The Horrors of Moving and Don’t Feed The Trolls

I know, I know…it’s been way too long – AGAIN.

Kind readers have been asking, “Where is the Weeding Gnome?”, and “What happened?”.

Moving happened.

Little did I know the extent to which I would be busting my rear to keep up in a world of daily interruptions for showings, keeping the house spotless and the animals at bay, de-cluttering the house before it went on the market (which also meant taking all of the personality out of my garden and tagging what I just couldn’t leave behind for digging), keeping it de-cluttered without a babysitter to help because I wrote such a good reference that the lady who held my life together for four years got a job offer (actually about 5 job offers) the week we told her we “might” be moving soon.

Anyone need a reference?  Apparently, I’m pretty good at it.

So we packed up once, then we were interrupted daily (thank goodness in this market or we might still be there…) for showings, then I traveled most of the summer, then we got a real offer and then it seemed the World was closing in on me.

It was then a mad dash to get everything done for the mortgage, repairs on the house, the inspection, the appraisal, finding a new house for us (minor detail – ha!), packing and moving everything into storage, being homeless for a week, and then doing it all over again for our soon-to-be new abode in Massachusetts where EVERYTHING was totally different.

No exaggeration!

Needless to say – and I’ll quit whining now – there was no time to think – much less write.  But boy do I have lots of memories and rants about these adventures stored up for the winter. Onward we go to our new house and our deer tick and turkey filled ½ acre garden on the north shore of Massachusetts.

Time to slow down (haha), unpack a bit, look at the garden daily to see how the light is and get on with our new life here in the sticks. I can see stars from my bed at night, so it’s not all bad.

I am looking forward to planning my new trial garden where the soil is chocolate brown and sandy and the light will be plenty – once the invasive trees come down and I rearrange a few things.  Why is it I am attracted to train wreck properties so desperately in need of love?

First thing on the agenda is deer and turkey control.

Did you know turkeys destroy gardens?  The things you learn.  I didn’t even know they could fly – silly me.  Estimates for deer fencing are coming in and we are well on our way to finding a home for every gazing ball and gnome in my vast collection.

As I gear back up for writing the weekly (I do promise to write something weekly from now on) Weeding Gnome, I would like to share an excerpt from something I wrote for Garden Center Magazine for their October issue.

I have had and have seen people have terrible troubles with trolls. Please don’t confuse my beloved gnomies with trolls – totally different species.  I’m talking about Internet Trolls.

Enjoy!  I hope you learn a little.  I sure learned my lesson!

Ever been attacked on the Internet?  Feel it was unwarranted? Let’s talk about reputation management for small businesses and their social media mavens.

I love social media and the immediate power it has to offer garden centers, but I’ve got a social media hangover.  Do this. Do that.  Don’t do this, and by golly – never do that.  It’s hard to know who to follow and just how you should behave in this new, uncharted world of instant access to relationship building.

By all means, build those relationships, but be careful!

I’ve been running into trolls… Not troll beads or troll dolls – although I am frightened of those and you do often see them in garden centers.

I’m talking about Internet trolls.

A troll is someone who posts inflammatory and often extraneous posts or comments in an online community with the primary intent of eliciting an emotional response and otherwise disrupting useful online discussions.

A troll is someone who follows you or your company on Social Media sites, poised to attack with disagreement.  They’re pot stirrers and they want to fight.  They nay-say everything and can be downright nasty if provoked.

To acknowledge them is to feed them. Please don’t feed them.

Trolls wait for tiniest slip-up then they pounce, attacking you and your company. They’ll work hard to damage your reputation. Trolls “troll” Internet discussion boards and more modern forms of conversation like Twitter.

Their intent is to prove you wrong because they don’t like something you’ve said. Trolls will repost comments from you and anyone else in your company on the Internet in a smear campaign to prove their point.

If fed, trolls may launch an attack, mentioning your or your company’s name in posts with links back to your site because they feel your company (or you) has a name big enough to be recognized. Then they’ll proceed on a tirade to try and ruin you.

Crazy, I know!

If you choose to defend yourself, be careful, it will only make things worse and it may prompt a fervent attack.

I’ve been attacked.  I’ve learned it’s best to ignore them.  Try not to defend yourself.  That’s really hard for me because I love a good fight.  Heck, I’m married to a lawyer, it’s fun to argue – and even more fun to win.

Troll hunting would make for really good sport, wouldn’t it?

When a social media jerk unfairly indicts your company (or you personally), it’s tempting to crush them.  We’re wired to defend ourselves by any means necessary.

If attacked, take a moment and decide if the angst is necessary. Feel the fire turning your cheeks red and raising your blood pressure and force yourself to take the high road.

Or, better yet, kill the troll with kindness and thank him for initiating what should become a productive dialog. There’s not much comeback if his or her rant is met with the comment, “Thank you for the post. We appreciate your concern.”

Social Media is a great tool, but it can be used against you, so be vigilant and watch what people are saying on your pages.  Remember, Google may index the fight.

The best advice I can give is DO NOT respond.

Respond only if you feel it is a legitimate complaint from a customer or follower. You will know very soon if it’s a troll. At that point, I say, “Ignore them.”

You don’t want potential customers finding you on the search engines via a nasty or heated conversation you once had with a troll.

Feed birds not trolls. Peace, love and happy weeding during this rush of a holiday season!

Angela Treadwell-Palmer
Partner, Plants Nouveau