That was the main problem I had.
It was far worse in Dark Souls than it had been in Demon Souls.
I played Demon Souls years after launch so it wasn't common and if it became to frequent I'd just go offline. Dark Souls though since it was knew it was quite common and killed the experience.
Nothing you can do about that but push yourself to be better than them. They don't have higher HP values, and they're probably loaded on END or INT, but nothing else. Exploit their weakness and you'll do just fine. It's hard early on, I'll give you that, I was one-shotted on my fifth new character, but just keep on truckin'. That's the point of Dark Souls – a game designed around murdering you at every step, and even encouraging your peers to skull-*** you at every opportunity. There's a true sense of satisfaction that comes from making the game your *** though, and curb-stomping your would-be assassins.
EDIT: Twinking is creating a low level character, but using your expertise and knowledge of the game to accrue a set of equipment that makes you above and beyond your level range by a large margin, and then using that advantage to murder people your level. +10 gear, +5 Ascended Flame, +5 Lightning or Fire weapon at a range between 1~30 would be a fair example.