Interweb drama By Catherine on 2/10/2008 04:32:00 PM
It seems like there's drama everywhere on the internets these days, from Anonymous and the systematic pwning of the Church of Scientology, to the Chans and the Goons and the nerds over at YTMND debating who actually started it, to my own little bubble at Pathetic.Org, where one uptight admin has it out for everyone more talented than she. The Anonymous vs. CoS thing is pretty silly, albeit hilarious. I'll admit, I'm on the side of 4chan, and I've never said anything that nerdy in my life. It's just... the whackos are everywhere, and they don't even know they're whackos. Normally I don't get all up in arms over what people believe, but Scientology is a cult. Period. If you don't believe me, research it yourself.But Pathetic is a different story. I'm really bummed out, because normally everyone just gets along and no one really says anything terribly mean. A good chunk of the poetry posted is emotive bs, but the trick is not to leave feedback on those ones. Mine aren't exactly the stuff of Great American Literature, either. My mom always used to say, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. But now there's an admin with a grudge, and she's making it her business to be as rude as possible when doing her normal admin stuff. She did it to me and was rude about it, but it pales in comparison to leaving a comment like this after removing a member's picture:
Oh. And one photo was removed because, well, you're ugly. ;-) You know who you are. (If you have to ask, then no, you're not the one.)
Are you freaking kidding me? Are we in grade school? Is this not a more or less professional writer's community? Keep in mind, I found this out after browsing through on my own, though the person she did it to happens to be my editor. There are other sterling examples that I won't take the time for here, because it's such pettiness. This person is supposed to be keep the rules in order, and yet this is the behavior members deal with. I'm honestly considering removing my membership, because now that I know it wasn't just me, I'm pretty disappointed.
I like my lurking existence on these internets. I keep to myself and don't really talk to anyone, aside from posting here to people who know me anyway. When the interwebs get personal, I take myself away from them. Do you ever see me on AIM anymore? I thought a writing community was pretty easy. So much for poetry, I should just go join Anonymous.