Hate emails I get
My blog is not a popular one, and not many people know about this website. So I don’t have much of a reason to complain about hate emails and comments, or even spam.
But I do get some hate emails from time to time, and I notice they are either about song or a movie I “trashed” or about race/interracial relationships.
This is a bit confusing, because I don’t remember trashing many songs, films or novels apart from “Twilight”- and nobody complained about that. Even people who like “Twilight” like Twilight spittings, or at least don’t complain about them.
But I got one angry email concerning my not-so-favorable review of Avatar, and some people complained about my reviews of other movies, albums and novels- even if I stated I liked them. That’s right. An angry Pearl Jam fan, for example, advised me to “get back to Britney Spears” if I “can’t stand Eddie Vedder and his band”, despite the fact a) Pearl Jam is one of my favourite bands b) I like Eddie’s voice, lyrics and songs, c) it’s not really “his” band- it’s disrespectful to call it like that.
Also, some people thought I had problem with Toni Morrison (even though I said she’s one of my favourite authors), or “House M.D.” series (because I “dislike British actors (wtf?!?) or white women/black men interracial relationships”).
Which brings us to another issue: race. Race is often an issue, but the thing is, I don’t write about it. I simply don’t know much about race dynamics or have any experience with it to write about it. I did state my opinions here and there, but I never wrote about it. Yet, there are people who think I’m “siding with the enemy” (whatever that means), who think I should mind my own business, those who dislike my support for interracial relationships (or those who are angry because they think I’m against interracial relationships), and, most often, those who believe nobody should write about racism because it’s a no-issue anymore.
What is interesting about hate mail of this sort is that these people often get my gender and race wrong (which makes any of their arguments pointless), but they also often remind me I should STFU because I have no experience with race relations (well guess what- I don’t blog about it!) So I guess it has a lot to do with my involvement on other blogs that deal with race relations and racism.
What is interesting to note here is that these trolls are different than people you regularly meet online, so I guess they make a small percentage of Internet users. Still, I don’t understand why they bother, or how they (like those who think I’m trashing movies I actually like) always manage to miss the point. Completely.
Another interesting thing about authors of angry mails is that they often use contact form or find my email address without a problem, while my other visitors ignore them and post comments instead. Haters rarely comment (not that I complain), and general visitors don’t use contact form or emails. So I do find that interesting.
Possibly related
29 Aug 10 at 12:38 PM | Diary (Personal), Internet, Site general | 10 comments
Sigg3
I always encourage haters to write these problems down in the comments field instead of e-mailing them to me directly. You know why they don’t? Because they know they don’t have a case.
The only exception to the rule are grandparents, who recognize that their thoughts are spiteful, but will submit them only to the “newsletter’s editor” (e.g. the blogger). These are the same people complaining in your local/national newspaper.
30 Aug 10 at 10:43 AM
Sigg3
Complaining’s just what they do. It’s pastime.
30 Aug 10 at 11:05 AM
Natasha W
Lol!
You, of all people, get hate mail? I’m convinced people have more time on their hands than they think.
Then there are the people that never seem to understand that critically examining a topic doesn’t mean you dislike the people involved with the topic.
30 Aug 10 at 8:09 PM
zekjevets
i have to agree, i can’t see how you’d get hate-mail. 1) your site is hardly google.com, so traffic isn’t that high to be make trolls a likelihood, and 2) you’re not talking about seriously controversial issues. (are you? i mean, dissing a movie is hardly something for random people to get up in arms about.)
in the end, i just ignore the haters because i’m too busy to deal with inflammatory nonsense.
03 Sep 10 at 6:18 AM
Mira
Sigg3,
I don’t have a particular comment policy, so everything except for spam gets published, even if somebody insults me (but not other people- I didn’t have experience with that, though). So I really don’t know why they’re shy to comment. Maybe they think I won’t get their IP address via email/contact form? Wrong!
Natasha,
I don’t get many hate emails. In fact, I get very little, comparing to other people I know with more popular websites. I’d say I got around 10 hate emails since 2007.
So I wasn’t really talking about the quantity here, I was talking about the quality: the types of hate emails are usually about one of the things mentioned in the text and nothing else.
Zek,
It looks like topics discussed don’t have to be controversial (though it always helps). All you need to have a popular website- which I don’t. Still, I did notice I got more hate emails when my site became a bit more popular (in the past 6-8 months).
I understand people are bored, but I don’t understand why they take the time to type a message in the email and contact form but don’t want to share their thoughts in comments. Not that I want/need their opinion, it’s just… They seem shy.
(Unlike real trolls- they are never shy).
03 Sep 10 at 10:39 AM
Natasha W
Even a couple of hate mails is too much, IMO.
I just don’t see what you’re doing to that would raise the blood pressure of someone so much that they feel moved to tell you about it. It’s. just. not. that. serious.
04 Sep 10 at 2:27 AM
Mira
Natasha,
You’d be surprised to learn how many people identify with pop culture. Saying negative things about “their” TV show or band can make them very, very angry.
04 Sep 10 at 2:49 PM
Mariana
Have you ever heard about the expression “Don’t feed the troll”?! You just did it. You fed the troll with this post. LOL
Trolls usually don’t have a reason to annoy, they just like to annoy. They don’t make sense, they don’t have arguments they are just stupid haters. There’s another kind of troll, the lovers of something. You’ve been spitting (in a very articulate way, btw) something full of lovers which normally are stupid people: Twilight. If Twilight doesn’t make sense, why would their fans make any?!
Oh! Tell them to go to hell!
06 Sep 10 at 2:35 PM
Mira
The thing is, they are not trolls. It’s easy to deal with them. These are shy individuals who like to complain but refuse to share their rants with others. Which is unfair, isn’t it?
Plus, nobody sent me hate mails concerning Twilight. I guess even fans know how silly the whole “saga” is.
10 Sep 10 at 5:24 PM
Y
I set up an email address specificaally for this blog but I have yet to publish it for exactly this reason. If I have a hater I dont want them to spam my inbox with complete BS.
If they want to insult me they can do it in the comments section.
11 Sep 10 at 8:45 PM