I had an internet moment the other day, one fueled in part by social media. (No, there were no inappropriate pictures involved.) Irritated by seeing a soap storyline being recycled ad infinitum, I posted a rant on my blog calling out a certain soap writer as having some culpability.
I got some comments, felt better for getting the rant out, and went about my business.
Until a couple of days later, when I got word that the soap writer in question had found a link to the blog post on a Facebook page dedicated to her former soap, read the post, and commented on Facebook about it. (She then deleted her comment.)
I immediately went through the Four Stages of Internet Embarrassment:
1. Shock. When I wrote the post, it wasn't with the intention of having said writer read it. I thought of it more as a way to blow off steam with other fans. To find out she'd read it, well, I was stunned.
2. Denial. I then slid into "No way!" territory. Was it the real writer? Or possibly someone impersonating her?
3. Mortification. I then went back and re-read the post, hoping against hope that I hadn't said anything truly offensive about her. No, I was actually quite professional and appropriate, thank goodness!
4. Acceptance. I'm now firmly in the final stage, acceptance. It happened, I survived, no harm, no foul. My take away reminder? The internet is a big, wide-open space, and what you write can get back to the people it's written about. So be sure that what you say is what you'd be fine having them read!
Have you ever had an internet moment?
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8 comments:
Falls under what mom would say " if you can't say something nice don't say it at all" cause you will get caught on the Internet these days :)
It's a real dilemma sometimes. You read something (or I do anyway) that makes you really mad and you want to comment and then you remember all the people out there who might take it the wrong way. Fortunately, I procrastinate so much that I usually miss my opportunity.
I don't have a blog to post my rants. I avoid posting anything other than contests or birthday greetings on Facebook. But I am friends to many authors and author groups. I know that someday my posting on author sites might come back and bite me. But, if someone doesn't like who I follow or what books I read, well that's their problem. And yes, I had one "friend" on Facebook actually looked at my other friends and questioned how many authors I follow and the types of books they write. Can you imagine taking the time to do that? I'm too busy to bother :) Sorry your rant got some negative notice. It makes feel so bad inside when something like that happens.
Kind of reminds me of the scene close to the end of Under a Tuscan Sun (the movie, not the extremely different, although also very fascinating book) when a young author shows up at Frances' house and tells her she reviewed his book and she cringes and asks tentatively, "Did I like it?"
Sometimes (like in this case, perhaps) the truth hurts. But, hey, it's not like she didn't already know that people were unhappy with some of the decisions she made. I figure you did her a service.
I always try to be very careful even in ranting - because, as illustrated, you never know who's reading them. And I'm determined never to end up on an "authors behaving badly" list. :) So my post, while impassioned, was focused on the storyline and how I disliked it, rather than the writers responsible.
And the response wasn't so much negative as unexpected. Apparently the writer in question wanted to correct one factual error in the post (which had nothing to do with the topic, actually), but decided to let it go.
Still, it was a good reminder to use caution on the interwebs! :)
I usually try to keep my online ranting reletively generic. I'm sure I don't always succeed, but I do try. There are times, though, when the urge to call someone out is very, very hard to resist. ::thinking of a completely different tv writer who could genuinely use a bitch-slapping for utter laziness:: I try to use the model of "if I would say it to someone's face, then I can say it online." That has stopped me more than once, but not every time, because (let's face it) I'm opinionated and loud.
Oh, Lordy, that's one of my worst fears. I'm going to bookmark this blog so that, if I ever catch myself in this situation, I can run back here and rush myself through to acceptance. :)
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