Homerun Swing
I’m cranky. It’s not a good mind frame to post something, however, I need complete my deadline by tonight and I’d rather study for my finals uninterrupted.
I just recently found a comment awaiting approval in my inbox for last night’s little jam session. Though the name was disclosed, the comment field only contained the words “Thanks”. Aside from being completely nonsensical, this seems like valiant attempt to get me to flame out. After all, with dead lines popping up like targets at a shooting gallery, one could have an aneurysm on such a lazy comment.
Even if this was legitmate, my irritation only increases that someone out there decided to merely fill up cyberspace with a context senstitive phrase being completely outside of any context whatsoever. This comment did not provid a meaningful comment or criticism upon the post. I could go so far as to say “If you don’t have anything to say, then don’t say anything.” But that would fly in my face as my own brand of blatant hypocrisy.
I believe it was the first person I had ever met who suggested that people post on the Internet without any sort of understanding of Netiquette, dating the highest amount of people who do this to around September, when people are first introduced to the Internet and decide to post for no apparent reason. This people do indeed annoy me, not because I am better than they are, but it is very humiliating to realize that I was at that stage a long time ago too.
Don’t you just hate it when you think of events in your life, things you say or do that were completely innocent to you back then, but are hair tearing for you to remember now? I do, perhaps that’s a little bit of perfectionist leaking out of my ears. But anyway, I digress.
Back when i was a fresh faced youth who had just learned the wonders of E-mail, I was also into several works of art done by a group of people whose sites I would constantly visit. Of course, compared to now, these people are bygone heroes that most people would snub, but then again, Nicole Dubois has stuck around, victim of art theft and all. But with this first community of artists I followed, I eventually discovered that they had congregated onto a mailing list. Being an artist myself, I figured it would be alright to enter their ranks and perhaps make a name for myself. Of course, rather than doing the merciful and godly act of lurking, I popped in with an icebreaker. An awful prank joke.
I only recieved one reply and it was probably the most gentile and mature flaming I had ever recieved. I was humbled and I was ashamed. I had only made one post in the three days I had joined and became utterly silent. At first I thought it would be wise just to lay low and return when I thought that my antics had been forgotten. A week became two weeks, two weeks became a month, and after two months of silence I ended up quitting the mailing list.
No sarcasm intended, I would like to thank the person who put me down on that mailing list all those years ago. The reason why is that they hit me with a Nerf Stupid Stick, rather than giving me the real thing, including a couple of nails through it for good measure. Perhaps it was because this person sympathized with me for being a newbie. Perhaps they just have more patience than I do. But in either case, she showed me the error of my ways in a socially acceptable way that left my fragile ego intact while still reprimanding me for my actions and the inappropriateness of my message. I wish that all of these ‘net newbies’ had someone like I had to smack sense into them.
As for me, I won’t hold my punches. As a mean spirited and bitter individual, I have little time or patience for the idiots I deal with on cyberspace, save for those that give me an excellent start up to yet another angry pseudo-rant.
