When are athletes going to learn, they are giving the trolls power by responding to them? I know it is hard to ignore all of the haters, but in the anonymity of this social media day and age, these people thrive off of your negative reaction. And this goes for top athletes and even folks on the bottom — like lowly Internet writers.

So the actual incident started with Kaepernick’s tweet about his daily workout.

1000 abs…. arm workout….. 10 min straight on the jump rope…. 2 hour study session in February….. that's what we call a recovery day!

— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) February 18, 2015

Well Stephen Batten did not really like that, so he responded with some vitriol: which quickly divulged into a schoolyard screaming contest.

@Kaepernick7 @49ers ab workout won't help find open receiver #study

— stephen batten (@battman_returns) February 18, 2015

@battman_returns are you illiterate or just ignorant? Read the tweet again better yet give me your breakdown of every defensive coverage

— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) February 18, 2015

@battman_returns I want every players responsibility on every coverage if you can't do it mind your damn business clown!

— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) February 18, 2015

@battman_returns you got 8 followers bruh your own family don't even want to know what you doin! Get better at life!

— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) February 18, 2015

While I am sure he has sleepless nights about having eight followers on Twitter, Colin just played directly into Batten’s hands and gave the troll more attention than anyone should. Of course, it is hard to ignore negative comments about one’s character, but that is the state of the Internet these days: every bozo with a reasonable understanding of the English language has a voice – for better or worse.