As most of you know, I deactivated my Twitter account earlier this month. It had been a long time coming, for a whole host of reasons, but Twitter’s decision to be the only social network that gives Alex Jones a platform to spew hate, hurt innocent people, and incite violence was the final straw for me. But I haven’t regretted leaving for even one second. Having that endless stream of hate and anger and negativity in my pocket wasn’t good for me (and I don’t think it’s good for anyone, to be honest).
I was on Twitter from just about the very beginning. I think I’m in the first couple thousand accounts. I remember when it was a smallish group of people who wanted to have fun, make jokes, share information and tips on stuff that was interesting, and oh so many pictures of our pets. It was awesome.
It started to get toxic slowly at first, then all at once, starting with the misogynist dipshits who were behing the gate-which-shall-not-be-named. That was clearly a turning point for Twitter, and it never really recovered from it. I watched, in real time, as the site I loved turned into a right wing talk radio shouting match that made YouTube comments and CSPAN call-ins seem scholarly. We tried for a couple of years to fight back, to encourage Twitter to take a stand against bad actors (HA HA LIKE ME BECAUSE I AM A BAD ACTOR RIGHT YOU GOT ME HA HA HA). Twitter doesn’t care about how its users are affected by themselves, though. Twitter cares about growth and staying on the good side of President Shitler’s tantrums.
I mean, honestly, the most lucid and concise indictment I can give Twitter is: it’s the service that Donald Trump uses to communicate with and incite his cultists.
Anyway, enough about how terrible Twitter is. We all know how terrible it is. That’s never going to change, by the way.I know some very good people who are working on making Twitter better, but I honestly don’t think they can overcome the institutional inertia that has allowed it to get to the point its at now. It may get incrementally better, but the fundamental problem of random, mostly-anonymous people being terrible isn’t going to change, because that’s not a Twitter problem. That’s a humanity — and specifically a social media — problem.
I thought that if I left Twitter, I could find a new social network that would give it some competition (Twitter’s monopoly on the social space is a big reason it can ignore people who are abused and harassed, while punishing people for reporting their attackers), so I fired up this account I made at Mastodon a long time ago.
I thought I’d find something different. I thought I’d find a smaller community that was more like Twitter was way back in 2008 or 2009. Cat pictures! Jokes! Links to interesting things that we found in the backwaters of the internet! Interaction with friends we just haven’t met, yet! What I found was … not that.
I found a harsh reality that I’m still trying to process: thousands of people who don’t know me, who have never interacted with me, who internalized a series of lies about me, who were never willing to give me a chance. I was harassed from the minute I made my account, and though I expected the “shut up wesley”s and “go fuck yourself”s to taper off after a day or so, it never did. And even though I never broke any rules on the server I joined (Mastodon is individual “instances” which is like a server, which connects to the “federated timeline”, which is what all the other servers are), one of its admins told me they were suspending my account, because they got 60 (!) reports overnight about my account, and they didn’t want to deal with the drama.
I respect and support that person’s decision, because it’s a private server and it’s run with their time, energy, attention, and (presumably) money. I don’t agree with it at all, and I think it’s deeply unfair, as well as rewarding abuse of a reporting system that’s meant to protect users, but it’s their site and it’s their rules, and I can’t say I blame them. The people going after me were pretty awful, and I can only imagine that an admin would get fed up with them, too.
I want to share the message I posted there when I left (Twitter is called ‘birdsite’ on Mastodon):
I have been notified by an Admin here that they are getting 60 reports a day about my account. As far as I can tell, I’m not breaking any rules, and I’ve done my best to be a good person here. But this admin is going to suspend my account.
