RANT ABOUT COMMENTS, DAMMIT
Okay, so there's this really interesting discussion happening at wendy's lj, here, about anonymous commenting. And it is, for the most part, pretty thinky and intelligent.
But, okay, the thing is, I DISAGREE WITH ALMOST EVERYONE OVER THERE. They're all like, OMFG ANON COMMENTING IS WRONG. YOU ARE A COWARD AND SPINELESS AND A LOSER IF YOU ANON COMMENT. THINK ABOUT FEELINGS AND STUFF, AND OMFG WHAT IF THIS WERE REAL LIFE??? YOU WOULDN'T BACKSTAB SOMEONE OMFG THAT'S SO BAD!
Okay, whatever. NOTE: They say it way better and more intelligently and don't come off as asshole-ish morons, as my little summary was supposed to suggest, but that's the basic gist. Srsly. That's all well and good, but I don't know about the rest of you LADIES, but I gossip like no one's business (except I'm all up in their business, what what). I work with a ton of women, and we backstab and bitch and gossip about everyone else. If we hear someone gossiping, we're like, OMG GOSSIP IS BAD, but then we crowd in and listen and repeat it. So don't give me this shit about thinking about what you'd do in real life. Because in real life, women gossip and connive and talk sekrit shit about one another. Perhaps you've had different experiences. If so, obviously you didn't go to high school or ever, you know, come in contact with a large group of women.
So, that being said (rather bitchily and sweepingly, I know), my real problem with all of this is the idea that anon commenting is cowardly.
The thing is, in order to leave an anon comment, anon comments HAVE TO BE ENABLED. You can't just post and be like, Oh my god, how did this person sneak in here? Boo hoo. You're either posting and allowing comments, or commenting in a post with enabled anon comments and are therefore, in my opinion, agreeing with the boundries set out by the post.
THIS IMPLIES THAT YOU DON'T MIND ANON COMMENTS. And therefore forfeit any perceived right that you have to be pissed off or judgemental about the anonymous commenter. If you don't allow it, it can't happen (here, anyway). And if you allow it, you really shouldn't be calling it cowardly. That's like, enabling cowardlyness and then calling someone out for it.
Here's the analogy that I was beating to death in wendy's journal. Steve is wearing a shirt that says 'You can punch me if you want to.' Steve therefore cannot get mad if someone punches him. Steve's friends can't get mad if Steve gets punched, because he's the one wearing the damn shirt. And Steve's friends CERTAINLY shouldn't gang up and beat the shit out of that person for punching Steve.
Do you see what I'm saying?
Sort of? Maybe? Chicken fries?
The love memes, and the honesty memes, and the hate memes. You sign up, you know what you're getting into. You can't then get pissed off because someone was TOO COWARDLY to tell this shit to your virtual face. Because, again, you ENABLED it. You stated that you were okay with someone being anonymous, with comments being made without being assigned an identity. And everyone knows that for the most part, comments are what validate an lj-er's entire existence. You don't get comments on a fic, you get depressed and moody and delete the post because you think no one likes it (I do, anyway). Etc etc. Even anonymous comments are validating your existence, EVEN the one's that flame you. Because that means you're important enough to warrent a hater, and sympathy from your friends.
*rages around*
There was one scenario brought up, in which for instance I head over to ssstevie's journal and write, anonymously, 'O MY GAWD jelloh0530 IS A GIANT DOUCHE. AAAAAAND SHE'S A PSYCHO. O AND PS I THINK SHE LOOKS FAT IN THOSE JEANS.' That is a shitty, horrible thing to do. Flaming someone on someone else's journal, while that original person (the one being insulted) has nothing to do with it. That's pretty cowardly.
BUT OTHERWISE, anon commenting is fine by me. AS EVIDENCED by the fact that I'm leaving anon comments on here.
And I know I wrote this a being pretty horrible and COMPLETELY ranty, but seriously, if you want to comment, to debate me on it, I will honestly and truly be open-minded about it. I'm not going to send you a virtual face-punch, or delete your comments, or make fun of you in my own random way. And I would like to hear your thoughts. It just doesn't seem that way. I don't mind being convinced I was totally wrong, because then I can stick another giant rant in denouncing anon comments. Hooray!
EDIT: Oh my god, I just sort of read through this thing, and found approx. five billion spelling mistakes. Um, whoops? But whatever, I'm leaving them in because I think they add to the overall impression of craziness and disorder. Oh, and because I'm a lazy fucker.
