Disrespectful people suck. Let's make that clear. Whether they're in front of you or behind a computer monitor, they will bring you down and I don't care how strong you think you are when you say they don't because they do and you're a damn fool for saying otherwise. True strength isn't in believing you're above any sort of insult. Strength is admitting to yourself that effects you like any other human being and most of all strength is the ability to let go and move on because as hurtful as people are their words only cut as deep as you let it.
It's different on the internet than it is in real life. In real life, you're lucky- Or rather, incredibly unlucky, to find yourself dealing with more than a handful of people at a time, those people are held back by social restrictions and law. On the internet, there's just so many of them. Even more when you have a degree of fame and they're all wearing that badge of anonymity proudly like a badge of honor. A badge that says "Screw you, you can't do a damn thing about what I say because you don't know who the hell I am and there's absolutely no consequence to my actions what-so-ever."
It's hard dealing with that many people with that little respect. Especially when your own actions do have repercussions and you have to use the utmost respect in dealing with these people and when you don't have that much support it's almost unbearable. I once listened to a podcast, made by very popular youtubers, who said that they have their own little youtube commenter support group and without that they wouldn't be able to cope. I never even looked at them this way before, to think that such successful giants on the internet needed to resort to such a thing.
I never touched that damn comment box again. Lemme tell you.
They also said something else. It was a quote from Patrick Klepek of Giant Bomb. You can find this quote here -
http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/so-fez-ii/1100-4700/ which talks about the whole Fish and Beer controversy surrounding Fez II, a decidedly
similar-ish situation.
99% of the Internet has been nothing but nice to me, even when it’s a backhanded compliment. It’s easy to focus on that 1%. That 1% is vile, hateful, spiteful, jealous, mean, and would likely be as venomous in a public place as they are with a badge of anonymity. Many are probably teenagers who will grow up and learn to regret their ignorant actions, but some of them aren’t, and those are the people who scare me the most. But I can’t spend my day worrying about the 1%. I wake up every day trying to make the other 99% happy.
In closing I wish JadedCat the best. I don't know her. I don't know her at all, as much as I'd like to. It's a shame that we never talked, we, or rather I probably had the opportunity to and never took it and I regret it. However I do know this situation marginally well and I certainly know and respect the decision she made all too well. I wish her -- you, the best and the moment I find a nice tropical island with WIFI connectivity I'm not using, your name will be the first I think of. Promise.
