Dealing with angry comments, Trolls, Spammers, and Sock Puppets

Bloggers put their words, opinions, faces, and even emotions into cyberspace for all to see – often several times daily. Unfortunately, at one point or another, most bloggers are all likely to confront an individual who appears bent on making destructive comments, ruining good conversations and generally making you and your readers as unhappy as possible. This panel examines strategies for dealing with such individuals on both personal and issue specific blogs. The session leaders will first outline what are trolls, spammers and sock puppets, and then – by drawing on both personal experience and negotiation theory – share how bloggers can deal with each in a constructive manner.

Rebecca Bollwitt has been blogging about Vancouver since 2004 on Miss604.com, and podcasting since 2005. In 2008 she was listed as one of the top "Web influencers in Vancouver" by NowPublic and the Vancouver Sun and has a weekly segment on-air with Talk 1410am, discussing the latest in the Vancouver blogosphere. She is the co-founder of sixty4media, offering social media consulting services from custom WordPress themes as well as event liveblogging, blogging tutorials, and freelance web writing. She is @miss604 on twitter.

David Eaves is an expert in negotiation and public policy He works with two spin-offs of the Harvard Negotiation Project, Common Outlook and Vantage Partners and serve as a fellow at the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queen’s University. He writes on public policy, public service sector renewal, as well as open source and network systems both on his blog and frequently in the Toronto Star and Embassy Magazine. He's often invited to speak on these issues to policymakers and government officials. Original from Vancouver, he is once again living in my home town. He sits on the executive of Vision Vancouver, the advisory board of Canada’s World and the Steering Committee of the Environics Institute Urban Aboriginal People’s Survey. I completed my BA at Queen’s University and a Master’s at Oxford. In 2005-06 I served as a Sauvé Scholar and an Action Canada Fellow.