"MedleyMisty;14917883" wrote:
As a person who had a lot of comments back in the day, I can tell you what my experience of it was like.
It was extremely isolating. All that attention brought negative attention and gossip and envy and exclusion. And then even the people who didn't do the gossip thing still didn't really treat me like a real person. I guess that intimidation factor.
I would have loved honest sincere comments from someone who actually wanted to be friends and to really talk.
Which is why I much prefer my experience in the community now. I get very few comments these days, but they are all sincere and real and friendly and they make me feel valued and included. And if there are trolls still hanging around, I don't know about them.
I love your comments on Surreal Darkness, @AdamsEve1231.
First of all, thank you.
Secondly, the world has a lot of sucky people who don't know how to treat people like humans. I know you've talked about your experiences before and I thank you for being vulnerable. I also know you've grown from/learned from your experiences and this gives me hope and encouragement. I also just want to give you *hugs* and say I'm glad that things are better now for you.
Thirdly, I agree with you about the difference between tons of negative feedback and comments and a few honest, sincere comments from loyal and kind fans. I would much rather have the latter than the former. It's easier online to be hateful because it's harder to track, but those people are just trolls, and I wonder how many of them would be man or woman enough to criticize me to my face instead of typing spiteful rhetoric behind a computer screen... not that I want anyone to be speaking negatively in any circumstance. But just because it's easier online doesn't mean it doesn't have an emotional, and in some cases, physical impact on a person, especially the person on the receiving end of things. I don't want to diminish anyone's pain or hurtful experiences and words spoken via a screen or in person can be incredibly damaging. It is my hope that we would all continue to be better in our words and our actions toward one another and that people would speak up against the hate and take a stand against the sometimes dark-oblivion of the internet and make a positive change for the better, uniting against the haters.
Thank you for reminding us about the humanity behind the screen. I think you made a comment on this to a degree in a previous comment. Writers of SimLit put a great deal of effort, time, and energy into writing their stories and we, as readers, need to respect that time and show appreciation for the effort (which I try to do through leaving comments, but other people can show in different ways). Readers also need to remember there's a face behind the computer screen and we, writers, aren't machines cranking out story segments left and right and sometimes life outside the Sims intrudes. I think the biggest thing is to treat everyone with dignity and respect on or offline. There's a person behind each screenname and character and story and we need to remember they need love, attention, encouragement, understanding, respect, and support just like everyone else here.
