Sometimes Hatemail Is Fun
Your Opinions are All Wrong
One of the things that is rarely talked about in the writing world is hate mail. Sure, there's all sorts of articles and blog entries about how great it is to get glowing reviews and comments, and how absolutely fulfilling that is, but not many people really want to talk about the reverse side of the coin. However if you are a writer of anything and you want to put it online you are going to get some hate mail. It's merely a question of when. It's easy for newbie writers to take these comments personally and be put off but don't be! Hate mail is part of the process and if you write opinion pieces or personal experience expect to get more hate mail than the guy next to you who's writing a bland essay on medieval manuscripts. Sooner or later you will learn that every opinion you have as a human is diabolical and wrong and that you are the reason for society's downfall. Congrats!
In a World Full of Grammar Nazis You're the One Wearing a Pink Triangle
I think the most common negative comments you are going to get are someone whining about your atrocious grammar. Maybe you've mistaken then for than, had the gall to have a couple typos, or decided to maliciously misspell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, damning children reading your article to never knowing the actual spelling. You'll get comments like the one I got for my Overworked Children and their Parents, "You should proofread and spell check your posts before publishing--"opportunities" and "preparing" are blatant mistakes but there are more..." Despite looking I never found more and those were only misspelled once. I'm not excusing my mistakes but they weren't that bad. I'm not saying you shouldn't bother to proofread but I am saying it's almost impossible to get all of the mistakes out of your longer articles and even when you do you might come across someone that thinks you've done something wrong, and from the goodness of their misinformed heart, will try to correct you on some ill-known grammar rule they've obviously gotten mistaken. Take these comments with a grain of salt. They just think that because you've written an article you must be God and when they see a mistake they are personally offended because God's always supposed to be perfect, no? If there is an actual error correct it but make sure the commenter knows what they are talking about and confer with a dictionary or a grammar website first just to make sure. After all, the commenters definitely aren’t God.
You're Not Funny
I know this article is likely to get some bitching. "Your pink triangle reference is offensive and wrong to gay people!" "Well yeah, I could have used a star of David reference but there's way more Jewish people than there are gays to offend." Such sarcasm (as well as the ability to talk to one's self like in the last dialogue) is usually not appreciated by a lot of people. If you are writing anything with a comedic bent, especially if it's satire, people are going to get pissed. Someone out there is going to think you're one twisted fuck and should be skewered alive for one joke or another. Sometimes they don't even understand your article is supposed to be funny. It doesn't matter. Just shake your head in pity for the poor unfortunate souls who don't have a sense of humor.
Don't Dangle a Red Flag in Front of a Bull and Hope for a Good Outcome
Some articles you write will probably be about some touchy issues. Touchy issues get a lot of readers because they're interesting but with that comes a lot of haters. I have written my share of these and to be honest I really thought my Biblical Defenses for Beating Your Children would have gotten a lot more haters, at least I was hoping.. Instead my Teenage Hypocrite's Speech on Teens seems to be getting all the flak, which is sort of horrible because I state at the beginning I was fourteen when I wrote it. Technically all the punks are calling a fourteen year old a self-righteous, stuck-up, little elitist. My fourteen year old self is a little hurt, but my current self is laughing. Sometimes things you don't really expect to be controversial turn out to be like when an actual telemarketer responded to my article Interesting Ways to Make Telemarketers Cry. Other times I brace myself because I know what I'm doing. In my Popes Gone Wild article I fully knew there would be threats of hellfire and damnation and people offering to pray for my poor misguided soul. I love this comment because it's so to the point, "Theophanes, I'm glad you're laughing in this life, because you'll be wailing and gnashing your teeth in the next..."
I Know Where You Live
Of course the most stinging of hateful comments can be thrown by someone you know who happens to be pissed at you and figures dissing your writing is the easiest way to cut you to the quick. Maybe you didn't invite someone to you last party, maybe you gave someone some bad advice, maybe you looked cross-eyed at the cashier yesterday, who knows, either way one of these days you will likely come across someone with a personal vendetta. These are the only comments I tend to delete off my own HubPages for the simple reason that it muddles things, gets off topic, and doesn't do my personal image a hell of a lot of good.
