TURDS

The Toronto Comic Art Fair was really something special. So much quality work and wonderful people, old pal peers and heroes and new pals. It spurs me on to keep on creating and to deepen that creative focus....

Okay.

Too many turds in the blog pool lately. Had to change my comment settings. I am just too sensitive. I even got on the defense to someone who I thought was pseudonymous but probably wasn't. My back was up.
This is a common problem in blogland. I am so used to zining (Grampa Blog) or writing a newspaper column where some anonymous/pseudonymous commenter can't come on and be all mean and nasty without any responsibility or explanation whatsoever(no name to back it up). No, one actually had to post a letter! (and I did get some amusing and creative hate mail in those days)
I've been told by Hal Niedzviecki, who wrote The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors, that studies have been done on these anonymous and pseudonymous commenters which show that they really are at an emotional disconnect. Due to the technology that they are using they feel a distance, they don't think that they'll be hurting anyone's feelings. It ain't the case. I was talking to ______ (someone-ahem- famous) who was actually upset at something mean that someone wrote about them on a blog. See,it gets out there and it does have an emotional effect on people. So glad that all those catty reviews I wrote in my early 20s for a weekly are just flotsam drifting away now....
I love blogging, I love this aspect of communication and having discourse. I can get pretty personal and honest. I know folks can relate, most everyone goes through stuff. And it's been quite the year. My skin gets thicker but it may still be too thin. But I may have to ease up even more on exposing my inner dialogue because of said turds. No more confessionals? I know that these are sick (who isn't?) and cowardly people- not even standing behind what they say with their true names- but I may have to be more careful.