Every age spawns its specific, new kind
Of problematic character; we find
No cybercriminals in Ancient Greece
Nor will we fear a witch might curse our niece
So, what fresh sort of villain have we made?
A host of them, of course—what a parade!
But trouble here comes from one, minor type:
The generator of suspicious hype
Some commenters will flatter you for fun
Others will believe they will make a tonne;
A great many are kind, and still sincere
They'll tell you what works and what doesn't, dear
It’s that kind of thing we need around here
About the Creator
D. J. Reddall
I write because my time is limited and my imagination is not.
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A Love Forboding
The chipped stone slope caused unbearable footing. I slid, skirting on my heels. I cast my shield, relinquishing my guard to stay upright. Left with my double-edge and a prayer to the maker, I skated toward my objective. The earthly stubble gave way to solid ground. I found myself restored, a trail of dust in my wake.
By James U. Rizzi6 days ago in Fiction
Comments (3)
It’s such a conundrum. I had a man on this platform develop an obsession with me that made me feel uncomfortable. These parasocial relationships formed with strangers triggered my experiences with sexual assault—especially since no matter how many times I asked or demanded that he stop commenting, he continued to do it, passionately. It was like he got off on violating my boundaries. Vocal refused to do anything about it because he’s a top commenter, and they push us hard to comment. I wrote a piece exposing my history and how much distress this was causing me, thinking surely if this was a community they’d want all members to feel safe. The backlash I got from other women reminded me even more of my sexual assaults, and how I was punished for speaking up. I don’t think there can ever be a safe space online. There’s barely any safe spaces offline. Keeping my comments turned off is the best I can do to protect myself. It’s so unfortunate, because I miss the conversations my work used to inspire. Conversations are vital for the expansion of humanity.
I believe that there's always a nice way to say things. Loved your poem!
Mmm, a commentary on comments? Interesting. I often wonder about this myself.