Normal Website

Not a front for a secret organization.
Written by Rob Schultz (human).

If you haven't anything nice to say....

Separate thoughts:

  1. Some websites have a space for users to leave comments on content. This is almost never a genuinely useful feature. Some blogs, maybe your slashdots or your ars technicas, they can attempt to foster a discussion of some kind. This is their purpose, they take the good with the bad, for the sake of community. Your imdbs, your youtubes, those comment sections are part of What's Wrong With the Internet.

  2. Websites that 'take over,' (whether it's by stealing focus, or sneaky pop up triggers, or playing audio unbidden, or redirecting users to a rick astley video) are also What’s Wrong With the Internet. These aren't sites with a well-meant feature gone bad (comments), they're aggressively taunting users, flicking their ears and stealing their erasers.

  3. I've sometimes been good at getting people mad at me without trying. I think this is because I assume things will work out great. Sometimes this occurs while trying to make friends, in events that backfire in spectacular ways.

  4. I listen to more podcasts than I can hope to keep up with, and starting in on new shows from the beginning of their run doesn't help the situation any. I've been burning through one in particular lately, maybe more because of how it sounds than what it says. I don't learn anything, I don't think about it, it's just background chatter.

SO:

Why on earth would I write a message to a stranger and include any kind of negative comments? About anything? What good could result? In what situation does that turn out well?

...and this isn't even the first time a radio host has told me not to listen to his show.