Advice to someone who's been attacked on the Internet.

[mythworker]

 
More than one person has marveled at my thick skin in regards to shenanigans on the Internet. Particularly when it comes to Pagans. I have often found that people you thought you were friends with, who you've even met and talked with, can suddenly decide you're the devil (which Pagans don't believe in, of course) and say some pretty unkind and

Comments

[lupagreenwolf]

This can all seem very detached, very cynical, but I don't believe I'm a cynical person.

Well, no. You have those things called boundaries. The people who tend to whine about people setting boundaries are those who aren't very good at them themselves.

[queenofhalves]

it's helpful to hear your experience with this. i keep wanting to start a proper pagan theology blog, and i partially hesitate because being attacked on the internet can be so draining for me. i don't think of myself as thin-skinned, but i know how distracted i get when someone hits one of my buttons just right and i end up spending far too much time writing them something clear, polite, and reasoned in response. i'm not sure how to wisely spend my time when it comes to having more of an online presence.

[alfrecht]

You know, it's strange: I've been attacked more for doing entries on public LJ communities, and for guest posts on The Wild Hunt (or references to my posts/work on there), than I have been actually attacked on my own blog. And while I think that's a good thing generally (i.e. not to have been attacked at all on my blog), it's odd...

But, perhaps it can be some solace and further encouragement for you to do your own theology blog and not worry too much about being attacked. It's weird--having one's own blog, perhaps, makes people less inclined to attack you because you can edit or delete their comments however you want, whereas on public communities and The Wild Hunt, everyone feels a certain amount of "ownership" (rightly or wrongly), and thus feel they can use it as a forum for their own grievances and issues, no matter how inappropriate.

Anyway...

[queenofhalves]

yay comment management. :>

[mythworker]

It was draining for me at first too, and I also spent hours locked in pointless Internet debates early on. I would love to read a Pagan theology blog, and would hate to see antagonists block your path. There are many ways to manage comments on blogs, including simply not allowing comments. Or only allowing comments that are approved by you. Not every venue has to be as open as mine, and even I have permanently banned folks.

Perhaps a group blog effort? A shared effort?

[alfrecht]

So noted, mythworker: you is what you is, and that's all that you is...Which is to say, you're Popeye. Ha-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga! ;)

As someone who is a bit argumentative--but in order to provide good information, not so much for its own sake (or, at least I think so!)--this has been a difficult thing over the last five years for me to learn. The crappy people spend more time being crappy than they do doing anything useful, and while I'm better about realizing this now and leaving them to their own devices, at the same time, I do still carry some hurts pretty deeply. (Akins & co., for example, because they were so wrong, and didn't even know how wrong they were in their attempts to dismiss my information or in using the info they thought they had which proved me wrong...but, attempting to tell them wouldn't have helped, etc. Bleh.)

[mythworker]

Well, Akins, bleh (as you say). Racists suck. Also, it's hard to argue with people who don't seem to share our communal reality in any manner. Who have no moral compass about deceit. They always "win" because their mind will never accept anything else.

[alfrecht]

Very true on all points...

I should have learned something from Irish myth in this regard. Cú Chulainn, at the very end of his life, was threatened with satire, and he responded accordingly several times. The threats escalated each time, until finally the satirists involved were threatening to satirize his entire tribe. This he could not stand, so he threw his last spear at the satirist in question; and though the spear killed the satirist, it was the spear Lugaid mac Con Roi used to fatally wound Cú Chulainn. Some of the Akins & Co. ass-hats were saying that my degree from UCC (which they didn't even recognize) was fraudulent, and that because UCC is in Cork, and there are known to be New Age Travelers elsewhere in Cork, therefore all of Cork is filled with New Age nonsense, and I must therefore be of the same mindset. Of course, not only "no" but "fuck no" on all counts...And yet, the honor of my university and my department--which is the best in the world as far as Irish medieval literature is concerned--almost lead me back

[hagazusa]

Sorry you've had to deal with difficult people. Seconding the importance of good boundaries. Hugs.

[nancyblue]

You're amazing. This was really helpful, and I appreciated your comments on the trolls who really just need attention. I am in a funny place right now with this sort of stuff. I want to do more writing that people will see. I want to be able to tackle tough subjects and present them in a popular way to make people think and respond. I don't just want my research to end up in journals people won't read (although a bit of that is fine) but the vampires, trolls and the lack of genuine discourse can be very hard for me to bear sometimes. Clearly in your position you have to strike a balance between being engaging and interactive and maintaining a healthy distance. You do really well.

And woo peddlers. I love this term.