It’s the Admin’s instance, so I fully support their choice to eliminate a source of frustration, but something to consider: a person who is doing nothing wrong can be run off one instance by a mob from another instance. That seems … not cool. 1/x
But it’s been made very, very clear to me that I am not welcome in the Fediverse, and I hear you. I hoped to find an alternative to the birdsite where I could find the same fun community that existed over there in the beginning, and it’s clear to me that I won’t be finding that. Before I leave, I want to just make something very clear, because I’ve spent most of my life being yelled at by people who don’t know me at all, and I want the record to be clear. 2/x
During GamerGate, I was dogpiled and mobbed and brigaded and attacked by thousands of accounts. I started using a blocklist that was supposed to help stop that. I did not know that the blocklist I signed up for also had a lot of trans women on it. When I found out, I did everything I could to remove those women from the list I shared. When there were still innocents on the list, I stopped sharing the list entirely. Despite this, a mob has decided that I’m anti-trans. 3/x
This lie that I am anti-trans, or anti-LGBQ, is deeply hurtful to me (I know it’s nothing like the pain LGBTQ people deal with every day, as they simply try to *exist* in a world that treats them so badly, but it is still hurtful in its own way to me). I just want to make it extremely clear: that is a lie, and the people spreading it are misinformed.
So I’m leaving the Fediverse, which has treated me with more cruelty, vitriol, hatred, and contempt than than anyone on the birdsite ever did. 4/x
Anyway, take your victory lap and collect your prizes. You’ve made it clear that I’m not welcome here, and even though I disagree with the action this Admin is taking (banning me when I didn’t break any rules doesn’t seem right), I respect and support the Admin’s decision to run their instance the way they see fit.
Please do your very best to be kind to each other. The world is a terrible place right now, and that’s largely because it is what we make it.
Bye.
6/end
This isn’t limited to Mastodon.cloud (the worst attacks and dogpiling came from a few other instances before the instance I was on became awful) and it isn’t limited to Twitter.com. I see this in the online space all the time now: mobs of people, acting in bad faith, can make people they don’t know and will likely never meet miserable, or even try to ruin their lives and careers (look at what they did to James Gunn). And those mobs’ bad behaviors are continually rewarded, because it’s honestly easier to just give them what they want. We are ceding the social space to bad people, because they have the most time, the least morals and ethics, and are skilled at relentlessly attacking and harassing their targets. It only takes few seconds for one person to type “fuck off” and hit send. That person probably doesn’t care and doesn’t think about how their one grain of sand quickly becomes a dune, with another person buried beneath it. That’s a huge problem that seems to be baked into social media, and I tried to mitigate it with a blocklist that I never intended to be problematic, but ultimately was. (And for what it’s worth, the part of me that wants to apologize to the people who ended up on it by mistake is overwhelmed by the part of me who was attacked really viciously by a lot of those people and feels like maybe blocking them wasn’t such a bad idea, after all.)
At the end of the day, I’m lucky and privileged as fuck. I can sign off from a website (or multiple websites), and go live my life with my amazing family and our dogs. I’m not a marginalized person who has to fight every moment of every day, just to live my life. So I’m keeping that in mind and keeping that perspective in my heart. Yes, the accusations and the big lie that took hold in remarkably short time about me is hurtful. Yes, it’s upsetting to know that there are a lot of people out there who have decided to take time out of their lives to actively hate me, without knowing anything about me other than a story they were told by someone else who doesn’t know me. But I can sign off and get away from it, so I will. And I will be grateful that I can.
Buuuuuuuuuut … I’m done with social media. Maybe I just don’t fit into whatever the social media world is. I mean, the people who are all over the various Mastodon instances made it really clear that I wasn’t welcome there (with a handful of notable, joyful, exceptions, mostly related to my first baby steps into painting), and it seems as if I was just unwelcome because … I’m me? I guess? Like, I know that I’m not a transphobe, but holy shit that lie just won’t die, and right now as I am writing this, someone at Mastodon is telling me that I am, because people said so, and I should apologize to them. I mean, how am I supposed to respond to that, when it happens over and over and over again? “You’ve been lied to about me. Please give me a chance” just doesn’t seem like a viable way forward with people who are, for whatever reason, very, very angry. And these people seem to have an idea of me in their head that doesn’t fit with the idea of myself that I have in my head. It’s honestly caused me to rethink a lot of stuff. Like, am I really the terrible person they say I am? I don’t think I am, but I’m doing my best to listen, and when I say, “please stop yelling at me and let’s have a conversation that I can grow from” I get yelled at for “tone policing” and honestly I just get exhausted and throw up my hands. Maybe I’m not this person they tell me I am, but I represent that person in their heads, and they treat me accordingly? This is one of those times when my mental illness makes it very hard for me to know what’s objective reality and what’s just in my head.
