My experience with trolls

If you build great products…

Eventually you’ll find them.

Trolls.

And if you’re not prepared for them, they can be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.

Last year we led an experimental product launch, designed to raise funds for R&D around an innovative new way to create online courses and edutainment.

It met the goals we set for it. There were thousands of sales in under an hour following launch. These are good things.

Some bought because they support such innovations and want in. Others bought because they wanted to take advantage of the limited supply, and use us as a means of profiting from our work.

All that energy attracted some trolls.

‘Trolls’ are people on the internet that are either very hurt, very stupid, or both.

In our case, these creatures came out to poke holes in our work, make inappropriate comparisons, and generally attempt to lower the tone and our moods.

We weren’t prepared for it. And so both my wife and I found it all quite hurtful when we saw it.

“Why are these people trying to hurt us”, we asked each other.

“Have we done something wrong?” we wondered.

Of course, they don’t know us. And no, we hadn’t:

  • They were comparing our work to things that had nothing to do with our work
  • On inspection, they seemed to be this way to all sorts of creators online
  • If our work isn’t their cup of tea, they didn’t need to drink it

There’s absolutely no sense in feeling hurt by strangers who don’t know you, for whom you would otherwise care so little.

There’s absolutely no sense in changing your work to suit those it isn’t made for, instead of staying committed to those it is made for.

There’s absolutely no sense in giving them emotional energy you could otherwise be spending on doing your best work.

So if you ever encounter these creatures:

  • If you’re using a platform that allows it, just delete their comments and forget about them.
  • If you’re using a platform that doesn’t, just ignore them. People worth their salt will also ignore them, and people who are easily swayed by fools will continue to be so.
  • It sorts itself out without your emotions getting involved.

Let it.