“Stop spamming your blog faggot” ....Reddit and I

It was only about six months ago I came across Reddit.   Yes, I had visited the site upon hearing of it earlier, and even created an account.   But when one is neck deep in factory meetings in China, one does not think of Reddit. 

Still, once I finally got around to more than a perfunctory glance at the site, I was for a brief time addicted.  I admit as much.  It was for several weeks the first thing I did in the morning, along with my coffee.  Browse.  Not knowing what I was browsing for.  Not fully understanding what lay in front of me.

Eventually, a light went off in my head, and I realized Reddit was something for everyone.  Including me.  Sure enough I soon found a forum on China.  

http://www.reddit.com/r/China

Wow!

I could not believe the wealth and breadth of discussion that existed on this subreddit.  Some folks with innocent questions (“Is Guangzhou safe to visit”?)

But mostly people linking articles to the site.   More often than not “companies” with throwaway accounts linking their own work.   As such, I decided to use Reddit as a way to publicize my posts.   I wanted to stimulate discussion.   I thought it would be “cool”.   I wanted to hear what people thought.

Boy was I wrong.

Upon linking some of my posts to Reddit these are some of the immediate replies I got.

“Jesus fucking Christ, another boring story about 'hellos', teachers, chopsticks and Japan. Plus it's a spam for yet another one of thousands of blogs about China”

It didn’t stop there…..

“Holy fucking ….. stop spamming your shit fucking blog everywhere. Nobody wants to read some twat FOB musings….. Your blog sucks and you're a massive faggot for spamming it in every comment thread.”

For one particular post…

(http://mychinakanfa.blogspot.com/2013/12/last-rant-of-year.html)

“THANKS FOR THE LENGTHY SCREED YOU DAMN COMMIE.”

“Aww does your but hurt.mabey if you had more than some random blog to prove your point I would take you seriously.right now I just see you as a sha gua.’

Btw, for those of you that do not speak Chinese, “sha gua”, means stupid.

Sometimes the comments I would get would be simply….well, read for yourself:

“Lol, hilarious how clueless this "American" is. Just another foreigner wannabe piggybacking on America. Definitely not an American, I can tell you that.”

(WTF?? )

I need to admit I was rather shellshocked to be getting such blunt feedback.  Yes, these are outliers, still I was all the same simply taken aback by the ruthlessness of these comments.

I did get some kinder feedback….

“Very good article about the deficient aspects of chinese culture and mother in laws”

(Writing about the “deficient” aspects of Chinese culture isn’t the point of my blog, but I’ll take anything positive that comes along, all the damn same.)

“ps your blog is very helpful! :D”

Again, make no mistake….as for the negativity I received, it didn’t happen very often.  Insults usually came from negative people in general.   One of the above posters I did a search on, and after I read most of his other comments to other posters, I realized he pretty much didn’t like anyone.  Still, I was quite unprepared for the vitriolic reaction I received.      As for the overall nature of the “haters”, my takeaway was that from having no or little cultural curiosity, their first instinct was not to learn, but to bash others for “violating” rules. 

Rules?

Yes, rules.  As I now am so wearily aware…..Reddit has “etiquette” standards.  (am I wrong?)

Though people are publicizing their own articles with fictitious company accounts or 3^rd party accounts, one cannot directly himself publicize his own blog.  And if you do, you are scum.  Well, with all the stuff on reddit, it seems a bit strange a blog isn’t welcome.   It would seem the perfect place to put a blog on China would be in the China subred….no? 

Apparently, the verbal acid of a few drown out the 99% that don’t give a damn. 

But back to the insults…. the favorite put down/insult I’ve received from Reddit is….

“Stop spamming your blog faggot” 

Simple but to the point.

Now…it had been awhile since someone had called me a “faggot”.   (Maybe it was during an intramural football game when I was in college.)

But it at least gave me a clue as to who all the haters were. 

I looked this fellow up.  Sure enough, it turned out to be some punkass kid at the University of Georgia.  I got called a “fag” by some college student.   Mocked by a kid who has never had a mortgage.   Some kid that still probably borrows money from his mommy.   

“So this is what it has come to, “ I said to myself.  

