How to Gracefully Handle Mentally Injured People as a Blogger |

September 24, 2026 blogging tips 🕑 5 minutes read

Athens Greece

No offense; some people think and do crazy things online.

Sorry but it is true.

Before we dive in I need to make one thing clear; these people are outliers. Target readers. Connect with kind people. Hand pick your blogging friends. Look past everyone else.

Follow the tips above to largely avoid online riff raff.

In a world of duality, the mentally injured make their way to your blog. Mild versions are spammers. Extreme versions? Hopefully you do not come across too many of these folks.

I wrote this post because my fear of encountering nutters held back my blogging growth. After suffering a few grim encounters I holed out in my cyber cave. Of course I avoided these mentally injured people by hiding. But I also hid from loyal readers, loyal customers and referral business builders too.

You cannot completely avoid folks with an ax to grind and still be in the world.

But you can follow practical steps to gracefully handle those projecting their personal grievances onto you.

Keep these ideas in mind.

A1: Exercise Compassion with a Dose of Caution

I recall a few truly mentally injured people encountered online over the decades.

I felt compassion because I knew how scared each was deep down to behave in insane fashion. Peaceful, loving, kind souls do not appear to do crazy stuff.

Yet I knew to exercise some caution because the mindless do insane things.

Feel compassion for scared people. Do practical stuff action-wise to build walls preventing the mentally injured from influencing your:

mind
blog
online business

I do not see this as being a delicate dance because expressing genuine compassion makes it easy to place the appropriate barriers.

Peaceful people think clearly. Peaceful people are compassionate.

Guilty people make mistakes. Guilty people are not compassionate. Guilty people may try to force a relationship with a mentally injured person when the individual is clearly not ready to go that route. Cue the proverbial can of worms being opened. I learned this lesson by “trying to be nice” to a few temporary nut bags on Facebook over the years. I forgave them peacefully then placed barriers between both parties.

Angry people make mistakes. Angry people are not compassionate. I sheepishly admit to fighting angry critics angrily in a public setting. Newsflash; it never went well.

Be compassionate. Let go of those who need to learn their lesson solo. Preserve peace of mind by honoring their freedom to choose once again.

1: Use an Anti Spam Plug In

Use an anti-spam plug in.

Catch most spam.

Repel the spamming riff raff infesting most blogs.

People who have no interest in doing the work try to piggy back on your success. Spammers fall within this unfortunate lot.

Use an anti spam plug in to vastly reduce spam.

Visit the plug in page via your WordPress back office. Search for anti spam plug ins. Grab one. Test it.

Keep what works for you.

2: Close Comments After One Week

I finally found my sweet spot.

Closing blog comments one week after a post goes live eradicated almost all spam on Blogging From Paradise Dot Com.

The temporarily nuts sprinted for the cyber hills because most tried to sneak in the back blogging door by dropping comments on old posts.

Closing comments after seven days foiled most spammers. I took away their strategy. I denied them.

One or two errant spam comments find new blog posts. I empty my trash folder to rid my blog of this minor nuisance.

3: Block Profiles

For whatever reason, a number of readers who loved my work turned into rabid dogs after a single blog post or social media update.

I guess I struck an unconscious nerve somehow.

After an enraged comment projecting all types of insane venom onto me – I never insulted, attacked or even criticized these individuals prior in any way, shape or form – I tapped the “block” button to instantly cease communication for good. Everyone seems entitled to open a new handle to continue to rage sessions. None have.

I would block those handles too.

Hang up on madness.

Block profiles.

Cease communication immediately.

Better for both parties; you maintain peace of mind and they receive the opportunity to stop destroying their life by maybe taking full responsibility for their thoughts versus disowning ’em and projecting ’em onto you.

4: Stop Engaging Instantly

Never engage an enraged person. Those made temporarily insane by their own unconscious fears cannot be reasoned, bargained with or calmed. However long the comment stayed live is their venting session. Cool. Block ’em the moment you read the comment because this crowd jumped the shark.

Put these relationships in your rear view mirror because the once seeming bond spoiled fast.

Instead of engaging in a civil debate with me, prior readers became nasty, petty, vicious or completely inappropriate. I blocked their handle because this is a relaxed space where human beings do not abuse, attack or punish one another. I respect everyone here too much to allow that garbage to happen on my blog or via my social media handles.

Block the rage, the hate and guilt and the madness.

Move on immediately.

Never engage.

Never try to prove yourself.

Never waste your time trying to reasonably work out why someone does something nuts.

Block.

Move on.