But I don’t deserve to be treated so terribly by so many random people, so I’m not going to put myself in a place where I am subjected to it all day long. As the saying goes, I’m too old for this shit. What we used to call microblogging isn’t worth the headache for me. I’m gonna focus my time and my energy on the things that I love, that make me happy, that support my family.
Please do your best to be kind, and make an effort to make the world less terrible. Thanks for listening.
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Wil, so sorry to hear about all this. It’s like a “damned if you do and damned if you don’t ” type of situation, and it is very unfortunate. I really appreciate the things you share, and hope you will continue on this blog at least. YOU have value and I really like you and your opinions. Do what you need to do to be happy and stay sane, and surround yourself with supporters and people who care. Big hugs too, many of them.
Awww Will …you’re one of my favorite people online. I hope you don’t cut yourself entirely off…but that’s solely for my benefit.
Godspeed brother. Enjoy life. See you at randomcon.
I am upset that so many feel it’s ok to be so mean. They profess love and kindness as they call me jerk, shithead and other names. It’s ok to disagree just be nice about it. Debate is good, healthy name calling is not.
This is not an original observation, but I think Trump has made things so much worse. With him, through him, largely because of him, it’s okay to spew toxic rage, to name-call and insult anyone and everyone.
Will we turn the vast ship of American society towards kinder waters? I don’t know. I hope so.
And I hope you keep contributing to and participating in that society, Wil.
I’ve been on a smallish instance on Mastodon for almost a year now, but after what happened to you these past few days I’m trying to decide if I just delete and move away too.
I’m so so sorry for what you experienced. I wish people started from a place of kindness or at least neutral impartiality online. What does it cost any of us to at least do that?
Wil, I mostly know you through you tumblr and twitter and this blog. I’m sorry you have to go, and I wish you better more creative outlets. I appreciate what you’ve done and shared here and there. Be well and enjoy your family and you life,
I’m trans and I’m horrified by what I saw take place on Mastodon to you. I am horrified by the ridiculous logic people are using to spread the lie that you’re a transphobe. And I’m horrified by what this means for us who are not cisgender heterosexual dudes.
Mastodon still seems like it has potential, but it still only has just that: potential. It needs to grow up to use the tools it has to enforce folks to stop being jerk wads abusing and harassing the shit out of folks. Admins need to step up and start taking serious action if they want this site to not just be another vector of attack against marginalized people. That you could get booted off so easily is indicative of how much mastodon needs to change before it can fulfill the promise it has.
And I’m sorry but “Unless I can yell obscenities at this celebrity, you’re a transphobe” is complete and utter bullshit.
This sucks. I wish you would come back and work with folks on mastodon, but I get it. You don’t owe anybody anything, and the world there is certainly doing its best to kick you out. I really liked your painting stuff and thought it was really nice to see someone sharing stuff like that.
very true! it’s an extension of fake news and cyber bullying…
Hey Awesome Wil, Just want to say your blog posts are wonderful and your paintings are a delight. More please.
I have enjoyed reading your various posts and blogs over the years. I’m mostly a lurker because you don’t know me. However, thank you for sharing your words and experiences. I’m sorry to hear that your recent experiences have been terrible and that your brain is sending confusing signals. Do what is best for you.
Just a quick request. Please give us a final goodnight nerds blog post. I always loved those.
You are a good guy Wil. Social Media may be the worst invention we have ever come up with. It is not good for anyone. Enjoy your time away.
Exactly! I come here, to Wil’s place to see what he’s up to. I am not and have never been interested in the brain vomit people post on those services.
Those dudes need to get updated. You haven’t been “Wesley” for how many years? Jesus. Move on.
I hope you stay on tumblr. I hope people aren’t being dicks to you on tumblr, actually.
I’m about your age, and I have been surprised at how much more I get out of tumblr than the other places.
And I like that you answer your asks over there, when you can. That’s super cool.
If you stay, I promise to post many pictures of my cats, and hey my chickens too. And post links about weird backwater internet stuff.
