Let's talk about trolls.
No, not those type of trolls.
I'm talking YouTube, trolls, the ones who climb out of their parent's basement, find
the computer, find your video and then start typing nasty hateful comments.
They can be annoying.
So how do you deal with it in today's video?
I'm talking about what are YouTube trolls, why they do the things they do, how to handle
them and how not to handle them.
And this idea actually came from one of you.
So if you want to kick those trolls under the bridge, then keep on watching.
So what is a YouTube troll?
Well, like I alluded to earlier, it's someone without a life.
Someone who has nothing better to do than to just crawl the internet and to leave hateful
comments in their wake.
They're not an asset to YouTube or your community, but they exist because freedom of speech and
I am all about freedom of speech.
So let me just say that right now.
And so while I may not agree with what these people are typing, they have the right to
say it, but that's okay because I can choose how it affects me and I can choose what to
do with that comment.
Especially if it's on my YouTube channel.
YouTube troll, come in a lot of forms.
Some trolls will actually start off super nice on your channel.
And they'll actually want a ton of attention from you.
And if you don't give it to them, then they turn a really nasty and mean.
Other trolls just like to nitpick and find fault in every little thing.
And some trolls are just mean for the sake of being mean.
Maybe they think it's funny.
Maybe it's their personality.
Maybe they just have a chip on their shoulder.
I don't know, but there are a lot of different trolls.
They have big warts, small warts, they come in all shapes and sizes.
So get ready.
And well, every single YouTube troll is different.
Really what I think a lot of it comes down to is they are projecting onto you.
So they have their own insecurities and flaws and things that they aren't comfortable with
for themselves.
And so they feel the need to have to put that out on someone else.
Put that negativity in the world to let people know how they feel.
Maybe they have a YouTube channel and it just kind of sucks.
And they're not really good at YouTube.
And so, okay.
Instead of doing something productive with my channel, I'm going to go to this channel
and I'm just going to nitpick and I'm a claw and pick away at this thing because that's
easier.
I think for a lot of these things, it just boils down to insecurity.
And so that leads me into the way to handle trolls.
It's just realize it's them problem.
Not a you problem.
Now, there is a difference between criticism and constructive criticism and just straight
out trolling, right?
And the constructive criticism, you know, someone can tell you something that you may
not want to hear, but it may be beneficial to help you and your channel.
And there is a right appropriate way to go about doing that typically don't they just
say what they feel.
And a lot of times with trolls, they think they are right.
They do not want to be persuaded in any way.
So going and trying to argue with these trolls is not going to be beneficial.
For example, I had someone who came on my channel, they just randomly discovered it.
And then they decided to just give me a critique on my YouTube channel.
"Like, well,
This is your channel is great, but actually I think you could improve this, this and this
and the tips that you give, or my blah, blah, blah, blah.
Oh.
And you're pregnant.
Huh?
Well, don't turn into one of those bloggers that once they have a, everything that they
put on their channel is all about their baby and their family.
And you know, they totally just come out and they chase their channel and blah blah..."
Yeah, that was a real comment.
And it came out of nowhere and I was like, what?
And I thought, Hey, maybe if I explain myself a little bit to this person, they'll understand
where I'm coming from and they'll actually realize, "wow, that's super cool.
Like, that's an amazing thing that you did" and they'll back off of it.
So I did and no, no, they doubled down on their position and they continue to lecture
me and tell me why I was wrong.
Why I was going down a wrong path or whatever, like having kids like hello, it was ridiculous.
And I realized, wow, I should have followed rule.
Number one, when it comes to how to handle trolls on your YouTube channel.
And that is, do not feed the trolls.
You know, to go to the park.
And there's those signs that say, do not feed the birds.
Well, there's a reason if you feed the birds, they keep coming back and coming back and
coming back.
And that's what trolls get they think.
And they hope that by putting a comment, it's going to get under your skin.
And a lot of trolls actually feed off of that.
They love that they have riled you up.
Like you're just some stranger, some random person on the internet.
Majority of time, they're getting a kick out of this.
They're not offended as you are offended with the comment so they can just sit back.
And that's what they're doing.
They're trolling.
They're laughing because they have no vested stake in your content or you, right.
They can just throw slings and arrows from the sidelines.
They're not out there on the field playing the game.
So if you allow them to throw slings and arrows at you and you throw them back, then you're
giving them more ammunition.
They're just going to keep coming back and back and back.
So rule number one, do not feed the trolls.
Do not comment, do not respond back.
I know it's really, really, really tempting.
It is.
Trust me, I've done it so many times.
Sometimes it works, but the majority of the time, it doesn't, I just always regret.
And I think, why did I respond to this guy?
Why did I think that I would be able to change their mind?
Why did I think this would change?
Because it doesn't.
