yes, some people have far far too much spare time on their hands, and with it, it appears, some sort of sense of superiority where they feel they can dictate how others should be. we see it with hollywood celebs all the time, and the web has its own celebs. you’ve fallen into this category of a-listers, with all the pros and cons, and unfortunately have had to deal with the cruel side of it.

i do think the saddest thing is how these types of people can force you to change your own life because of them – whether it’s changing what you post yourself, how you live, or how you see others. i know that a lot of the hate mail i’ve received has resulted in me thinking even less of hardcore christians who claim to be all about love, but instead send the most vile, hateful emails. it’s sad that people like this online can wield that sort of power because they can hide and feel “immune” to any repercussions. this is what aggravates me the most. the anonymous cruel people get away with doing and saying whatever they want, while others have to adapt themselves around them. i realise life isn’t fair, but surely there is something more to be done to tip the scales a little on the side of fairness.

obviously, that’s not to say that people offline aren’t just as cruel and nasty, but anonymity online just makes it so much easier for some people.

haha – and yes, you are indeed an a-lister! if it helps, i’ve always thought that! and, while i’m at it, i like the use of “whilst”. if anything, i feel we don’t use it enough. i plan to use it more from now on.

I totally do not mind if people hate me or take issues with things – I generally don’t read my own press good or bad and I don’t give into those who really hate me or really love me. But when this group kept commenting on every blog (RIGHT after every post) and sent dozens of dozens of emails per day and then started hassling people I linked to (like my mum and BFF for no reason!) I had to really change how I was online because I didn’t want to keep getting this really horrible influx of mail.

I stopped posting for months, I had to have security at places, some of my friends stopped posting. It was awful. The group was somehow disbanded, the google cache of all the horrible crap things they said was gone too. Now they post in private forums and take precautions to not get caught, including their emailing and posting to me.

But in the almost 15 years I’ve been online, that was the first time I really became affected and let the hate get to me because it affected my real life so badly. The obsession level with these people is amazing. The amount of time they spend trying to “get me out” is incredible. The fake accounts they set up in Gmail, Twitter and other places like WordPress to mock me or pretend to be me or get at me is unparalleled. The mis-interpretation of information and the hate that goes with it, I have no understanding of.

Because they can be anonymous there is no stopping them. Again, I don’t have a problem with people not liking me – human nature says we’re not going to love everyone – it’s the intensity and the way they show it that’s so freaking weird and scary.

And I don’t write anything controversial anymore! They’re angry over the weirdest things I’ve ever known (they’re always angry over my spelling or use of words. “Whilst” will send them into a panic for days!).

But the thing I hate the most is how much more guarded I’ve become or how I might dismiss a comment because it sounds like I’m being set up by them. I’m slowly getting back but it’s been very, very hard I admit. And even if I apply the excuse “they must have nothing going on in their life”, “they’re jealous,” “they’re crazy” it doesn’t make it any easier to take 100+emails/comments a day that are crazy nasty and then have people find you in real life and leave you crazier notes still.

The only thing nice is these crazy people think I’m an A-Lister blogger No one else has thought that for years!!!