Thanks for sharing as usual. I also deleted my birdsite account, and now feel less connected to some of the people I like online – authors and creators.
I wish Mastodon was the answer. Sorry to see you go attacked again. Will try to keep in touch with you here
As I mentioned on both Mastodon and Twitter, you did nothing to deserve these attacks and the communities that perpetrated them were 100% at fault. Those who should’ve supported you and combated this abuse failed you. For my little part in not being there to voice support at the time, I apologize. I can be better. We can all be better.
Again, as mentioned elsewhere, should you ever reconsider being done with social media you have an open invitation on the Mastodon instance I run. You’re always welcome in that corner of the world.
That level of drama on mastodon was awful and I really don’t get it how reporting obviously toxic and rulebreaking toot to admins can lead to such drama.
I guess people are bad when they’re anonymous and just don’t care. This is a reason for future changes for the admin tools on mastodon since obviously flooding moderators makes all the difference regardless of the rules.
I hope someday you’ll be back when the waters have calmed but I get it if you won’t.
Always be the awesome you!
Hey Wil, I signed up for Twitter just a few months after you. August 2007. You were one of my first follows, and I followed you until you closed your account. I always enjoyed your tweets and retweets (you even retweeted one of my stupid jokes once), and I decided to also close my account when you closed yours. I had been logged out of Twitter for a long time as it really was a source of sadness at the end there. I looked into Mastodon but it wasn’t for me, and now I’m glad I stayed away. Sounds awful. Anyways, I’ve always enjoyed what you had to say, and I hope you plan to continue updating WWdN, although I will definitely miss your daily puns and jokes. I’ve always really respected you and your work and it stinks that you get treated so badly. Of all the people I’ve never met, you don’t seem to deserve it. -Brandon
My father would say – illegitimi non carborundum. Or if he’d been drinking – Fuck’em if they can’t take a joke.
I don’t know why anyone is still on the cesspool known as twitter.
LOL! My dad used to say the same thing. 🙂
I deleted my birdsite account after your last words about how horrible it is. You were right. I had 2 account, and I don’t miss it at all. It made me a worse person as well.
I remember the Star Trek panel at the Calgary Expo, when Brent and Levar talked about how you blazed the trail for the whole cast, when it came to social media. Sorry that it has come to this. For what it’s worth,I’ve met you a few times at the Expo and was at the same artist’s booth once, and you’ve always treated people kindly, even when trying to wander around the market as Ordinary Art Lovin’ Wil Who Just Wants To Look At Art, not as WIL WHEATON.
I love my transgender nephew and I worry about his tender heart because the world can be cruel and he keeps dating the wrong people. But the truth is that not all cis people are nice and neither are all transgender people. Some of them may have really deserved to be on that list. I can support a person’s journey to proclaim and define their gender identity and still think they are a giant asshole. And said nephew dated the wrong people before transition too.
Unfortunately, this is what social media has become, a megaphone for the worst aspects of humanity. Trying to ignore that, and focus on the good parts of social media, is requiring more and more work. It’s only going to get worse.
I’m sorry that you so often end up in the crosshairs of people that are so eager and quick to hate. You’re a good person. I will miss you on Twitter. So glad to see you still writing here. 🙂
While I’m sad that you’re not around in as many places anymore, because I’ve always found you to be funny and kind and I like to hear about your latest projects in realtime, your mental health is much more important. I hope you find a good routine that works for you.
I’m still following your blog, of course. I hope we get to run into one another in meatspace again sometime. All the best.
I’m sorry you’re leaving social media, but I get it, and you need to take care of yourself, first and foremost. I do hope you’ll still post here, but that’s for purely selfish reasons. For what it’s worth, my kid, who came out as trans to me this year, thinks all those people are FULL OF CRAP!! You’re still his hero, and probably a large reason he felt comfortable enough to come out to me. We didn’t get to go to any cons this year. Newly single mom trying to figure out the finances, I know you and Anne know how that goes. I hope we’ll get to see you next year (whispers: Deeeeeeenver Coooooomic Cooooooooon).
😉
There’s a fair number of people on the large-ish Mastodon instance I’m on who regard what happened to you as a sad problem. Non carburundum illegitimii, indeed. I hope you come back sometime, but in the meantime, I’ll be adding this blog to my RSS reader (NewsBlur).
