I
knew I’d finally “made it” as an Internet writer when I encountered my
first barrage of negative comments in response to one of my articles.
When I became a Featured Writer on the SheKnows Network, they welcomed
me with an email warning me how extra exposure is often accompanied by
negative comments, and while they do their best to filter the awful
ones, sometimes they seep through.
I’ve existed happily and comfortably in the blog bubble I created for the last 258 days,
writing and sharing a deconstructed memoir in essay form daily to an
audience of subscribers. Each morning, I hoarded my few dozen likes and
comments and relished my smileys and hearts from Facebook; exactly the
type of digital encouragement an insecure writer needs.
Also, I felt safe writing from a platform called “HeartsEverywhere.”
I love love; finding it and rediscovering it when I lost it. I look for
the love (and comedy) in any scenario and when I can’t find it, I cope
with words. (I live by the Nora Ephron school of life: “everything is
copy.” ) I never imagined MY writing would yield nasty comments;
especially hurtful because they didn’t criticize my writing, but me, the
human narrating the story.
Most of the unpleasant comments came from men, which is ironic on a site called SheKnows.
The post I wrote which sparked the hate was: “I Feel Like a Divorce Inspiration Club.”
I’ve been divorced for almost a dozen years and have found love again
and been in that successful partnership for the last 11 years. It was
with the benefit of hindsight and many years of healing that I was able
to write about divorce and co-parenting with such candor.
The
vilest of the comments came from a man who called me a prostitute - and
he did this as a comment to every other comment on there (about 47 at
the time). I flagged them and they were removed and I laughed it off.
Another commenter took it a step further; he wrote an entire essay
response to my piece.
His
assumptions were preposterous and while he was potentially projecting
or coming from a place of pain (why do I have to be a therapist and
analyze his true intentions), my knee-jerk reaction was to take the bait
and bite back. I wrote back, addressing every one of his idiotic, false
assertions. As soon as I hit publish, I regretted it. I am a writer,
not a fighter and I didn’t have to defend my story because it wasn’t
about him nor was it up for judgment.
While
I didn’t want to sound defensive, I equally didn’t want his rant to
mislead other readers into considering any of his outlandish comments. I
suspected he was an unhappy troll, who would soon retreat back to the
closet under the stairs, but for a few short minutes, I let him in.
Those comments were daggers stabbing my self-esteem and I plotted my
move to fiction writing. Only 107 days of vulnerable essay writing to go.
But
then it hit me: this was like internet terrorism. He wouldn’t shut me
up; I wouldn’t be afraid of words written from behind an anonymous
keyboard. I refused to give anyone that power.
Theoretically,
the concept that my writing invoked a reaction, should actually make me
proud. My words elicited a strong emotion from a reader, enough to
incite action and write a comment. Yet somehow that pride took a
backseat to the fragile little girl who emerged, standing in front of a
class after reading her essay, and the mean boys threw sticks and stones
at me. My instinct was to retreat and cry, but instead, I chuckled and
vowed NEVER to reply to another antagonizing commenter again. (Although I
won’t stop from reading them yet.)
Some of the other non-hooker comments:
• Only 20% of second marriages last
• Don’t have kids unless you are willing to put their happiness above your own. What the author is advocating is wrong.
• YOUR SON DOES NOT HAVE A CHANCE AT HAPPINESS
• You were married for 4 years? Not long enough to qualify as married.
•
He said to men love your wife like Christ loved the church and he gave
an example of that when he died on the cross for you and me. You are
broken by sin in the form of selfishness
And my favorite, directed at my current husband at how to handle me:
•
Toss her the blow dryer while she’s showering but remember you have no
idea how the crazy glue got on the circuit breaker just say she must
have been suicidal and stick to that story.
www.tabularosa.net
In addition to this blog, Netiquette IQ has a website with great assets which are being added to on a regular basis. I have authored the premiere book on Netiquette, “Netiquette IQ - A Comprehensive Guide to Improve, Enhance and Add Power to Your Email". My new book, “You’re Hired! Super Charge Your Email Skills in 60 Minutes. . . And Get That Job!” will be published soon follow by a trilogy of books on Netiquette for young people. You can view my profile, reviews of the book and content excerpts at:
www.amazon.com/author/paulbabicki
If you would like to listen to experts in all aspects of Netiquette and communication, try my radio show on BlogtalkRadio Additionally, I provide content for an online newsletter via paper.li. I have also established Netiquette discussion groups with Linkedin and Yahoo. I am also a member of the International Business Etiquette and Protocol Group and Minding Manners among others. Further, I regularly consult for the Gerson Lehrman Group, a worldwide network of subject matter experts and have been a contributor to numerous blogs and publications.
Lastly, I
am the founder and president of Tabula
Rosa Systems, a company that provides “best of breed” products for network,
security and system management and services. Tabula Rosa has a new blog and Twitter site which offers great IT
product information for virtually anyone.
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