I realized yet again the power of the internet:

When talking about his favorite subject(China), a guy with over 20 years of experience in China, including nearly that much on the ground can get just as easily dissed as anyone else. 

Mocked.   Ridiculed.   

(As I’ve noted before, the power of the internet is indeed the great equalizer).

A follower of the China subreddit,  I doubt he’s even been to China, but I’m positive  I’ve forgotten more about China than that punkass bitch will ever learn about the place.  

Finally, in vain, I had a conversation with a moderator.  (Is this a paid job?) His response:

“You gotta stop posting your blog, you linked to your blog 3 out of the last 4 posts you made, we don't allow blog spam. You haven't said anything too outlandish so we're not banning you right now but like, really dude, don't post your blog. Thanks.”

Banning?

People get banned from Reddit?   

And how is that enforced?   Can’t I just create another account?  (Yeah, I think I could.  Than what?)

In a follow up he continued:

“Your blog is generally not that well-received in terms of upvotes, so the users here obviously don't particularly care for it”

(When I followed up later, I’d notice that my posts were deleted.  Wow! )

The last comment isn’t true at all.  Though I haven’t blogged, (or attempted to) in quite awhile, attention is the truest form of flattery, and I still have Redditers visiting my site all the time.....from the blog posts I published.

Moderator continues:

Links to articles, sure, but if someone keeps linking to articles they wrote themselves, instead of someone else's article, then it looks like they're just linking it because they wrote it, not because it's an exemplarily interesting article or something. If your blog is good enough, other people will link to it.

Now, readers have taken my posts and put them up on Reddit.   Good or bad, to make fun of me, or to share a good post, either way it’s fine by me(just don’t call me a faggot pls), but he ignored the fact that people promote their own work on Reddit everyday.  They just use other accounts and write in the 3^rd person.  Sometimes it’s blatantly obvious.  I didn’t think I’d have to go through all the “mystery” to get my stuff read.  Further, instead of just putting a link to my work, all I would need to do is simply paste the post…..without a link. And guess what?   I’d be in the “clear”.

My mistake was that I didn’t do that.  My mistake was basically saying “hey this is me, and this is my blog”.      

So the punk ass bitch that called me a faggit(faggot?)….well…I’ve thought plenty of times maybe I should just create a third party account and directly forward all my posts to him….

(Or I’ll just create lots of 3^rd party accounts and forward every single post I have to Reddit….)

Something akin to:

“Check out Fontenot’s newest post!  He’s so perceptive!”

Than one day on reddit, by accident, I came across another subreddit….

 /r/chinacirclejerk…

Another eye opener.  This subreddit was different from the China link I posted above.  This is a subred moderated by people that actually live in China.  I read a thread in this subred that actually called those in the actual China subred  listed above“sofa China experts”….(that’s too big a statement to make….I’ll let someone else be the judge)

This subred was harsh, crude and vulgar.  It wasn’t always funny, and had little intellectual stimulation.  (Was I wrong to expect any?)  But at least they didn’t try and run me out of town.  (And no one ever called me a faggot).   I keep saying “was”, because this subred has been banned, and no longer exists. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I dig reddit and as I continue to explore the site I am still amazed as to what is available online.   But as someone who tries to live a half serious life, I think the haters of me posting  on reddit need to try and live half a life, too.   

I agree sometimes we need to hold certain rules dear.

“Don’t kill anyone.”

“Don’t have an affair with your best friend’s wife”.

“Don’t piss off a cop”.(at least in my country…if you still believe I’m American that is)

“Don’t post your blog on Reddit…….er….no, wait, I think we can skip that one”

Maybe a few of you will say something like “tough shit, read the rules dumbass”.

And maybe if you do I will reply with something like grow the fuck up and focus on something a bit more important than my posts violating your Idea of the Perfect Order, like maybe your next performance review….kid.    

(Oh, yeah….and stop borrowing money from your parents.)

So Reddit you’ve succeeded.   I won’t be posting any more posts on your site anytime soon.  Create my own “blogging” subred you say?   And be alone?  Not for me.  I’ll just keep bloggin’ on my own site.   After all, Redditors  know where to find me.   And unlike Reddit, I won’t be banning or deleting anyone that comments on my site.

Or calling them a faggot.