I used to make the mistake of 'engaging' with people who hate me, or those who send me messages telling me exactly what they think of me and my opinions (as if I wanted to know). In a couple of cases I blocked some people from even visiting my sub because they were all up in my face about something that pissed them off, and I just didn't want them hanging around to find even more things to hate me for.

That turned out to be such a mistake - almost every single time I have responded to someone, or blocked them, it has only made them angrier and made them escalate their attacks on me. It turned somewhat creepy or rude people into all out warriors, who devote a great deal of time to trying to hurt me. People who:

• follow my every post, like a stalker would
• downvote my posts the very second they are posted
• send me hate mail
• comment on my posts with nasty gifs
• complain to the mods about me, and report me
• try to lure me into breaking the rules so I'll get in trouble - under the guise of being friendly and helpful
• report any audio or video I do to the admins at Soundcloud, Youtube and Chirbit to try to get me taken down
• talk about me behind my back, to other GWAers, 'warning' them to stay away from me because I'm the mentally unstable one
• flag and report my own posts on my own sub
• create a bunch of fake new identities to keep bothering me with even after I block them
• call me names and sexual slurs

It's okay, I know who they are (even if they don't know I know - but I have my ways) and if it ever gets really out of hand, I'll deal with them appropriately. But I've definitely learned that the only way to deal with absolutely anyone who slings shit at you is to just duck. If you engage them, or let them know you are blocking them, it will just escalate.

I wouldn't recommend you take down anything - that just shows they got to you. It's best to keep them guessing as to whether you even got their messages or not.

Something else I think we can all do - if any of us sees a nasty comment left for someone, report it to the mods right away - it might just get removed before the poster even sees it. That might save them some heartache, and will deny the tormenter their pleasure in hurting the OP.