A short while back, Kumiko Suzuki from Cash Quests wrote a post on how you can know you’re getting popular. As is the norm with Kumiko, she turned conventional wisdom on its head, saying that it’s when you start receiving hate mail that you know you’re getting popular. After all, if someone is emotional and driven enough to tell you how much they hate you, chances are that someone else is just as passionate about how great you are.
Even if they don’t like you, it means that they read your work. Controversy is one of Cash Quests’ strong points — I need not remind you of her view on AGLOCO — and it drives readers toward that blog. A reader is a reader is a reader and that’s all that matters, right?
Way back in March, I singled out Lemuel Jopio (”Lemmy”) for being a sell out blogger. He must have taken offense to my view, because months later, he outright attacked me via the comments on this blog. Lemmy didn’t do it openly, however, instead hiding behind several all-caps monikers like U-R-A-DOT-COM-POSER. I then followed up on this by asking, “What’s worse: a dot com poser or an e-thug?” Naturally, he got mad again.
Well, while he appears to be hiding behind a proxy and even more pseudonyms (I can’t know for sure if it’s him or someone else), it seems like the hater is back on the attack, not only posting spiteful comments on this blog, but also seeking out opportunities to badmouth me on other blogs. These three comments all originate from the same IP.
In my post on Donald Trump and a Scottish fisherman, he says this:
Lemmy has also dug into the archives of Stephen Fung dot Net, going all the way back to when Beyond the Rhetoric was reviewed in that space. Stephen didn’t approve the comment, but he did send it to me via email:
And it doesn’t stop there. Whether the hater is Lemmy or not, they know me reasonably well, because they hunted me down on the BlueFur blog too:
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If you hate me, that’s fine. That’s your opinion. Call me ugly or say that my freelance writing sucks. That’s OK. I can’t possibly expect to please all the people all the time. I can’t even expect to please all the people some of the time. All I ask is that you come out from hiding and stop using (relative) anonymity as a safeguard. It’s almost like you think these comments bother me. They don’t; they amuse me more than anything, because I don’t think I’ve ever had someone feel so negatively about me.
Don’t let the haters get you down, folks, because in the end, they don’t matter… I can just see Lemmy getting his next comment ready now.
I don’t remember seeing this comment and don’t remember approving it. Sorry if I did as it shold not have been.
Ya… I was wondering how that comment got approved. 😛
This guy is a plain idiot from the looks of it…next time I would avoid feeding the troll and move on. I have also seen my share of trolls commenting on my blog…I just ignore them and enjoy my day!
It probably is Lemmy. From what I’ve heard about him, this sort of thing fits his cowardly profile.
I love how he’s always talking about we’re posers because we’re not millionaires…but I’m going to venture a guess that we make more money than…say…a certain hater?
Either way, I won’t publish a comment from him until he puts his real name. Then I’ll publish all the hate mail he wants to send.
Until then, I’m going to have to work on my dot-com posing. MAGNUM isn’t quite ready yet.
Being so damn sexy, I’ve had my share of haters in my life-time. Men hate me because their women want me. Gays hate me because their men want me. Lesbians hate me because I turn lesbos straight.
I want to cry sometimes, but then the Vatican hates me because my atheist tears cure diseases.
It’s tough sometimes 😉
LOL! Stop teasing gay men…that’s just plain wrong. Stick to girls or wild animals. 😉
I’ve worked in broadcast radio for 24 years, and “ignoring the haters” is one thing you have to learn quickly if you’re going to make it. It is, however, only one side of the rule.
You should pay the same amount of attention to the “lovers” as you do the “haters”. Don’t ignore them, mind you…everyone needs an ego boost or two every so often, or a quick slap. Just never take the ones that explain (usually frequently, and in great detail) how awesome you are too seriously. Just because they love you doesn’t mean they’re right, but don’t let it go to your head.
Conversely, just because someone hates you doesn’t mean that they don’t have a good constructive point (not the idiot you quoted above…he’s the reason people should have to pass a test to breed; some people shouldn’t be allowed to pass on their DNA), but there’s no need to obsess over every criticism.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but I’ve seen quite a few careers self-destruct because they worried too much about pleasing the haters or continuing to please the lovers. Put them both in the same mental box, and move on.
I’ll stop now so you have ample time to say “Who the hell is THIS guy?!?” out loud a few times.
Commentors that hide behind a text only name and won’t link back to their site or email is just pathetic… but it happens.