I don't believe I offer any substantial thoughts regarding philosophical questions. Despite this, I am not asking for mercy, even though that is the only reason why someone would self-deprecate in such a manner. Feel free to rip on me about getting my mediocre website off the Internet.
Then again, if someone really did that, I'd have to run a Protocol Zero and delete my entire Internet presence, because it's a fact shaking a hater-stalker off my back is basically impossible and something I wouldn't help worrying about every time I'd sit on my computer. (Nice wording, this way nobody will know I actually do nothing else all day). Who's to say it hasn't happened to me before? This could well be damage control. It's all damage control. Nobody wants to have some crazy Polish/Turkish/Russian/Ukrainian/American/Peruvian/German NEET/broke-middle-life-crisis/(middle/high)-schooler twink/overweight/obese kid/chomo sociopath(s) following you around.
And remember, if you get kicked off your job (LOL! Job? Who am I kidding),
the cops called on you, your family harassed, and you
suicide
*,
it's your fault for being an actually honest dude with your heart in the
right place.
But then some devil's advocate
will come and say you're being totally
delusional, or that like, you know dude, just roll with it, it's totally fine, right?
Having to cover your butt at all times, lest you get bullied until you're
off the Internet or dead. At best, you'll lose anything you seriously
worked for. At worst, you'll suffer great emotional trauma, having been
psychologically tortured with a lie of codependence you were blackmailed into.
schizo.
Yes,
the Internet is a cruel and horrible place. -- Unknown
Yet, here you are reading this, and I hope you think it's not OK, either. Then, how does one cope with it?
This saying does not mean you won't get anything truly valuable out of the Internet, which you wouldn't get otherwise. If you're reading this, you likely already came a long way learning about technological topics, and it's no doubt the Internet had something to do with your learning to some degree. But it's also highly probable you didn't reach out to anybody to help you doing so, instead utilizing public resources such as wikis and ... books.
So why even have a presence on the Internet in the first place?
Do you just want to, in the most formal sense, research and get help worldwide, likely free of cost? Then you'd be well off idling in IRC (or some other less-reputable service) and having nothing but a disposable handle on a couple of servers; sticking to your plan and not goofing off at all. You won't even need to conceal any personal details. This is, in my opinion, the most responsible way to use the Internet. More on this later.
Or, do you also want to bring something to the Internet? Your very own opinions on topics you deem important? Some software, perhaps? Then you will need to be less frugal. For instance, you'd need to find a website provider; a project host, for version control, maybe even a mailing list. However, things will start to get risky when you put up something to be seriously held liable for. I want to show this example:
A DAW suite called Non was completely sabotaged and stopped being developed due to a group of hostile developers conducting something akin to an Embrace, Expand, Extinguish campaign.
The moment you commit any efforts, any comments, any media, any software... Any content, to the Internet, you are submitting yourself to the possibility of being brutally bullied, colonized, stalked, you name it. So if you want to avoid the trouble, you must avoid saying or doing anything on or for the Internet. Obviously, that gets in the way of a lot of us, who have a sense of conviction and even responsibility, helping out others worldwide as you might have been helped before.
I could keep expanding on that but it would become a rant on political correctness. I don't want to do that. I want the focus here to be, how to avoid being part of an online scandal?. It's simple.
But how do I tell something reasonable from a taunt?If an individual's contribution depends solely on you making a response to them regarding you or the way you run things, it's a taunt; in other words, if you were not to respond, this person would have contributed nothing.
But dude? How am I gonnaIf you do so, you're going right into the danger zone. Don't do anything whimsical. You have been warned.have funwith my Internet friends?
But dude? How am I gonna know what bothers people?
But how am I going to make an epic satire on our society?
With these simple rules, you're safe. If you get involved in the risky art of debate, be a gentleman.
It does. If you're on the Internet just to talk out of your butt, day in, day out, that is totally weak. But if you want to help others, go ahead. It is the ultimate purpose of having a website. In short: Haters gonna hate, just do what has to be done (what's right).
Weak and lame.