There are always two sides of a coin: at some stage of publicity, all people are faced with negativity. It also applies to Internet fame, when brands, influencers, or people who have gained their popularity outside the web receive negative comments, dislikes, and other unpleasant feedback from the audience about their activities. How to deal with it, how to react, and is it worth responding at all? Let's figure out all the specifics of conflict resolution below.

How to Identify Trolls, Spam, and Negative Comments

The first Internet trolls appeared on popular forums more than a decade ago. They left comments, provoking other users to discuss with them. At the same time, the troll himself could calmly retire or “warm up” the conversation from time to time. Unfortunately, most people continue discussing because troll messages work like a trigger.

Significantly often, trolling can be found in the accounts of brands and influencers with competitors. It is easy to distinguish such characters from dissatisfied customers and constructive criticism: they will never agree to a peaceful conflict settlement.

As far as spammers are concerned, usually, the comments of these characters are harmless. On the other hand, their abundance in the chat reduces its overall semantic value for other participants, so controlling their number (and, indeed, their presence in general) still makes sense.

How to Prevent Trolls, Spam, and Negative Comments

If you consider some actions to prevent trolls, spammers, and haters from being active on your account while saving your viewer respect, check the following two recommendations.

Setting clear rules and expectations for your chat

The first thing to start with is to announce the behavior policy in the chat initially. It may be a ban on discussing specific topics, using obscene language, links, advertising, and anything else you do not want to see in your account. These rules can be fixed in a separate message at the top of the chat or, for example, by sending private messages to each new chat user.

Using moderation tools and features to filter, block, or report inappropriate messages or users

Many digital platforms have options for moderating comments and chat messages in the user account settings panel. If there are no such opportunities or they are insufficient, you can resort to live moderator support by hiring someone to monitor audience interaction in your chat. Consider integrating with specialized content moderation chatbots, which can also take on the responsibilities usually performed by live moderators.

How to Respond to Trolls, Spam, and Negative Comments

If you still cannot ignore negative or annoying comments and reactions, consider the following recommendations on trolling prevention.

Ignoring or deleting them if they are minor or isolated

Suppose trolls or haters are something non-standard for your account, and there are few of them to save your brand reputation. In that case, you can block them, remove them from your followers, or ignore them – your target audience will quickly realize that these are just people who, boredom, decided to transfer their negativity onto you and, just like you, abstract from them.

Addressing them calmly and politely if they are persistent or disruptive

Even if your commenters are rude, don't stoop to their level and act the same way. Be as polite as possible with them and don't show aggression – this way, they will quickly understand that leaving harmful or offensive comments on your profile no longer makes sense since no one reacts to them. In turn, after choosing this communication style, you will be able to maintain the level of user engagement and save a positive atmosphere in your profile.

Banning or muting them if they are abusive or offensive

Finally, you can enter exceptional chat moderation and spam filtering settings that will ban users when using obscene or objectionable language in someone's address. This practice works well in cases where there are a lot of spammers and haters.

Conclusion

We hope that we have helped you deal with the negative side of Internet popularity, and now you can just perceive it as part of your routine and not as something offensive and worth considering. The main thing is not to stop in your endeavors and not let ill-wishers put an end to them.