Denny Hamlin’s excellent Twitter advice

Twitter can be a nasty, no-fun, soul-draining place sometimes. What used to be a place of civil debate and common sense can feel overrun by trolls and haters these days.

So what’s a tweeter to do? Denny Hamlin said he’s taken a new approach this year: “Not replying to mean people.” And now he’s advising others in NASCAR to do the same.

“I’m making a (point) right now to every driver, every team owner, every NASCAR executive and every media member — stop replying to people who make nonsense comments,” Hamlin said. “They have 16 followers! Don’t give them your 100,000 and your stage. No one will ever see their comment. Just brush it by. Talk about the positives — and I’m not a positive guy!”

It sounds good in theory, but…how exactly are people supposed to do that? How does Hamlin ignore the needling comments that have the ability to slice through thick skin?

“You just scroll by it,” he said. “Forget it. That person doesn’t exist. They’re an admirer who has lost their way.”

What do you think? Can that approach work?

20 Replies to “Denny Hamlin’s excellent Twitter advice”

    1. Totally agree with Denny, replying gives the meanies a voice and a reason to reply back,

  1. Pretend it’s marriage and pick your battles. The good thing, that unlike marriage a few of these can be won. (But like marriage some can’t even if you are right.)

  2. Will power. It’ll take will power. I really wish there was a social media platform that removed the anonymity components. People are very bold behind a keyboard…

    But I haven’t been able to follow his lead thus far. There is always that next tweet though to get started.

  3. Don’t feed the trolls. Don’t give them recognition in any way, shape, or form. Doing so just gives them validation and motivation to keep trolling.

  4. That is what I do on every social media page. I am a behaviorist & I believe negative people are just looking for attention. You are very wise, #dennyhamlin.

  5. I think this is great! I’ve never had a troll, but I’ve seen lots of others and I just cringe. I agree with him about giving that person a platform for all your followers to see. If you go on by, they’ll never be seen.

  6. I just ignore the trolls. I don’t mind casual or friendly arguments, but keep it cordial.

  7. Back at the dawn of online services we had a saying — don’t feed the energy monsters.

  8. I don’t have very many Twitter followers so I don’t get many trolls but I see way too much negativity. There have been a lot of times I wanted to say something to someone else’s butt wipe but then think it ain’t worth it. But I believe sometimes you just can’t help ourselves.

  9. Denny has the right idea. Never ever feed the trolls. People like that are just looking for their ten minutes of fame. They don’t deserve it!

  10. I agree but he could have made his remarks without maligning those of us with few followers. His comment packs the same punch without the numbers.

  11. I sure do believe in what Denny said, who needs neglect people, not me!

  12. Completely agree with not acknowledging trolls. It always astounds me when people even waste their time to do so, but as I usually find with him, he could have said it in a different way. As others have noted, the number of followers should not dictate the assumed quality of the person. Not everyone is s celebrity with tens of thousands of followers. To judge by that seems very elementary.

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