I was plagued by trolls during my first year on Medium, mostly in response to my responses on another’s post rather than my own pieces. I took all the hateful, argumentative comments so personally that it was necessary to take a break from Medium for a few days to relieve myself of the angst these trolls were causing me.

I learned to be careful of my responses since the trolls were obviously following the original writer and came across my comments in the process. I also learned that the best way to shoo away a troll is with humor. They are adverse to any humor aimed at themselves and perhaps, to humor in general as they appear to be extremely unhappy, frightened, and resentful people — and, to be honest, are all male. Soon, I was free of the haters.

Excellent article, Joe.