But, okay, the thing is, I DISAGREE WITH ALMOST EVERYONE OVER THERE. They're all like, OMFG ANON COMMENTING IS WRONG. YOU ARE A COWARD AND SPINELESS AND A LOSER IF YOU ANON COMMENT. THINK ABOUT FEELINGS AND STUFF, AND OMFG WHAT IF THIS WERE REAL LIFE??? YOU WOULDN'T BACKSTAB SOMEONE OMFG THAT'S SO BAD!
Okay, whatever. NOTE: They say it way better and more intelligently and don't come off as asshole-ish morons, as my little summary was supposed to suggest, but that's the basic gist. Srsly. That's all well and good, but I don't know about the rest of you LADIES, but I gossip like no one's business (except I'm all up in their business, what what). I work with a ton of women, and we backstab and bitch and gossip about everyone else. If we hear someone gossiping, we're like, OMG GOSSIP IS BAD, but then we crowd in and listen and repeat it. So don't give me this shit about thinking about what you'd do in real life. Because in real life, women gossip and connive and talk sekrit shit about one another. Perhaps you've had different experiences. If so, obviously you didn't go to high school or ever, you know, come in contact with a large group of women.
So, that being said (rather bitchily and sweepingly, I know), my real problem with all of this is the idea that anon commenting is cowardly.
The thing is, in order to leave an anon comment, anon comments HAVE TO BE ENABLED. You can't just post and be like, Oh my god, how did this person sneak in here? Boo hoo. You're either posting and allowing comments, or commenting in a post with enabled anon comments and are therefore, in my opinion, agreeing with the boundries set out by the post.
THIS IMPLIES THAT YOU DON'T MIND ANON COMMENTS. And therefore forfeit any perceived right that you have to be pissed off or judgemental about the anonymous commenter. If you don't allow it, it can't happen (here, anyway). And if you allow it, you really shouldn't be calling it cowardly. That's like, enabling cowardlyness and then calling someone out for it.
Here's the analogy that I was beating to death in wendy's journal. Steve is wearing a shirt that says 'You can punch me if you want to.' Steve therefore cannot get mad if someone punches him. Steve's friends can't get mad if Steve gets punched, because he's the one wearing the damn shirt. And Steve's friends CERTAINLY shouldn't gang up and beat the shit out of that person for punching Steve.
Do you see what I'm saying?
Sort of? Maybe? Chicken fries?
The love memes, and the honesty memes, and the hate memes. You sign up, you know what you're getting into. You can't then get pissed off because someone was TOO COWARDLY to tell this shit to your virtual face. Because, again, you ENABLED it. You stated that you were okay with someone being anonymous, with comments being made without being assigned an identity. And everyone knows that for the most part, comments are what validate an lj-er's entire existence. You don't get comments on a fic, you get depressed and moody and delete the post because you think no one likes it (I do, anyway). Etc etc. Even anonymous comments are validating your existence, EVEN the one's that flame you. Because that means you're important enough to warrent a hater, and sympathy from your friends.
*rages around*
There was one scenario brought up, in which for instance I head over to ssstevie's journal and write, anonymously, 'O MY GAWD jelloh0530 IS A GIANT DOUCHE. AAAAAAND SHE'S A PSYCHO. O AND PS I THINK SHE LOOKS FAT IN THOSE JEANS.' That is a shitty, horrible thing to do. Flaming someone on someone else's journal, while that original person (the one being insulted) has nothing to do with it. That's pretty cowardly.
BUT OTHERWISE, anon commenting is fine by me. AS EVIDENCED by the fact that I'm leaving anon comments on here.
And I know I wrote this a being pretty horrible and COMPLETELY ranty, but seriously, if you want to comment, to debate me on it, I will honestly and truly be open-minded about it. I'm not going to send you a virtual face-punch, or delete your comments, or make fun of you in my own random way. And I would like to hear your thoughts. It just doesn't seem that way. I don't mind being convinced I was totally wrong, because then I can stick another giant rant in denouncing anon comments. Hooray!
EDIT: Oh my god, I just sort of read through this thing, and found approx. five billion spelling mistakes. Um, whoops? But whatever, I'm leaving them in because I think they add to the overall impression of craziness and disorder. Oh, and because I'm a lazy fucker.