Conversational discernment is one of my most prized visibility skills.

People can be pretty mean online, feeling emboldened as many do, by the lack of civility that digital engagement seems to foster.

Which means that from time to time people leave comments on the SOV socials that are either outright rude or clearly spoiling for a fight.

Some will also express an expectation that because we’re the School of Visibility we must be obligated to engage with them or elevate their voice in some way.

We’re not.

I have a very clear reason for setting up the SOV and supporting your visibility. It’s because I believe the world will be a better place when you’re more visible.

The same cannot be said for raising the visibility of haters.

The world does not become a better place by giving more airtime to those who want to spew their frustration or anger or irritability on you.

And you are certainly not obliged to be the recipient of their emotional mayhem.

Exercising discernment with regard to whom we engage with, particularly on platforms we’ve built, means we can stay on purpose every single day.

It keeps us focused on being visible to the people we’re trying to reach.

I know that if I get distracted in side conversations with people who are never going to be constructive members of the SOV community, I’ll be doing a very poor job of caring for the actual SOV community.

So I leave the bait of the haters, and those spoiling for a fight, in the conversational gutter where it belongs.

I recommend you do the same.