Got Caught by a Troll :-/

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   Everyday Miraclesposted 10 years ago

   I've been having a grand time on Hubpages for the past two months. I'm really turning the hubs out to the tune of up to five per day (usually 40 hubs or so in a month though), but with that comes the fact that I've been caught by a couple of trolls.
   
   Recently I had to delete a rather strange comment on one of my hubs that called me names and went on to give a long-winded and vapid tirade about how terrible Valentine's Day is for people who are single and about how it's all meaningless anyway because everybody hates themselves (this is the gist of the comment -- I didn't read it all the way through because it was almost as long as the hub it was left on).
   
   Then today I got caught by another troll on another hubber's page. I'm terribly embarrassed for not detecting the troll in the first place, as they used statements such as "I don't mean to be offensive, but" (which usually means that somebody's trying to be offensive). The person wasn't attacking me directly until the very last comment they left (to which I didn't reply, but did send an apologetic e-mail to the hub author).
   
   I'm so embarrassed. This doesn't happen to me very often any more, but I'm pretty disgusted with myself for feeling the need to say anything. This is why I don't generally defend my standpoint on emotionally charged issues such as the one this hub was about.

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      Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Don't take it personally because people like that treat many people the same way.  Usually the cause is pure jealousy. (That's why there is a 'delete' button for comments!)

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         Everyday Miraclesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I couldn't even understand the comment on my hub, it was that convoluted and strange.
         
         At some point I want to write a hub about the fact that it is okay for us to be here for commercial purposes. HP is, after all, a revenue sharing site lol
         
         Just because the account is called beckisgiftguides doesn't mean that it doesn't provide concrete informative hubs as well as help with choosing gifts for friends and family. In fact, the informative hubs outweigh the other hubs by a lot and all the hubs on that account are featured.

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      Christy Kirwanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      So sorry you've had a bad experience, EM! It sounds like you did the right thing by ignoring the trolls, deleting the negative comments, and letting the other Hubber know that a troll commented on her Hub. You have nothing to be embarrassed about.
      
      HubPages is a pretty friendly place, but the occasional troll does indeed pop up here. Fortunately, trolls who get ignored usually leave you alone and try to find another target who is easier to provoke.

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         Mary McShaneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I have a question for you, Christy regarding forum spam.  Is HP considering changing any of the rules for newly created profiles who are spamming the forums?  Like they can't post in forums until they write 5 quality hubs, or something like that?  I got notification of 32 spam posts in forums about an hour ago and another 40, the last one about 4 minutes ago.  Looks like the same hubber with 5 profiles.

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            Christy Kirwanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Hi Mary,
            
            To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how all the spam prevention stuff works. I can see where this would be irritating. I'll check with the Moderation Team.

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               Mary McShaneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Thank you Christy.  New questions are being posted now by hubbers who are here 3 months or more, asking about these newly signed up spammy hubbers I mentioned, questioning why they aren't being moderated.  So TYVM

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                  Christy Kirwanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Hi Mary,
                  
                  I just heard back from the Moderation Team. Most Forum spam is in new threads (and gets taken down as soon as it is flagged). You will only get notifications for new threads if you're following the topic they're posted in, so it sounds like changing your email settings to "Auto" or "Never" would cut down on a lot of the unwanted emails. Hope that helps!

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                     Mary McShaneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Thank you Christy! I'll fool around with the email settings.  And, Yes, they are always new threads with gibberish posts. So, it seems that it is correct to flag them to get them taken down. I left 7 of them up from 4AM and they are still up.  Your answer clears that up for me. HP doesn't act until someone flags them. TYVM

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         Everyday Miraclesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you Christy. This person was particularly bad because they made it so personal. "Troll" might not be the best word for it. It was more like out and out flaming. They signed up just to comment, seemingly. It's not the type of thing I want on any of the hubs on an account that's mostly about happy things lol

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      Mary McShaneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Everyday Miracles -I learned very quickly after signing up on this site to moderate the comments on my hubs  so I see them first before they appear.  I can't tell you  how many people actually "hate" me for my opinions - and I do mean "hate" because that is the word they use when they leave nasty comments, especially on my GMO hubs.  I delete and delete and will continue to delete.  As long as we have some control over that aspect, we are powerful. Regarding being snared on other hubbers' comments, I do what you did...ignore the comment (not answer) and then message the other hubber to apologize if I provoked and ask for deletion of the comment.

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         Everyday Miraclesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I had to go check out your GM hubs now just to see what stance you take on the issue lol

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            Mary McShaneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I saw your comment when moderating them, and I am not ignoring you by not answering. Truly I wrote a comment that went so long that it can be a hub all by itself!!  So I pulled it back and am editing it in wordpad so that I can comment without writing a book on this. lol  I will post it in the next few mins. TY

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               Everyday Miraclesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               LOL I don't mind books! Although frankly, if it's long enough to make a hub out of it, make a hub out of it. Earn more

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                  Mary McShaneposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  Posted my book length (ugh) with explanation why it is not a stand alone hub. lol

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      Melissa A Smithposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I don't see why you're beating yourself up over this, I do it every week

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         Everyday Miraclesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         lol
         
         I hate deleting comments. Some of my hubs on this account have gotten a lot of personal attacks and I just leave them alone. It also bothers me when I cannot seem to control myself and have to write a retort to everything.
         
         At least the one I wound up deleting didn't have any real message to it. Today I knew what I was doing and understood the message :-/

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   Carmelo Milianposted 10 years ago

   HI, You should never take these personally, remember that God create idiots and distributed them evenly across the planet so that you can encounter one every day
   
   Now seriously, I have developed many windows phone apps in the last few years, I have created free apps where trolls have dared to criticize vie app reviews my development efforts in bringing features to phone users. At first it hurt, i got disappointed and wanted to stop building apps. But in time, I realized that these clueless people will alway be there and that its not just me, everyone will eventually have a couple of trolls if they are doing articles, apps, webpages, etc. At least you are doing something, I bet these trolls dont even know how to write.

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