Anyone who has frequented popular discussion sites, video sites, and chat rooms knows that it can be a challenge to find intelligent conversation online. Sometimes, it seems like everyone just wants to insult each other, which can often degrade into bigotry such as sexism and racism. It is enough to make some people forego the idea of finding intelligent conversation online. However, if you have had bad experiences with people who seemingly have no human interaction skills, you should not give up hope. There are some discussion boards and chat rooms out there where you can start intelligent online conversations, and get responses from other people who are thoughtful, sensitive, and smart. It takes some searching, some persistance, and, occasionally, thick skin, but if you keep at it, you can definitely find places to have intelligent conversation online.
Sometimes, even people who are engaged in intelligent conversation online will have to deal with troublemakers, commonly referred to as “trolls”. If you are finding that you are having a good intelligent conversation online, and you run into a troll, the best option is to ignore them. That is due to the fact that trolls are often trolling for the sole purpose of getting a reaction from the people that they are harassing. If you are in the middle of an intelligent conversation online, do not let a troll derail the discussion, and spoil it for you. Also, do not throw the baby out with the bath water; instead of abandoning an intelligent conversation online because of a troll, see if the site you are using has an “ignore” function. If it does not, you always have the option to simply ignore trolls. If you have not run into a troll before, and you find yourself being harassed by some faceless username on the internet, now is a good time to practice ignoring people like this. Once you get used to ignoring trolls and keeping yourself from stooping to their level, you can enjoy many different places where you can have intelligent conversation online.