And then I always end up really regretful that I got in this huge thing, this huge debate
with this person that I don't even know this, nobody on the internet and wasted so much
time and mental energy.
When it said I could have just let it go.
Now, some people will say to troll the troll and to like lean into it a bit.
So if they're commenting on your makeup, for example, like,
"Wow, that is the ugliest makeup I've ever seen.
Like, did you do that in the dark?"
"Oh my gosh.
Yes, I did.
Thank you so much.
You're noticing!"
But
You're not feeding into the criticism and giving them what you want.
They can't really come back.
And so some people do like to play with that.
And if that's not emotionally draining for you and you get a kick out of trolling, the
trolls sure do it.
But for me, nine times out of 10, it doesn't work that way.
And I just end up way more emotionally drained than if I just wouldn't have done anything
at all.
Now, my next point for dealing with trolls is to not let hate win.
If you feel inclined to respond back, which if you do always refer back to rule number
one, which is, do not feed the troll, do not do don't respond with hate.
You can be funny, you control them, but definitely, definitely never come back with hate because
that's just going to add a lot of negative energy in your life.
And also other people are going to see these comments.
And it's just not going to give a good vibe, not going to give good energy about your channel.
If I saw one of my favorite YouTubers, just being super hateful, back and forth with someone,
I wouldn't be as interested in following that person.
So that leads me to my next point, which is let your fans handle it.
You need to step away and not get involved, but that doesn't mean that your fans or your
subscribers can do that for you.
A lot of times, people will come in and defend you your most loyal fans.
And I've seen this so many times before.
So I want to give a big thank you to my subscribers because you guys have come in clutch where
I don't have to do anything.
Yeah, I see it.
But I'm not going to respond so many times you will come in and you will defend me.
And you got my back.
This tribe is just so strong and I wanted to let you know that I appreciate it.
My next tip is to delete or block the comments.
Some trolls just kind of shoot and run.
They leave a comment and off they go and you never see them again.
But other trolls will keep coming back.
And you, if you go into your YouTube comments, you might be able to see this activity where
they're going to video after video, after video.
And they're just leaving comment after comment after comment.
So that is definitely a planned attack where they're just wanting to go and spill hate
all over your comment section.
Now, the easiest thing that you can do is just delete the comment.
As soon as you see it, delete it and it goes away.
Don't give them the opportunity for other people to see it for them to do it again.
And this can really end this pretty quickly.
Now, if they keep coming back, you might just nip that in the bud and just block them.
This is your space.
This is your community.
And if you don't want that there, you have the right to get rid of them.
For example, one of my favorite YouTubers, Jaclyn hill, she used to get a lot of unfounded
hate in the comments.
People were just really rude and mean to her.
And this was her place where she was able to express herself and do makeup looks and
just share it with her audience.
But for some reason, she had so many haters and it was really frustrating to watch because
it was obvious that it really hurt his self esteem.
So she ended up doing is she just hired a virtual assistant who basically moderated
her comment section and anything that was negative would be deleted.
And she actually had a policy in her description that said that negative or hateful comments
would be deleted.
So since this is your channel, you do have the right to keep whatever's on there.
So if you only want positive comments, yeah, absolutely delete the negative ones.
Let people know this is your policy.
And it might dissuade people from even leaving the comment in the first place.
If they know that it's going to be delete anyway.
Now, if these people keep coming back, that's where you go into block mode.
We're all with YouTube comment sections.
It really varies channel by channel.
And it is definitely true that your vibe attracts your tribe.
I've been lucky enough that I haven't had too many trolls on this channel or my other
channel, but I do know that this is a big problem in YouTube.
And the fact that one of you reached out to me asking for a video on this means that,
Hey, you don't necessarily have to be a super big YouTuber where you kind of expect the
hate at that point.
Even at a small scale, YouTube hate comments and trolls are pretty common and they can
be really deflating and frustrating.
So just remember your vibe attracts your tribe.
And the last thing I will say about YouTube trolls is: don't take it personally.
I know it is human nature that we can get 100 really positive comments and one negative
one.
And we will dwell on that negative comment for months.
That's just how we are that because of the nature of YouTube and the online space, hateful
comments may come your way and trolls may stumble across your page, but just know that
this is a them problem and not a you problem.
And really try to let it be water off your back.
Just ignore it.
Don't take it personally, take the higher road and move on for me.
That's been a strategy that has worked really great.
And even though, yes, those troll comments, I can still remember them and they do.
They asked me to say that you're fine when you're not really fine, grow
Trolls do come with the territory, but just remember and repeat after me.
Don't feed the troll.
That's all I have for today.
I'll see you next time.
Not the bright.
Do I want to say that in my YouTube videos?
I know let's talk for a second.
Don't say anything, so, okay.
Okay.
Cut that.
Maybe they think it's funny.
That's what I'm thinking.
Good enough.