After being on GaG or the internet at large for a while, you know you are going to be hit with your fair share of trolls and people who want to argue for arguments sake. It's a waste of time with all the back and forth because despite what you may believe, if you're dealing with someone like this, there is no such thing as "winning" with them.
1. Stop on Three
This means, when you are talking to someone online that clearly wants to argue a point, stop after three exchanges. And here is why. First you write something, and they respond initiating a conversation/argument with you. Exchange number one would then be you arguing your point back, and them responding. Noticing they are not agreeing with you or seeing your side of things, you of course, respond back, point by point with their own argument in exchange number 2, which they then do the same thing with their own counterpoints.
By exchange three, this is where things typically take an ugly turn if the other person or you are immature about it. You or they call each other names, say this is stupid, call them stupid, or simply just regurgitate everything you just said in exchange number 2. Number 4 is not going to go anywhere. Neither of you is going to gain any ground just firing back and fourth. If you look at patterns, you'll tend to notice that if you can't close an argument after the number 3 exchange, its more than likely going to be pointless and going to disintegrate into more childish negative exchanges. Try it out and see or look at people in the comments who respond back and fourth more than three times.
2. Don't engage with people who start off negatively
"You're stupid." "This take/question sucks." "Only dumb people would say this." You know what, I'm pretty sure you know where this one is going, yet so many people engage with comments like this. If they can't say anything constructive, or give reasons why they hate what they hate, or start off by addressing someone with more than four letter words, leave it be. Even if you engage and tell them how wrong they are, these are the sort who aren't here to listen. They are there to drop bombs and leave, and if they explode they want to stick around and pick at the carnage. Not worth it.
3. Mute it
If you've posted something and the comments are pissing you off, take a break. Put it on mute. This way you aren't going to get second by second updates about the same stupid people posting comment after comment. This allows you to not have to engage at all b/c you won't even see it. If you're curious, come back later to take a peak once you've cooled down if it's making you crazy.
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