Where the heck are these people coming from?
So, not only do I need to “start living” and “dry my tears” when something that makes me sad happens, but I’m also “pathetically stupid” and “rude and immature” when I write a JOKE ENTRY informing my readers (who had encouraged me to offer my gmail invites on my local freecycle list, as they had done so on their lists) that gmail invitations weren’t accepted on my local freecycle list. To make things clear, no I do not really think that celebrities would really email me. Yes, I know that gmail invitations do not harm the environment. No, I was not badmouthing the freecycle administrator behind his back– we had a laugh about it via email, no harm done.
Anyway, wherever these people are coming from, it’s nice to have new readers. But for you to introduce yourself to me by insulting me is just not cool with me. If you disagree with me, I have no problem with that. Feel free to say so. In a polite way. Which I will respond to. In a polite way. Please keep in mind that while, yes, I do have a forum for people to leave comments here, I pay for this website. It’s mine. What goes onto it belongs to me. And behind the computer, on the receiving end of what comes out of your keyboard, is a live, flesh-and-blood person. Who has feelings, which can be hurt. Just think of it this way:
This is my “home” on the Internet. I invite you in. Look around. Take a seat. Hang out, be entertained, converse, whatever. But if you come in and start calling me stupid, conceited, rude, and immature after having looked at one painting I have on my wall, then I and my other guests will probably not want you around anymore, and will not hesitate to ask you to leave. I’m not asking that people only leave suck-uppy comments on this site; I’m asking that people try to be polite, and don’t come into my “house” wearing a “mask” (fake email address, no way to respond to you privately, and no URL) and expect me to not think you’ve got something to hide. I’m sorry, apparently they are real email addresses. However, yahoo did bounce them back to me, saying that the addresses didn’t exist. I apologize for my mistake.
So that no one accuses me of making a big deal out of this when I could have just deleted the comments or emailed them privately, I just wanted to say that I emailed both “Carolyn” and “Diane” at the email addresses that they provided. Both emails bounced back, because they weren’t real email addresses, which didn’t surprise me– I’ve found that most people who want to be insulting via the ‘web don’t leave proper contact information. – again, sorry. I have attempted emailing you, and yahoo says that the addresses don’t exist. Strange, but whatever. I apologize. What also didn’t surprise me is that both of these individuals have the same IP address and server information, leading me to believe that they’re one and the same, or were using the same computer.
I know this isn’t 1/20th of what other people get on their sites but seriously, it’s enough for me.
Amen girlfriend! Amen!
Word.
yeah, not sure what that’s all about. although the blogging phenomenon is a bizare thing anyway, i mean, why do we all of a sudden feel like we can give strangers advice. i’m not immune. i too feel the need to give strangers advice (though i think generally, other than over stepping my bounds as a reader by offering unsolicited advice, i’m not rude about it). weird.
Argh. Good for you, Louise.
It’ll all come back to them, as my mom says.
XO
The internet is so anonimous that I think our brains have a hard time realizing the websites and blogs aren’t just materializing out of thin webby air, Where in real life we’d feel uncomfortable giving advice and criticisms out like candy (most polite people anyway), here all it takes is a few key strikes and not making eye contact with anyone.
I’m staying on the fence on this one….those of us with websites are responsible for what we put on them and have to realize that an open forum will always attract lurkers and trolls and smart-asses as well as interesting, open-minded individuals to offer different perspectives. The blame doesn’t solely lie with those with nothing better to do then leave snarky remarks, we give them ammo and then we give equally snarky remarks back.
The internet will never be the equivalent to a one to one discussion because this technology is too obtuse to provide the subtle clues we all pick up on…..eye contact, body language, tone of voice and inflection, flushed skin…..I mean it can’t even pick up on when you hit the last key in the heated statement with great passion and purpose.
Even websites like yours, Louise and mine and Christien and Dawn’s and all the folks you’ve got listed are as anonimous as those commentors who leave fake email addies.
Just seems sort of useless to fret about a community we’re willingly up to our necks in anyway.
Ofcourse I’m in a tropical paradise and not much is worrying to me.
A few words in my defence:
1. The e-mail address that I left, and the one that my roommate left were both 100% valid e-mail addresses and we are not ‘hiding behind masks’. Seeing as no other person has ever had any trouble e-mailing us I have to conclude that you either didn’t try, or have something wrong with your e-mail.
2. The only point we were trying to make in our comments is that moderators are humans too. They spend a lot of time running these groups behind the scenes and they do this for free, and as a result they deserve some respect. Your blog about ‘J’ wasn’t written in the kindest tone. Whether you were joking or not, it was very disrespectful. To quote you “behind the computer, on the receiving end of what comes out of your keyboard, is a live, flesh-and-blood person. Who has feelings, which can be hurt”. Maybe you should consider this while you are typing out your public blogs.
3. Neither of us called you any of the insulting terms you claim we did. Rather, Diane stated that if you actually believed celebrities would want your g-mail accounts then you are conceited and pathetically stupid. Since you claim you don’t believe this, then obviously you aren’t. As for myself, I stated point-blank that badmouthing people behind their backs is rude and immature, and I still believe that.
4. Stop lying about how you and the moderator ‘exchanged e-mails and had a good laugh about it’. I know ‘J’ personally and know for a fact that this statement is false.
5. As a final note, when you run a public blog, you should expect the public to read it… and not every one is going to agree with you. How you respond to those people shows the rest of the world what type of a person you are. Just something to consider for your future blogs.
I welcome your comments and have once again provided my e-mail address for that purpose.
Carolyn, I have responded to you via email for a second time, and it has bounced back once again. The reasons that your email server is giving me for it to have bounced back are the following:
Your message was not delivered because the destination computer refused
to accept it (the error message is reproduced below). This type of error
is usually due to a mis-configured account or mail delivery system on the
destination computer; however, it could be caused by your message since
some mail systems refuse messages with invalid header information, or if
they are too large.
Your message was rejected by mx2.mail.yahoo.com for the following reason:
delivery error: dd This user doesn’t have a yahoo.com account (your email address here)
I have also tried responding to Diane’s email, and got the same error message. Is there a possibility that your inbox is full, or that you have your settings to only accept messages from people you’ve specified? I know that there is nothing wrong with my email, I made sure to check that. Please let me know.
I have no messages in my inbox, and seeing as I have had various strangers contact me in the past, I do not believe that it is my settings. Dunno… I’m not techie minded enough to figure it out I guess.