the trolls are out

yikes, there was a post in the nytimes podcast club, asking for what annoys people about podcasts. i said many podcasters' pronunciation of qatar as "cutter" drove me crazy. it created a whole lot of discussion and much more outrage and trollishness that i would ever have imagined. one girl got a little bit unhinged and accused me of being pretentious and pseudo intellectual. um, what? i was just answering the question. the internet is awful.

i hadn't encountered such stridency in the nytimes podcast club before this.  i think it's an interesting example of the times in which we live and the increasing absence of it being ok to disagree. and also, of citing a random internet site as authority. i think i'll ask helen zolzmann of the allusionist what she thinks.

* * *

apropos people who disappoint,

advice on how to find joy.

we could all use that.

* * *

sam sifton (the sublime nytimes cooking writer)

recommended this. 

i trust his advice.

dinosaurs will be trolls

hmm, i've been blogging for nearly ten years (tho' there were periods of dormancy), and i've been blissfully fortunate not to have any serious encounters with online trolls. perhaps the limited reach highly awesome, select audience of my blog is the main reason. but whatever it is, i feel fortunate. especially after quite a shockingly trollish series of messages from a fan of my favorite plastic bricks via facebook. yikes! trolls are no fun. (i do realize i've used a photo of a dinosaur, so my metaphor is a bit clouded, but it's what i had at hand.)

at the same time, it was an oddly fascinating experience. this individual made a whole lot of crazy assumptions which he threw my way and then, despite my polite tone, in which i actually thanked him for giving me insight that was useful for my work, he blocked me. hmm. i wonder how that works? but however it works, i'm actually good with it, tho' a little bit of me wishes i'd have thought to block him first.

oh well, trolls will be trolls and dinosaurs will be dinosaurs and the odd dinosaur will probably even be a troll. and it's no good losing sleep over it. it really was a valuable insight into a certain type of fan and for that, i'm strangely grateful.