Shauna Moerke is…

I’ve been around this social media stuff for a while now and I have to say that I really love the HR online community. Almost everyone is nice, supportive, and fun. If not for the great people and how generous they have been with their time and advice I don’t know if I would have stuck around so long.

But not all online communities are like that and no internet community can exist without the haters. It makes me very sad when I hear from someone about how they put themselves out there creatively, something they are proud of, and the only feedback they got was from anonymous, or even not so anonymous, trolls trying to pull them down.

Now, I know that learning how to deal with haters online is just another skill you need to pick up in your journey to social media glory. And you will always encounter hateful jerks in your life; those that think they know better, hate for no reason, and bully to make themselves feel better.

Understanding that mentally doesn’t make the things they say or do hurt any less.

But we have all been there. And the only thing you can do when the haters be hating is to keep going. If someone wants to stop you from doing something that makes you happy then keep going and be ridiculously happy about it. Because really, it doesn’t matter if some random person you have never met and never will meet approves or not. You do it for you.

The only way haters have any power over you is if you let them. But how you deal with haters will depend on what you are comfortable with. Ignoring them, shutting them down, acknowledging them briefly, or even engaging with them. There is no right or wrong way.

Typically, I will either ignore them or try to address the criticism they bring up, valid points or not. But there is always a line though, and if they cross it they get shut down and even removed from the blog. Hey, it’s my blog and there are some things I won’t and don’t have to tolerate on here.

Just keep going.