trolls Archives -

Eight Scary Halloween Characters You Might See on Twitter

You may have been wandering around some scary parts of Twitter lately, down some dark, lonely hallways late at night. Here’s what you might find during your travels.

Time to let go, Casper

The Ghost

Is this person really on Twitter? There were a couple of tweets in the beginning, but there hasn’t been a tweet since last October. This person’s account has passed away, but is still occupying space in the Twittersphere. Time to let go, Casper.

It is possible to kill a vampire

The Vampire

This is a character who feeds on the life force of others, stealing content, following everyone you follow, and making you feel like you’ve got a kid brother all over again. They insert themselves into all your conversations and tend to steal your energy. The good news? It is possible to kill one of these guys!

The Zombie

The zombie retweets your material and you never know why. They follow you, but they are really pretty slow. They may retweet stuff from 2 weeks ago, a lifetime on the internet. They are animated, yet they are still corpses. Do not trust them to babysit your children. When they do speak, they talk about “the Zombie Apocalypse” a lot.

The Werewolf tweets very late at night during the full moon

The Werewolf

This guy only tweets very late at night during the full moon, when they’re very active. Nothing ever happens during the day for the werewolf. And just when you think they’re completely extinct, one of them wakes up during the day and lets out a grumpy tweet. They may want blood or they may want espresso. It’s difficult to say.

Avoid the Bad Witch or Warlock

The Bad Witch or Warlock

This character is just plain mean. He or she pokes fun at other people, and never has anything nice to say. They take everything the wrong way. It’s all about the opposite of the law of attraction with the mean witch. It’s best to stay away from mean witches.

The Mummy

All wrapped up in themselves and only ever broadcasting, everything has to revolve around the mummy. It’s as though they have cotton in their ears because they never seem to listen to anyone else. The Mummy could use some ideas on how to be social.

The Troll loves to cause trouble

The Troll

The only way to stop trolls is to stop caring about them. They feed on your energy, whether positive or negative. Once they are exposed, they may stop their insults. And on Twitter, you can block or mute them (or report them!).

The Skeleton

The skeleton has no substance. You may see bones, but nothing has been fleshed out. No treats for you, Mr. Skeleton! By the way, here’s a fab article about what the skeletons of famous cartoon characters would look like (no cartoon characters were hurt in the making of the article).

And the scariest of all, and they need no introduction….

The Evil Clown (is there any other kind?!

The Evil Clown!

He’s got the red nose and gets all up in your business. He won’t take no for an answer! Booo! Now evil clowns could really use some clues on how to be social!

Seen any strange characters around Twitter? Let me know in the comments!

WordCamp San Francisco: Why A Blogger Should Go

WordCamp San Francisco: Why Bloggers Should Go

This isn’t the first WordCamp I’ve attended, and it won’t be my last one, either. There are so many reasons to go, I can’t even begin to list them all. Here are a few highlights. If you haven’t read any of my other posts about WordCamps, here are a couple of my faves: WordCamp Orange County 2014: Awesome Moments and WordCamp San Francisco: Favorite Things.

The Bill Was Fabutab

Frankly, I was more than a little excited that WordCampSF had so many women speakers this year. You could practically spend the entire two days and not listen to one single man, which is unusual at a technical conference, and even more unusual in San Francisco, where even Pinterest events are filled with men. This is awesome in so many ways. More on the particulars below.

The Bloggess

One of the biggest draws for me at the 2014 WordCamp was getting to see and hear The Bloggess. If you’ve never read her blog, you should. Come back here after two and a half years, when you’re done laughing. Yes, she’s that funny. If you don’t come back, I don’t blame you. Whatever. I was a little bit afraid to hear her speak because she has reached that stage of awesome in my mind, but she did not disappoint. In fact, my favorite moment came from her talk.

Listening to the awesome @thebloggess at #wcsf14 pic.twitter.com/Byr8vWIG9S

— Carol Stephen (@Carol_Stephen) October 27, 2014

She was talking about trolls, which we all get as bloggers, especially on the more successful posts. And she said “It’s my house, so if you’re going to comment, entertain me. And if you don’t, look out!” Since her blog is curated, she can change the comments of trolls, which she does. Simple, but brilliant, right? Then when the troll returns (they always do!), she can again change their comment from the extremely negative to the extremely positive.

WordCamp San Francisco: Buttons Are Everywhere

WordCamp San Francisco: MailChimp Cat Apparel

The Freebies

Yes, this might seem trivial, but deep in our hearts we all love the cheesy t-shirts, mugs, and free things we get at conferences. Even the stickers help make a lackluster conference better. This year’s winner was clearly MailChimp’s cute knitted cat hat. They had full-sized hats for people, too. I’m not sure how much my cat loved the hat, but she’s fussy that way. Anyway, she put up with it long enough to get a picture.

Meeting People

Hobnobbing with the other WordPress nerds is always a highlight, and this year’s WordCamp participants were no exception. I got to hang out with my buddy Peter Woolvett, too.

Crafty Chica was a huge and welcome surprise as well. She’s @CraftyChica on Twitter, by the way. You’ll love all her glitter and positivity.

Getting Retweeted. By Matt Mullenweg. Twice.

Standing room only for Matt Mullenwegs State of the Word talk! #wcsf14 pic.twitter.com/jRNMZ5MJHf

— Carol Stephen (@Carol_Stephen) October 26, 2014

If you don’t know who Matt Mullenweg is, Google him!

Giants. Fans.

As in the “Orange Tide” was right outside the door. When we wandered outside, we’d see planes with banners, people dressed in orange, tailgating parties, etc. Did I mention dogs wearing orange and black shoes? As thousands poured through SOMA, up King Street and over to the stadium, it was impossible to ignore. Walking out of WordCamp and into the insane orange-and-blackness that engulfed San Francisco was incredible.

Will You Go? Have You Been?

I’d love to hear from you! If you’re planning to go next year, let’s meet up for coffee!

WordCamp San Francisco: Giants Fans