More people need to stand up to the BAD as you are! Good for you! You are NOT a bad actor! I’ve loved everything you’ve done. In this world of insanity you are an island of sane, and you help me stay sane! You give me that rope to hang on to in these difficult time! Hold on too, Wil!
I’ve never followed you on social media (I use the bird thing but nothing else), I’ve only ever read your blog. And I’ve enjoyed reading it for years. So please don’t ever give that up!
Those who get their jollies from crapping on others? Well, they must feel pretty bad about themselves and their lack of self worth to be doing that. You’re doing just fine.
Sadness. Your posts on Tumblr have been one of my favorites. I’ve appreciated your work, and your commentaries regarding life and current events. I totally grok the need to take care of yourself, though. Go forth, have at, and be excellent to each other.
sigh It is hard dealing with the cult of celebrity when it has been mostly absent to that point, and I understand how the slander being passed around about you got people agitated about your presence but the way they lashed out, and without doing any fact checking or asking about the issue civilly, was astonishing. I don’t know if it was so much conditioning from them being on Twitter or if microblogging is just hazardous in general.
I run my own personal Mastodon instance and it is a markedly different experience (the federated timeline looks almost the same as my home timeline for one) plus I have even more control over content (I don’t have to worry about getting myself banned lol). Also the ActivityPub (AP) protocol underlying the platform can be used in different ways (like a beefed up form of RSS feed on your blog for example). For various reasons I’ve been thinking about changing my instance to a different platform…a blog type site but still with AP support. This whole episode is one more reason and a bit more motivation to pursue the idea further.
I have always found you and Anne amusing, thoughtful and pretty great. I don’t really give a rats ass what anyone tells me what you may or may not have done I have known you via social media for ten years or so and I think I have a handle on what you are like so I will make my own decisions about what to think. I understand if the pressure on you is unbearable, but just know that there are still rational types out here that will love and miss you. As you say, the world has become a very nasty place… We need people like you though so dont go too far away ♥
I was walking Marlowe today, thinking about how I miss Anne (she’s out of town with our son for a little trip). Then the part of my brain that occasionally helps me remember that Depression Lies spoke up and it said, “you’re not the terrible person those random people say you are, and I can prove it, because Anne wouldn’t be married to, or love, that person, and she loves you.”
♥ You’re a good person.. ♥
Future Self
https://youtu.be/c-_hzuoEku0
In the end its all about the games, assholes will still be assholes, Trolls will be Trolls just find fun in the moment and live life for you not for others.
What everyone else has said…you have people who have never met you who love you. Unfortunately mean people are somehow louder. I don’t blame you for leaving social media. It’s mostly lousy. Keep on keeping on. ❤️
Shame on those hateful people! You are wise to just turn your back on social media. It is just so filled with fear, lies and hate. You a good person with great gifts. Do not waste them on evil people. Sending you hugs from a random person you ha e never met.
I honestly don’t know how this video is going to land for you. It may both to close to the bone but it is (extremely) related and (objectively) funny. https://youtu.be/bbNkuETJTK8
There’s also /r/eyebleach which will do nothing for your current situation except maybe some quick smiles. BTW, it is highly administered pretty place for kitten and puppy pics.
I’m thinking kindness in your direction, and acting/speaking from kindness as much as I can 🙂 Thank you for being such a positive role model!
I left a lot of social media because they became toxic environments. It’s scary how quickly social media can become awful spaces. I’m glad that you left Twitter and Mastodon. I left Facebook, Tumblr, and several Discord Servers for the benefit of my mental health. And I feel a lot better. Don’t let those people (or bots – some people create bots just to attack others) get to you. You are true to yourself and to your family. That’s the important thing. (I realize I sound super corny right now.) I’m sorry all this happened to you. I love your work and I love what you do on Geek and Sundry. I just watched Critical Role as you playing Thorbir and it was hilarious. My husband is also a dice victim! In fact, I had to roll his dice for his dragonborn cleric it’s so bad! Anyway, thanks for all the hard work you do! I love watching your shows!
