Today is Fark Saturday.
I thought the hate mail I received and published Thursday was good stuff. Picture economic holistic justice inferior minister Ioana Stoica and multiply by that by 1000. Ok, maybe not 1000…maybe double. Still, that is a lot.
I had to ban several people from my frequent Washington Times Communities column because they kept uttering profanity and crude responses that were as irrelevant as they were badly spelled.
So instead they went “underground” and had a b*tch session where they complained about me.
After reading their comments, am I mad?
No. I think it’s hilarious. They ripped me pretty good. Their main joke seemed to be that the photo of me on my page has my mouth open. I was in the middle of giving a speech. They decided that meant I was homosexual and that my mouth was open so male genitalia could be inserted.
Look, these are liberals. This is how they behave. If that makes them happy to go Perez Hilton on my picture, fine by me.
Most of them began desperately searching online for anything they could about me to attack. Several of them found quotes from another Erik who spells his name with a “k” and not a “c.” This Erik is a systems analyst. I know nothing about him, and regret that he is being attacked by people who think he is me. Of course if he gets money from people who love the article, he really should send it to me.
These people have never met me, with the exception of one guy. The gist of his comment, and I am paraphrasing was “sat next to him in first class…inferred he did conservative comedy…seems like a standard talking head…he’s not gay, he was on his cell talking to his girlfriend…nice guy…wasn’t impressed.”
I have no idea which flight it was, but he revealed a couple secrets about me that I guess are supposed to be a source of shame. The truth is upon us all. I have now been “outed.”
1) I often fly first class..2) I’m heterosexual.
Fine. You caught me.
(I wish I knew which flight it was, not so I could remember the commenter, but which girl I was seeing. I fly a lot and date a lot, first class in both cases. Love me them Republican Jewish brunettes.)
So the question then becomes why I would make a big deal about comments on my site but have zero objections to another site ripping me to pieces.
The answer is very simple.
My columns are my responsibility.
Commenters tend to overestimate their own importance to the point that they become insufferable. Most people who read columns never comment. The commenters are the loudest, but the silent majority read without comment.
Measuring comments is not an accurate metric of traffic. Measuring overall page views and visitors is a better metric.
I say this because I could write a column with zero comments and another with 200, and my traffic is the same.
This is not to put down commenters. It’s just that they are a pleasant addition, not the sole reason the column existed. The chicken-egg dispute does not exist here. First came my blog and then the commenters.
I have a responsibility to my readers, whether they comment or not. They don’t want profanity and crudity. I know this because I speak all around the country, and the people tell me what they like and dislike. I listen to my audience.
(They claim they do not want sexual humor, but blog traffic spikes in direct correlation with the occasional sexually charged column proves otherwise.)
Also, most commenters who write usually disagree with the writer because that is what gets their buttons pushed. People are less apt to write an author they agree with except to maybe say they agree.
By banning those who do not conform to the rules I set out and “forcing them underground” as one said to me, everybody wins. I get to keep the erudite, serious commenters who provide value and intellect. The lower class who want to discuss bodily functions and other cursewords have a playground to play in, get filthy, and revel in their filth.
This is democracy at its finest.
They have zero control over how I run my site and I have no control over how Fark runs its site.
At last count there were 260 comments dedicated to pretty much ridiculing me. The thread was then closed for comments. Oh well.
I was hoping they would hit 26,000, but I am not that cool yet.
On my site the puppies will continue to get housebroken.
Outside of my domain, I say let freedom, no matter how tasteless, ring loud and proud.
Let the dogs bark! Long live the Fark.
eric