8 Comments
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Linda Caroll's avatar

Funny story, Walter. I once ran across a "hate" post about another writer on Medium. It wasn't even about me. But, see, I know personal attacks are prohibited on Medium. So I reached out to Medium and said that story should be taken down because it attacks another writer by name. They agreed and sent her a take-down request.

Then she wrote another post saying omg, I had to take down a post. Poor, poor me, I'm being censored. I had a good laugh. No, you aren't being censored, idiot. You just don't get to attack people because you got your own face in a knot. The internet is a buffet. You don't like something, move on. Who eats something by choice and then bitches about it.

Sorry that happened to you. People can be the best. But they can also be just the worst.

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Walter Rhein's avatar

I'm disinclined to report profiles, but I don't blame you for doing that. I do report any comment that tells me how much money I can earn on random web pages, because I feel those are likely bot accounts. I would have had to unblock this reader to report her, and I hadn't received my Ko-Fi donation yet :) It's all part of the writing life, thanks for your support!

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Isabel Lugo Jarboe's avatar

And a privilege it is.

I don't know why I still get surprised by people's comments, but I do. It's amazing how many rude people are in this world; it is so easy to be polite and kind.

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Walter Rhein's avatar

I just put the polishing touches on an article for Medium about this very topic. A lot of the rude comments are from fake accounts. Thanks for your very kind comment!

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Michelle Spencer (she/her)'s avatar

Ouch. Your troll is a classic example of centring the wrong issue.

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Walter Rhein's avatar

I think it's done deliberately to direct attention away from the topic that the author wishes to address. I run into a lot of strange behavior like this.

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David Perlmutter's avatar

"You don't know what somebody is dealing with." And, in real life, you never will unless the person themself tells you.

Fiction and non-fiction writers can provide motivation for our subjects' actions, but it's expected that we do that. It's not up to people in real life to solve all the worlds' problems based on "flawed logic" (as you said) and false analogies that are more about defaming the writer than respectfully addressing the subject of the argument.

Politeness is expected of people IRL- why can it not exist in online interactions as well?

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Walter Rhein's avatar

I think we have the power to change that cultural expectation. My blocked list on Facebook is longer than my friend list :)

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