Troll Attacks! and negative 'feedback'

I've been reading professionally for decades and recently discovered some horrible things have been written about me on a psychic website.

It's very disheartening :/

The content is not only untrue, it is, I suppose libellous? I also suspect I know the perpetrator to be another reader in the area, which is quite hurtful :/

The thing is, what can I actually do? Do I respond? Do I ignore it?

One of the 'complaints' is that I'm not 'TABI accredited'...should I be? Would it be helpful in such a situation? Is TABI (Tarot Association of the British Isles) a professional body?

I'm just not sure what one does in these situations.

If you don't think you're losing business over it, then just ignore it would be my advice.

Nasty people thrive on conflict, don't give them anything.

Best wishes to you
PathWalker

What she said. Unless you are losing business by it - don't descend to her level by responding. Bullies thrive on responses.

There are several people here from TABI - but they are not particularly better readers than non-accredited readers. I can't see how they would help you - though if the perp is TABI accredited and you KNOW who it is, you could tell TABI. I imagine if one of their members is doing this kind of thing, they'd want to know. But I would not respond on the site, in your place. It's feeding the troll.

velvetina said:

I've been reading professionally for decades and recently discovered some horrible things have been written about me on a psychic website.

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Can you alert the owner/moderator of that website (unless it's owned by the troll?) and ask them to take a look and take it down if it's untrue and libellous? Also, if you know the person and s/he is TABI accredited, maybe you could alert TABI? I think drawing TABI into this is just an attempt to make you look worse because you're not a member of this body. It doesn't make you a less skilled reader.

I wouldn't attempt to answer directly as it just feeds the troll (unless it will start hurting your business if you are named and "shamed"?). But dealing with it in a roundabout way could help.

It's all very well saying ignore it but the modern world seems to revolve around feedback. - hotels, restuarants, tarot readers - of course I'd like to be positive - and I suppose all you can do is ignore it - but it is very hurtful and you have no way of contesting it.

I just hope it gets swamped and buried and lost among all the other feedback. Did you read for this site or were you reading freelance and a review ended up on this site? If you are actually on this site as a reader/member, I'd leave and move to another site if that's possible and ask for all feedback to be removed.

The idea that someone could say "she's not even TABI accredited" is preposterous. That's all we need - for tarot readers to have to be TABI accredited in order to be *rated*... Is the world really not big enough?

Thank you ever so much for your help and suggestions.

I decided last year to get an on-line 'presence'...so, in my awkward way devised a blog, Facebook, Etsy etc....this evening I decided to 'Google' myself and was horrified at what came up!

So, if a potential client tries to find me using my business name, it seems these bizarre critical 'reviews' appear....and right at the top of the listings!

I'm such a Luddite :/

I've kind of addressed it on my Facebook page, and more specifically on my blog. I expect I'll be laughing about it soon......but it does beg the question...how do we respond to this kind of thing?

I theoretically prefer to ignore, but emotionally feel my reputation has been unfairly sullied.

I suppose if one does decide to raise one's head above the wall, one should expect things to be thrown at it

is it a psychic website where you have done readings for others in the past or have an advert? something like that! like Le Fanu said, often those places are so important for reviewers and custom so think about this carefully about if you want to take action or not. how harmful will it be to you in future?

If you do want to deal with it, I think there is two choices....

- ask them to remove it if it's untrue! however a lot of those sites can be very difficult about that, you might have to prove it isn't true or even have a legal letter threatening before it's removed. It's harder to remove that sort of thing (if its a review rather than personal attack) than you might think. If you have never actually read for the person, you should get them to remove it!

- if it's still bothering you and / or they won't take it down, do you get the right to reply? most sites like etsy / ebay / tripadvisor allow a reply. I found online a guide to rebuttals to negative reviews / feedback. Main tips- be polite, be conciliatory and be thorough in writing it. Don't attack them or say they are wrong, instead you might want to say "there seems to be a misunderstanding". reply with facts. eg about TABI, you should say that you don't feel you need a professional organisation to accredit you but you will look into it in future. I don't think the TABI thing is a problem unless you have said you are accredited by them, otherwise it's irrelevant! I do know people on AT who are in TABI like gregory said but I don't think I have ever had a TABI member read for me

good luck with it velvetina!

velvetina said:

but it does beg the question...how do we respond to this kind of thing?

I theoretically prefer to ignore, but emotionally feel my reputation has been unfairly sullied.

I suppose if one does decide to raise one's head above the wall, one should expect things to be thrown at it

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More and more I feel you really can't judge much from online comments. If you look at any business or online presence they will have a handful of negatives and a handful of positives, which again, don't really tell me anything except half the people view experiences in the negative and half the people view experiences in the positive. Catch my drift? It becomes more a statement of whether the individuals posting are negative or positive. I wouldn't directly respond to negative posts I'd work on rallying your supporters to post more positive comments. Offer a discount for Yelp reviews or wherever you're posted. Dilute the negativity.

Along with the above suggestions to ignore this troll, I suggest also taking screenshots of the libelous content and saving them, on the SMALL chance that you might need to prove that the comments were posted. Normally I'd say it didn't matter, but if we're talking about a business I think it might be wise.

Have you checked the feedback of other readers there? Is the a pattern across the board of identical posts? If so you have the right to ask owners to review the situation.

What you sell isn't like a camel which arrived with a broken leg or the wrong sex.
Readings are nebulous. I can see no way to argue with feedback, legitimate or not.

And I'm sorry this is happening to you, I understand how hurtful it can be.