I hope there’s a way for you to continue to be online, but Jeez Louise I don’t blame you a bit for opting out of the shit-show. Your voice is so important to me, you make me feel so much less alone when mental stuff comes crowding in my brain, because you’re one of the only ones who is willing to speak it out loud and talk about how these things feel inside. I wish I could run into you one of these days and give you a respectful wave from an appropriate distance and tell you how your candor has comforted me, but since I could never say something like that without bawling my head off and making you supremely uncomfortable, I’ll just say it here. Maybe there could be more Radio Free Burrito in the future, unless that’s been soured as well by the trolls. Just know that there’s a stranger here (and many others in other places) that thinks of you fondly and wishes you well.
Hi, Wil. We’ve never met, but I think you’re awesome. It’s very refreshing to read a blog by someone who not only has a lot of accomplishments under his belt, but is also humble, can laugh at himself, and doesn’t use his celebrity status to treat other people like dirt.
On a different note, I can personally relate on how stress and negativity can threaten to trigger an anxiety attack or depressive episode. I have major depressive disorder and even with my meds, support group, and therapist, I still have triggers every once in a while. Managing a mood disorder is by no means a walk in the park. I know from experience.
It’s tough when people treat others horribly via social media, especially when it’s evident they’re blindly going with mob mentality rather than stepping back and trying to get a more objective view of what’s really happening. I’m so sorry social media was unkind to you, but perhaps it really is better that way. Keep doing what you’re passionate about. You got people here rooting for you, myself included 🙂.
I am so sorry this has happened. I think you were my first “celebrity” social media follow in 2007 and I was a bit chuffed to find a TV figure from my childhood somewhere accessible to plain old normal folks in this new format… what a mess it’s become. I’ve enjoyed you sharing your honest real life, good nature and humour on twitter and had only just managed to find you again in the fediverse.
I hope if you reconsider you can find an instance with an admin with more spine. I’ve seen a couple of offers from such in response to your last messages.
Well Wil you’ll always be welcome in my Steam, Tabletop Simulator chat group. No assholes allowed is the policy.
You’re a cool person.
WTF. Why can’t people just stop being awf??
Awful….
I was trying to figure out what the “a” and the “w” stood for, figuring the “f” was the usual one!
I hope you’re a hug-accepting person, because hugs.
You are the awesome.
From someone that accidentally stumbled across your blog, knowing nothing at all about you, and hasn’t looked back. I love every minute of your precious time that you are generous enough to share.
Please do whatever it is you need to do to take care of yourself.
You’re good people, Wil. Don’t doubt it for a second.
Hey Wil, sorry to see your adventures in the Fediverse come to such an unpleasant end so quickly. For what it’s worth I enjoyed your forays into painting. (Hopefully the tips I sent are of some use.)
I’m not a huge fan of “public” facing social media, but I’ve gotten some real value about smaller “curated” platform experiences that allow you to moderate your own space. Slack, Discord, and Keybase all leap to mind.
Hey, Wil. Wish I could say “I feel your pain”, but I’m nowhere close. I dropped active participation on FB years ago, lurking only for parts of my family that still live there,
I also dropped the birdsite for Mastodon, but instead of just one account, I created multiple accounts, one for each of my major interests. I completely severed my Mastodon existence from all other/prior identities. Starting over. I have one ID at the massive mastodon.social, and a couple more at instances related to my primary hobby (triathlon) and career (programming). Plus others I’ll not mention.
I also created one at TenForward. I wanted to be truly anonymous, certainly not a named character. So I became “Redsirt27”. And an arrogant red shirt, because I ride wearing an Arrogant Bastard bike jersey (despite not being worthy). I “beamed up”, only to be met by a rather vague and disinterested crew. So I started pretending I had beamed aboard an empty Enterprise, wandering around wondering why the place was vacant.
And the toots took on a life of their own, and before I knew it, I had tooted out a ST:TNG-themed kidnap mystery novel. But at the end I somehow decided to kill off the protagonist (me). Like, well, it was a fluke, right? After a two-month silence, I tooted a SECOND novel documenting my “reconstruction”. That was two “puke takes” in 6 months. Ending a year ago. I just re-read them, and I think they’ve sat long enough, and aged well enough, to be actually worth editing.
