What My Mother Has Taught Me- The Art of Good Manners

Is the Art of Good Manners a Lost Art?

On social media you will see the Trolling that goes on by people who can hide behind

A troll, in internet slang, is a person who deliberately causes trouble online by posting inflammatory, rude, or off-topic comments to provoke others, disrupt conversations, or get attention.

Trolls often:

• Pretend to be serious just to bait reactions

• Insult or mock people for fun

• Target emotional or controversial subjects

• Thrive on the chaos or arguments they create

The term comes from the idea of “trolling for a reaction” (like fishing), not the mythical creature—though the comparison fits when it comes to being unpleasant or lurking under bridges (of comment sections).

Trolling is when someone deliberately posts inflammatory, off-topic, or provocative messages online—often to upset others, start arguments, or disrupt conversations. Trolls usually:

• Seek attention or amusement from stirring up conflict

• Pretend to be serious, but are actually mocking or baiting others

• Target individuals or groups, often by exploiting sensitive topics

• Use sarcasm, insults, or misinformation to provoke reactions

While some trolls see their actions as harmless or funny, trolling can easily cross into harassment, bullying, or abuse, especially when it’s persistent or personal.

Trolls thrive on attention, so one of the most common responses is: “Don’t feed the trolls.”

Mother’s Advice on Good Manners:
Rule #1– “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
When you are allowed to comment on Facebook or elsewhere in cyberspace , do not rant on and on about how awful something is if you didn’t pay for it or hire that person to work for you . Don’t tell us why you hate that person, dislike what they did, why you have different political or religious beliefs than the Facebook person/business you are trolling. Just stop talking. Move on and do something else that will make you happy. You have just taken 10 years off your life by being an angry Troll. Angry= health risks.

Rule#2- “Don’t talk with your mouth full..”
Businesses who have a presence on Facebook and in cyberspace need to monitor their pages and have a written policy regarding posting comments to their page. Then people who have their mouths full of F bomb laced,sexist, racist, or threatening comments will be removed or deleted immediately. Police your page people!!

Chris Syme wrote a wonderful article about  5 tips handling negative social media comments facebook-real-time  that should be read by everyone with a business page on Facebook. Here is one of my favorite tips:
 “Filter the public posts and comments for the crisis at hand with the Manage Permissions tab. Facebook has a function under the edit page/manage permissions tab where you can flag keywords as spam. These can be added and subtracted at any time. You can start with a basic group of words that might flag hate speech and move on from there throughout the event. Make sure you don’t include words that are part of normal conversation like “hate”. You can always hide unacceptable posts when they show up, or change filter keywords at any time. Just remember the filter is not retroactive—it won’t filter posts already made.
Also, set your profanity blocklist to “strong.” This will automatically filter any posts with profane or obscene comments. After setting all the limitations, I also monitor the unfiltered feed through my dashboard in Sprout Social as well. This gives me a good take on how the total sentiment is running on the issue. Don’t delete negative posts that are civil. Let the conversation run its course. “

Rule #3- “Look people in the eye when speaking to them.”
I appreciate Trolls who actually use their real name and photos from their Facebook page so I can see who you are and what type of world you live in.
For those of you who post comments and I cannot see you, you are hiding behind your comments. Not very brave are you?

Rule #4- “Never talk back to your elders.”
If someone is posting a negative comment about you, never respond back angry. Respond as politely as possible on the post or respond privately. Nothing a Troll likes more is to start a fight or get you angry.If you respond nicely, it absolutely stops the conversation. Dead Troll Counter Maneuver 101.

Rule #5- People who live in Glass Houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
Word of advice to the people who post ugly comments on shelter magazine’s Facebook page that are written about rooms they dislike: post a photo of your room/home and and let the designers comment on it. It’s only fair………

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