If you have read my recent post The Secret Life of A Wannabe Writer, you’ll know I don’t like criticisms in general, especially the negative ones.  For those of you who have been following me here or on Twitter for a while, you will know that I am generally not shy about sharing my opinions – the phrase “no filter” is often associated with my name.  For the most part, I believe my tweets and opinions are a source of amusement to my friends.  In Twitterverse I am well-known for saying some seemingly random things, a perfect example of this is my discussion on Thursday night about the use of BlackBerrys on White Collar. By chance my OCD-induced picspamming of the use of BlackBerrys on the show caught the eye of the show’s creator Jeff Eastin (ever the night owl and insomniac) and led to a hilarious half hour of insanity that included me declaring chopsticks are a greater invention than sliced bread! 😀 For the record, before you haul me off to the insane asylum, Jeff said our tweets made him laugh 🙂

Example of my random craziness on Twitter

I have heard many people say they see the difference between how they use Facebook and Twitter is that Facebook is for their “real life” friends and Twitter is for their “virtual” friends.  This, in part, is true for me as well, although I have made some friends on Twitter that I would happily and proudly call my “real friends”.  This differentiation is due, in large part, to the fact that unless you choose specifically to protect your Twitter account, whatever you say on Twitter (apart from Direct Messages which can only be viewed by the recipient of those messages) can be seen by anyone who wishes to, regardless of whether they have a Twitter account or not.  Whilst I have nothing against people’s right to free speech, what annoys me is when people feel the need to use that right to become abusive to others by calling them names or using curse words.

Over the past 12 months, I have fallen in love with Twitter and the speed with which I can get a message across.  And this is none more apparent than when I want to ask my favourite writers of White Collar a question or to send them compliments and feedback about their work.  However, whilst I see it as akin to being on speed dial with my writing idols, I have seen others treat their speed dials as a direct line to abuse.  All the writers have personal Twitter accounts that they use to communicate with their friends and to their fans and are not obligated to respond to questions directed there (there are official accounts for the show and the network monitored by other staff).  So when “fans” feel the need to swear at the writers then get angry when they get blocked, it makes me want to give the writers a big group hug.

The word “fan” is short for “fanatic” so I can appreciate there are people who feel strongly enough about their views that they become emotional.  After all, we only ever bother to complain or praise because we care.  However, when the fanaticism becomes personal, then it bothers me A LOT!  My friends and I have been the victim of Twitter abuse in recent times.  Believe me, the “Block User” button comes in very handy on such occasions.  It is unfortunate that people feel that because they are in effect anonymous on Twitter they can be rude and abusive and say things to strangers that they would never dare say in person. The old adage of “if you’ve got nothing nice to say, then say nothing at all” should apply equally in cyberspace as it does face-to-face.

So let us try to keep this in mind. NO HATE! Constructive feedback only!

Much love and big hugs to my favourite writers xox