One of the cardinal rules of engagement on the internet is Don't Read the Comments. But if, like us, you spend the better part of your day scouring the internet for tips on the best way to eat a sandwich or which organisational tool will help you get your chores done, this sanity-saving tactic could be working against you.

It's not a secret that people are mean on the internet and, if you live your life online in any appreciable way, you are most likely going to experience some sort of online harassment, and it will most likely suck. There are, however, some steps you can take to bounce back.

Ever wondered why people can be so breathtakingly rude in online comments, spewing out vitriol in a way that would never be acceptable in a face-to-face exchange? Vincent F Hendricks, Professor of Formal Philosophy at the University of Copenhagen, explains why this happens.

YouTube's comment system is getting a big overhaul from today, integrating with Google+ to create conversations and better moderation.

What sorcery is this?! As some of you have noticed, today we've rolled out comment up/down votes. Here's how voting works.

YouTube comments are some of the trolliest on the web, but you don't need an extra add-on to block them — just use Adblock Plus.

Chrome: Comments on YouTube videos and Flickr photos are highly variable in quality, and finding the gems amongst the dross can be tricky. Chrome extension OpinionCloud summarises the comments so you can get a quick overall feeling.

Dear Lifehacker, I really like reading your blog and others around the net, but I'm getting really sick and tired of all the trolls. Is there any way to easily block all the offensive comments that seem to swarm blogs these days?

In what's presumably an attempt to curb the comment cesspool at YouTube, the popular video sharing site has added an Audio Preview button to the comment section. Inspired by web comic xkcd, the positive effect of the audio preview seems questionable. Until audio previews prove their efficacy, we'll stick with the previously mentioned YouTube Comment Snob extension, thankyouverymuch.

Free web service BackType aggregates all the comments you make on various blogs and web sites. The site uses the URLs entered in commenter forms or in the posts themselves to track a person's musings, or can combine URLs under a single account URL. It's a great tool for those who want to catch up on discussions they left behind, but the site also provides a search engine of its indexed comments and links to see another social-browser's comments. This type of URL tracking would normally leave the door open for comment impersonators, so BackType offers a moderation option to have you approve any comments posted under your name. BackType is a free service, requires a sign-up to use. BackType

Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Firefox extension YouTube Comment Snob filters comments on YouTube videos that don't meet your snobbish standards. It does so using a combination of criteria, like a user-defined threshold of spelling errors (using Firefox's spell-checker), excessive punctuation, and excessive capitalisation. You can enable or disable any of the filter options if you don't mind capital letters, for example, and you can view any hidden comment by simply clicking Show. It's a pretty saucy little extension, but now it's hard not to want a full-on Internet Comment Snob. YouTube Comment Snob