I have found a new inspiration to post a bit more here. Heck, it has only been six months since my last post, it is not like it has been half a year or something.
And that right there... that right there is where the anonymous keyboard warriors attack.
Six months and half a year are the same thing, but those anonymous keyboard warriors would be very quick to point out how dumb I am for not knowing the difference.
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I launched this humble little blog five years ago, and I have had almost 95,000 people visit. I think that is awesome, but it has come with a price.
You see, the difficult thing about blogging, or finding the motivation to continue posting, is this: There are people out there who delight in insulting others anonymously. As usual, this is the pond scum who cannot differentiate between sarcasm, irony, cynicism and satire.
Fourteen months ago, I posted about an expedition in the South Pacific to find Amelia Earhart's long lost plane. The post was part genuine curiosity, and part sarcasm. I found something on Google maps that looked interesting and suggested I had discovered her plane (all by myself!!) on Nikumaroro Island, where the Taraia Object can be found.
The object I found was a shipwreck, which is well documented. I knew that. Unfortunately, this was ill received by the simpleton crowd.
Anonymous keyboard warriors, having no idea who I am and clueless to my sense of humor, attacked me like you wouldn't believe.
Among the less insulting comments were, "How dumb." "Do your research" (I love that one). "Your an idiot" (that would be "YOU'RE an idiot," you jeenyus -- and yes, I intentionally misspelled genius, just in case you are wondering and are sitting at your keyboard ready to attack).
In 2021, I turned on the comments here for anyone, including folks who wanted to remain anonymous. I enjoyed the feedback. I liked exchanging ideas with people. I liked creative criticism. But that was a mistake. Something has changed over the years.
Why have people become so fucking vicious to others? Why do people type things that they would never dream of saying to you face to face? Have we always been this awful as human beings? Is the lack of accountability hiding behind a keyboard given us this "courage" to be bad people assholes? Do we feel better about ourselves belittling others?
Indeed, something happened. And I know what it is. It isn't a mystery. But I will keep that to myself.
It is especially hilarious when something is written tongue-in-cheek and it flies like a fragile bluebird over the heads of those who are intelligence-starved.
Don't get me wrong, because deep inside I know the vast majority of people are good. I see it everyday at my workplace. But there is an old saying that goes, "One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel."
Anyway, after weathering so many negative comments, I thought about just closing this site. Why would I open myself up to that kind of abuse?
But giving up is not in my DNA. I swing back.
I am going to continue to write what I feel like writing and I am going to write more frequently. If I post something that pisses somebody off, then I am doing something right. Like they say, if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.
This site is still open to all public search engines and open for the public to read; however, if you want to leave a hurtful comment, you now have to be a member of this blog. If you want to call me "a fucking loser," you can't hide behind your keyboard anymore. You will be required to identify yourself so we can have a little discourse.
And if you look at my occupation on my profile, I am not an interpretive dancer. That's called humor. It is also called irony, because I am a white middle-aged male and I can't dance.