So, if there’s any advice buried here it’s this: Don’t be the public Wil Wheaton on Mastodon. Just be a person who has stuff to share, and who responds to stuff they read. Be several such people. And see which of them becomes the “real” you.
I was not a novelist before Mastodon. Now I am. Twice over.
Who else will you become? Let it happen, but solely on your terms. Anonymously. No history, no expectations, no baggage, no nothing.
Tell no one, not even us. Sure, we’ll find you, but we’ll pretend we didn’t.
Oh this is so sad. I always liked your tweets and your thoughts and your pictures and works of art and your struggle woth doing it right. Thank you for sharing this. I still like and use my feedreader.
I was always more the quiet user. And it‘s sad that some loid minority gets what they want and all the more quiet and peacefule „trying to not e an a…ole“ people have to suffer. (I‘m from Germany and at the moment there are some loud bullies trying to set the clock back 80 years…)
All the best – the quiet ones are here!
Carol
Gah. Sorry the activation energy for asshole behavior is so low and getting informed always seems like too much work for the lazy. You are a kind intelligent gentle man (not a typo) Wil. I will try and be nice to someone today in your name.
I don’t usually respond to things written by ‘celebrities’ because well…why would you care what I have to say, but I felt compelled to respond to this. No one deserves to be made to feel less than. Ever. I follow you on social media and I’ve read your books, etc. These haters are missing out on a wonderfully empathetic and articulate person. It’s a shame they didn’t take you up on your offer to get to know you better because they would have discovered that you are not who they want to believe you to be. I’m glad to hear you aren’t dropping out entirely because selfishly I would miss your voice terribly.
Hang in there, Wil. I’m in a profession where I’ve sacrificed a lot to do as much good for as many people as I can. But people tend to misread my motives and attack me as well. It’s put me in therapy twice, in fact.
I want you to know what I think of you and your emotional honesty.
You are a brave soul. You are kind. You are loyal. You are intilectualy honest. And you are a good actor as well. But that last is just what you do – it’s not who you are. And I cannot comment on that beyond what I’ve learned of you from your writing. But I can say, you have written things that made me feel less alone in this world. So, I can also say “Thank you.”
Fediverse dweller here, It is very sad to see you being bullied off my favorite place on the whole world wide web.
Give it some time, because I know how much it sucks, but maybe give it another shot one day. Most people on the Fediverse are anon, maybe try that out. You don’t have to identify yourself! Try out a simple unidentifiable username/icon.
If you do that, you’ll find it to be a lot more intimate and comfy, I think.
I’m sorry everyone was so mean to you.
Hey Wil, you are not a bad person, you’re one of the good guys on this planet. Why? Because every byte of your online presence, imprint on page or second of audio you have released (well, the stuff I have read or listened to anyway) appears to be based on a core respect for others. I’d argue that even your rants on Twitter aimed at the Orange Buffoon and the hordes that follow him were simply appeals to their better nature – to be better people, respect others and cut the hate.
I really have a hard time with social media (being shy and somewhat anti-social doesn’t help I guess), but the hatred appearing now makes it almost intolerable and certainly upsetting even to be exposed to The only place it seems safe is here, and at least you (a) have a place online to post your thoughts and (b) those who want to hear you have a way to keep listening (thankful for email notifications!)
Keep doing what you do best – writing, acting and caring. More power to your elbow!
I am sorry to hear that Will, and I hope you find a platform you can use. I usually dont interact much on social media, but I like to follow the ramblings of certain ppl. You and Anne are part of that group, and in fact you are the reason I started using both instagram and twitter. But as I said, hope you find a platform to use. There are ppl out there that like what you are saying and doing.
Btw bloddy nice painting dude!
This makes me really sad. I’ve been lucky enough not to experience this sort of tsrgtarg animosity so far, and I’m really sorry you haven’t been so fortunate.
Obviously I don’t know you, but I believe you that you aren’t transphobic. I’ve watched you on tabletop and there was some program about brewing, and you always come across as a great guy/friend in those.
I really hope that you are happy off social media or find a better one to go on – or that people stop being so douchey!