I'm so Letting Your Panties Tie in a Bunch
In the end we should learn to enjoy our hate mail and negative comments. I believe some of mine are downright hilarious because they're just so blatantly wrong. For instance I get a lot of downright bizarre comments on my articles about asexuality. Apparently not only is sexuality taboo and offensive, so is a lack of it. This particular comment posted on The Upside of Asexuality is probably one of the funniest I have ever received, "you're probably just a closeted homosexual who can't accept themselves as such, or are afraid that if you took on a "feminine" role as a gay man and had sex with men, men would use you and cast you aside and trample your feelings because to you that is just a part of male nature." The next two comments are hastily written by the same person, "Sorry, I assumed you were a guy...I think it's because your comments about women seemed to come from such a total lack of understanding that I thought you had to be male to get women so wrongly!" Why thank you! I am happy to know that not only you but several others think I am a complete failure as a woman, some even going so far as to hint I'm a misogynist. It touches my heart, it does. In fact this is why I have a male pen name to begin with... because I had such a penchant for pissing off female readers by denouncing them as somehow less than perfect that I figured I'd just target a male audience and avoid the whole mess, giving myself a masculine moniker. As you can see that didn't really work. In my asexuality series I've been called closed-minded, closeted, miserable, lonely, and even self-centered when I wrote Not Everyone Wants Kids. Yes, it's obviously me who is self centered by not wanting to pop out several unwanted children and raise them as the accidents they are. I am such a bastard for wanting to prevent psychological damage before it's caused, such an inhumane trait. As I said before it doesn't matter what you write, someone is going to take offense and write something nasty. If you're lucky it'll be long and ranting and make no sense whatsoever.
Comments
Theophanes Avery (author) from New England on September 18, 2016:
Thank you so much for the comment letstalkabouteduc! That is a great story! I think we just call that a grammar Nazi now..
McKenna Meyers on May 25, 2015:
I love it! I remember reading years ago that the actress, Katherine Hepburn, would take her fan mail, correct it for spelling and punctuation, and then send it back to her (former) fans. Some people really feel superior when catching those grammar mistakes. There seems to be certain areas that will ALWAYS get Hate -- don't say anything negative about pit bulls unless you prepared to take a lot of abuse! Voted up!
Theophanes Avery (author) from New England on March 27, 2015:
Boston's a tough city full of miserable people. The first time I went there as a child it left such an impression I thought all cities must be filled with miserable angry people who didn't want to be working or out and about! Since growing up I have realized not *all* of Boston is this was but whew... there is certainly a large subset of unhappy people! But I suppose this is true of anywhere.
I am happy to see you didn't take it personally! It is a wonder why people lash out at what they do -- a drawing?? Really?? Well anyway happy Hubbing! And doodling if you're still at that. ;)
SweetiePie from Southern California, USA on March 26, 2015:
I remember years ago some guy told me the drawing I created was the worse thing he saw in his life, and how I had the motor skills of a small child. I will always remember his IP address as from Boston, and I will always laugh a bit, wondering what a bad day he must have had. His comment was funny actually, and did not hurt my feelings at all. It was so absurd, how could I ever take that seriously?
Theophanes Avery (author) from New England on May 29, 2013:
Well Tommy, math was never my strong point. ;) Thank you for commenting though, I do appreciate it!
tom on May 28, 2013:
i agree with what you are saying...except that there are more jews than gays..not even close...we have 7+billion people in the world. one out of every 6-10 people born bi or gay...8 people per sec being born all the time,about one gay every sec. there are about 13 million + jewish bros and sisters in every country including isreal of course...what did they say in the 90's... you do the math..i think it was the 90's..anyway///just keeping you honest..respectfully tommyk
Theophanes Avery (author) from New England on March 21, 2013:
Yes, well answering trolls (and making them look like absolute fools) has become a sport of mine. It all works out in the end.
Laura Brown from Barrie, Ontario, Canada on March 17, 2013:
I was an IRC diva when I was new online. Troll baiting was our sport of choice then.
Theophanes Avery (author) from New England on January 01, 2013:
Indeed! Thank you Shanti!
Shanti Perez from Spokane, Washington, U.S.A. on January 01, 2013:
A toast to hilarity!
Theophanes Avery (author) from New England on April 20, 2012:
No problem, thanks for commenting.
Chris on April 19, 2012:
Well, although I'm no writer, I do appreciate an article that tells people, "Hey, you can't make everyone happy; some people are just haters." So thanks for writing this.
Theophanes Avery (author) from New England on April 16, 2012:
LMAO Chris. Thanks for proving a point. Naw, I fixed those. I am only getting back to this writing thing after a year and a half absence and at times am still a bit rusty. I'll get there, I always do.
Chris on April 16, 2012:
You used whose instead of who's in the first section. It probably should say "... to never knowing the actual spelling." instead of "... to never know" I stopped reading after that but did notice you misspelled panties. Just saying. ;) Nice article though, seriously.
Theophanes Avery (author) from New England on April 16, 2012:
Perhaps someday you will be, I certainly didn't start out that way!
Hayley Richardson from London, UK on April 16, 2012:
Great hub! I wish I could be so blasé about all the stupid on the internet haha.
Theophanes Avery (author) from New England on April 16, 2012:
Glad to hear it! Keep on Hubbin'!
Stclairjack from middle of freekin nowhere,... the sticks on April 16, 2012:
simply wonderful!,... and just the kick in the tookus i needed after having one of my hubs unpublished by the ultimate critics! ha!
