if you can convince community owners/leads of your viewpoint. BUT, you're not arguing that, you are arguing that somehow criticism is invalid just because the source isn't a published author, using logical fallacies.

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Next, most negative comments aren't personal. They say negative things about the story. Maybe about your skill as an author. But you in turn immediately went to personal attacks. Because of course nobody could POSSIBLY criticize your story unless they have low IQ. And they MUST have been bullies in high school.

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Moreover, your use of the term "troll" is telling. In my experience, a vast majority of people online using it actually mean "someone who disagrees with me, or criticizes me" - NOT in its actual accurate meaning, "someone who posts content designed ONLY for the purposes of getting a bad reaction". Or, if you actually are using the word in its correct meaning, you'd have a logical fallacy - you are assuming you know the poster's intent.

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Ironically, I might agree that some comments are indeed shit and should not exist. "This story is crap" without ANY supporting arguments is a useless comment. That's what low star voting is for. Also, I honestly hate comments criticizing story's grammar and spelling unless they link to a edited fixed version. The only point of such a comment is to pretend that the commenter is better than everyone else, uniquely able to spot the errors, and not constructive or useful to anyone. (as an aside, I seriously wish the site owners gave TWO different voting areas, one for technical writing quality, one for "story", the way they have 2 grades in Figure Skating for technical and artistic scores)

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But I suspect most "troll" comments pissing you off are actual criticism, just one you don't agree with. Otherwise you wouldn't have this emotional over-reaction.