There is a type of person who has made monitoring and criticizing you a daily or semi-daily task. They follow everything you publish, track even your comments, hunt for your mistakes, and wait for any opportunity to attack you. This is not because they possess a valuable opinion or constructive criticism, but because they cannot ignore you; you occupy their thoughts more than their own self-development. Without realizing it, they are admitting your influence over them, for if you were not important, they would not waste their time following you.
They watch and criticize you because you are moving forward while they remain stuck in place. A successful and independent person piques the curiosity of those who lack their own vision; thus, they begin to monitor, not out of admiration, but in search of any slip that can be used for an attack.
However, the truth is that they do not attack you because you are wrong, but because you are different—because you have the courage to express yourself while they are merely spectators of your life.
It is an attempt to compensate for a deficiency, nothing more. These people do not seek to prove they are right; rather, they seek to drag you into responding to them, because doing so gives them free advertising and a level of fame they could never achieve on their own.
If you ignore them, they will remain on the margins of the scene, but once you reply, you place them under a spotlight they cannot reach by themselves. They realize that talking about you attracts attention, while talking about themselves and their ideas attracts no one. This is an indirect admission that you are more important and influential than they are.
Trust yourself, my friend, for you are in the lead, and they are in the back. The greatest punishment for these people is not responding to them, but total ignorance.
You are moving on your path, achieving your goals, while they waste their time chasing you, unaware that they are draining their time and effort on you while you give them no attention. So, continue and do not look back. Nothing irritates critical observers more than being seen and not seen at the same time—to realize their existence but not grant them any value. Let them talk, for they know that your name attracts attention, while their names alone interest no one.
Therefore, the best response is to stay in the lead, leave them in the back where they belong, and pay them no mind. You are writing your success, while they are merely margins on the road.