How to deal with gossip

Ignoring works most of the time, but not always

Martina writes, "A woman that I have known for a while has been writing things about me that are simply not true. I decided to ignore it for a while but now when someone Googles me, her page shows up and it is very embarrassing for me to defend myself when people mention it. Who knows how many people decided not to contact me after finding my dating profile? What should I do? She has refused to take the post off when I emailed her. Please help."

Indeed, new technologies are posing some major challenge. It is important to understand that in most cases ignoring gossip is the best policy but when someone spreads lies about you that hurt you, it is time to take action. Remember how Sharon Stone sued the plastic surgeon who claimed that he gave her a facelift.

The best approach to deal with gossip on the web

If the other person allows you to comment, you must write down the facts in the comment section. Remember, though, that the owner can still delete your comment or may even have the comments feature turned off.
Another option is to start your own blog and present your side of the story and link to the unacceptable post. That way people can make up their own minds.
While nothing may come out of it or may take a long time, you can complain to the website owner. Most blogging websites do not allow slander.
Of course, things can stay on the web forever, but not everything pops up during a normal search. Search engines often dump old pages or those that are not so popular. It is very likely that with the next update of the search engines, the offending post may disappear.

How to deal with gossip?

Ignoring works most of the time, but not always