I loved this post. Thank you for this. Great for me to learn from. Looking forward to reading more of them.

Hey LK — I’m glad you’re back in the virtual world. I’ve missed you. Here’s to the big suck!

Dear litlove, squish. Be particularly careful of the mothers who wear pointy heels on occasion.

I feel fortunate that I’ve never had to delete an entire comment on my blog. For all my personal posts I would say people have been nothing but kind. (Though on one particular topic, the comments have gotten rather heated, but nothing too out of hand).

You did the right thing. If you take deprive the fire of oxygen it dies right down.

Thank you for the heads up W, NR. I’ve seen that article, and think it’s interesting and food for thought. And now, on to other subjects, right?!

For one thing, Lily, I strongly believe, and this has happened to me, if you visit a site that is dominated by such “anonymous” trolls with no blogs of their own, they will trace you back to your blog and target you. This is a fact. And I know you and I have visited such a site.

The other thing, if you don’t delete it, and ignore it, they just escalate. They are professionals. They know just what to say to get riled up attention and they thrive on it.

This goes way beyond just attention-seeking. These people are hate-mongers. They have whole websites that share tactics. They know what buttons to push and they share their successes like hunters share their prized kill.

Read my post and/or go straight to the article. It’s horrifying but it also makes sense and knowing about it protects bloggers from vulnerability. It’s like knowing about pedophiles.

Hello TwoBlueDay, and welcome! That’s a very funny response. The ad hominum attack is the lowest form of argument (I mean, we could probably come up with even lower, but right now, on a Friday morning, that seems to me to be the worst).

Ben, Maybe people are afraid you’ll talk about their flaws! I don’t know why a low-paid, low-success, low-status thing like writing stories would bring out the weird in people, as you say, but it seems to, doesn’t it? And I want to know more about these “encouraging conversations” and that book in the making! I’ll have to go and snoop around your blog to see if there’s any clue.

Maleesha — it is a little weird. Rules of courtesy make life so much more pleasant — for everyone. So what makes a person disregard them? It’s interesting, and probably that person would be a terrific character in a book. Not so great on a blog, which is why the delete key is there.

You know, Sandi, it’s also interesting how comments like this are intended to push a button. The trouble is that the “you should stay at home with your children button” is broken over at my house. On the other hand, “your haircut’s too short” works really, really well. (But don’t tell anyone, okay?)

And I send you exactly the same wishes, dear Annette!

Dear OP — I like knowing you’ve been lifted. But then there is the problem of getting together in the real world, for more uplifting… I will work on that. I think you’re due for something super fun, in light of my recent inability to keep my calendar straight. xoxox, L

I was getting some comments from an individual who disagreed with some of my points, and addressed his/her points ad hominem, as they say. So, after being cursed and consigned to the devil, it dawned on me that I could intercept such messages before they actually appeared on my blog, and do with them what I would. So, I bowdlerized them (is tha the right word?). The expletives were deleted, and all references to the wrongness of my views were reversed. I love that editing feature.

Of course, the blogger left no web page address and a fake email address. Those drop-in bangers usually do not want dialogue, just a place to whine.

Write on.

My theory is that writers sometimes bring out the weird in others, particularly when said writers are good writers, and even more so if the writer in question has had some measure of success. You are a great writer and the quality of your writing is being noticed. Weird jealousies will emerge.

This is something I’ve experienced. It turns out that some people don’t think that pastors should write either, and recently I made the mistake of telling a few people about some very encouraging conversations I’ve been having with a publisher. A few of my good friends have gotten very weird on me.

I don’t know what its all about. Weird.

Ben

–A.