Sharing your ideas (artworks, writings, etc) with a large number of people has never been easier with the help of Internet. With the proper search keywords, one can easily access limitless amount of ideas from all over the world. While this is definitely good news for people who want to share/sell their ideas, people should also remember that the ease of access has allowed the wrong parties to gain access to such ideas.

Pirates who will steal your ideas and distribute or even modify them for their own profit. And trolls, people who will do nothing but to bring you down.

From Wikipedia

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

So far, I’ve not met any pirates who would take my ideas elsewhere without my consent. Erm, I think it’s because there’s no value in pirating my stuff. LOL. But trolls, yes, I’ve met quite a number of them throughout my experience as a blogger and a comic artist.

These individuals will appear to be nice and want to help you out. So they get close to you and observe what you are doing with your ideas. Then they will speak their mind and give you their opinions. Unfortunately, these ‘nice gestures’ are actually not useful for you at all.

For one, these trolls are not there to help you but they are there to bring you down. Perhaps it’s due to jealousy that they can’t do what you are doing. Or perhaps they just enjoy bringing people down. However, there ARE trolls who have no intention of bringing you down. They just want to help but the approach used is completely wrong. They tend to choose the wrong words which will discourage you more than anything else, and even damage your self-esteem which is possibly one of your greatest assets. People called this the “destructive comment” and such comments are never good for anyone who are looking for support and encouragement.

But irregardless of how harsh these trolls can be, there’s no way we can stop them from becoming a troll. It’s a free world after all. What we, as content creators and ideas contributors, can do is to push on. The trolls only belong to a small group of people. There are more out there who really appreciate your works and contributions. So it really depends on what is your main objectives. Are you doing it to help the community or is there something which you really believe in? Or are you doing it just so that you will listen to nice words and praises? Sort out your objectives and know what you really want. Ignore the trolls.

And if there’s really a need, remove them from your life even if they are your close friends. What you need is support and encouragement from your friends and family, not some trolls who just want to bring you down – intentionally, or unintentionally.