Just like in the real world, the Internet is filled with many different personalities. You have your rich snobs, your emo kids, and then you have the people who complain all the time.
There are some rather spiteful people out there, but I firmly believe that everyone should be entitled to their opinion, however unpopular. At the same time, I also firmly believe that if you’re going to voice your opinion, you should at least have the gutzpah to put your name behind your words. That’s why the comment form in this blog is open to all visitors, so long as they put in a name and an email address (I will never spam you). Naturally, there are going to be people who take advantage of this open forum. Many are spammers, but Akismet can peg those off without too much trouble. Others, however, have much angrier motivations.
Yesterday, I said that I was not alone in being a young Canadian living at home. According to the survey, 50% of Canadians aged 20-30 are still living at mommy and daddy’s place. And then, a comment came in from an anonymous visitor:
Speculation about a drop in real estate prices is wishful thinking. You might as well stick a Dildo up your ass and wish for the tooth fairy to buy you a house.
The first sentence is perfectly fine. It states an opinion rather clearly. The second statement (pardon his French) adds nothing to the discussion and I personally think it detracts any credibility from the speaker. It’s juvenile, really.
The anonymous visitor goes on to say:
You can start saving money by skipping those Dot-Com-Poser lunches and countless restaurant outings. After all, a little bit helps. It did for me…
So, now I’m a dot com poser. I find that interesting, because I never did fulfill those arbitrary dot com mogul criteria. I’ve never claimed to be rich, though I do feel that I am fortunate to make a decent living as a freelance writer. I guess those “poser lunches” would refer to my weekly bowl of pho (I’m actually going later today) or the massive $60 burger I had earlier this week. What the commenter forgets is that these are not “poser lunches” as much as they are an opportunity to hang out with some friends and have some good conversation. My initial motivation to attend dot com pho was to network with John Chow, but the attendees are now my friends and I value their company.
I put up a post about sell out bloggers several months ago. These are people who sell their opinions, souls, and blogs to the highest bidder. I pointed out a guy named Lemuel Jopio (“Lemmy”), whose blog is filled with PayPerPost sponsored posts and nothing more. Apparently, Lemmy used to friends with John, Stephen and the rest of the “dot com” crew, but they have since fallen out of favor. Based on a bit of analysis, we have come to the conclusion that the anonymous commenter is most likely Lemmy.
Over at Stephen Fung’s blog, the same “anonymous visitor” left equally spiteful comments, again signing those words as some variation on “U-R-A-Dot-Com-Poser”. This was a few weeks back, and what’s worse, this guy goes on to attack Stephen’s charitable ways. He actually put Mr. Fung down for donating to charity. That’s… despicable.
On that note, let me open the forum back up to readers. Depending on how you frame it, I could be classified as a dot com poser. If that’s what you want to believe, that’s fine by me. But I’ve got to ask you: is it worse to be a poser who puts his name and reputation out there (i.e., me) or is it worse to be an “e-thug”, hiding behind a keyboard and posting anonymous hate-filled comments? As Russell Peters once said, “Be a man. Do the right thing.”
Lemmy, if you’re reading this, you need to stop being bitter and just let go.
Oh so THAT’s who it is…
He left a couple comments on my blog too. I was wondering who it was. Jeez…be a man and leave your name.
Ahh, you’re always going to have your haters.
I see it in drivers all the time too. They feel like being in their car would provide them from the physical repercussions of acting like a jackass. When I get out of my car to confront jackasses they always drive away.
My practice is that if you’re not comfortable saying something to somebody in person, then you shouldn’t be saying it at all.
The beauty of the internet is that leaving is only one click away.
I always had this weird feeling (and a trace back through the IP had confirmed my suspicion) that it could only be the one, the only, the probably reading this behind his S&M Mask, Lemmy.
I don’t hate him for his stupid comments, but I lose respect for anyone that doesn’t man up and say what they want to say as themselves. Hiding behind a fake user profile is pretty juvenile and cowardly. If he came out as himself, at least he’d still have my respect as someone that is not afraid to speak his mind, no matter how unpopular the topic. It’s unfortunate that he’s changed. He used to have a lot more backbone back in the day which I really admired, even though I had to ban his ass from my forum for being a douche to my users.
So we said some stuff about his blog being a complete paid post sell out (and it was). But at least we didn’t piss around as “U-R-A PayPerPost Shit Bag” hiding in the shadows taking pot shots.
Do you want tissue with that Whine? LOL!!!!!
Look at the big man hiding behind his keyboard again. Call me a poser, but at least stand behind your words by signing your comments appropriately.
Oh, and the line is do you want some cheese with that whine/wine. I don’t think very many people are interested in having tissue with their wine.
The thing that always amazes me is how almost everyone that leaves a negative/bash comment doesn’t have a website of their own to promote. Why not show their own site so people can see “how it is supposed to be done?”
It’s because his site is nothing but PayPerPost. Promoting something that lame is useless…
It is amazing how some people will go out of their way to try and make others feel as bad as they do. They rarely succeed.
Too Many Keyboard Warriors and not enough action.
Does he live in your area? Why don’t you act like a real man by calling him up and asking for fight?
Can you kick his ass?