Friday 9 August 2013

An example of what happens when you confront an arsehole

Hey everyone.

Now I'm guessing if you're here, you've already seen my video about trolls and arseholes (if you haven't, you should totally go watch it).

I gave some advice in there and I feel that I should show you that I have used my advice and it has worked. I went through some old comments and messages and found this rather unique example that happened a few months ago, wherein I exposed a flamer.

Someone left this comment on a video of mine:



I decided to use one of my tactics of mocking the poster by correcting their spelling.



His post was down-voted into oblivion, whilst mine got (and still has) lots of likes. 

I later got a private message from the person who left the comment, apologising if they offended me and explaining that they were just trying to wind people up (i.e. confessing to being a flamer).



I decided to explain what he really meant, explain how YouTube works and explain my feelings on the idea of just trying to start arguments online for no good reason.



He didn't seem to like this, and also came up with reasons (read: crappy excuses) as to why he was trying to piss off strangers online.



I decided to explain some things to him. Again.



He apologised (and tried to pop in something weird about good/bad things).



I didn't find any more sent messages to him, so I must've felt he'd learnt his lesson (or I just couldn't be arsed explaining any more stuff to him). However, I would just like to point out that yes we all do stupid things from time to time, but you don't need people to do bad things in order for people to do good things. That is a load of bollocks. Sorry.

Anyway, I have blocked out the name because I don't want anyone going off to find him to start a stupid fight or anything; I've already given him a piece of my mind and he admitted he "was acting like a prick". He also doesn't seem to have tried to start any wars on my recent videos and I'm happy with that (he's either learnt his lesson or he's scared of me...not sure...lol). But, if I do see him trying anything again, I will not hesitate to confront him.

I just wanted to show that if people stand up to arseholes, and others band together with them like my viewers banded behind my comment and downvoted the flamer's, they might just feel a bit embarrassed and feel they have to apologise (even if it is in private).

Seriously. Confronting. Liking/disliking. Explaining. It works.




Tuesday 6 August 2013

Abuse ≠ Trolling (also that #twittersilence thing)

So there was a Twitter silence on Sunday. It was organised by Caitlin Moran in response to some of the threats people, especially women, were getting through tweets.

She created it as a "you can join in or do something else to make a stand" type thing, but some people were a little bit militant in wanting other people to join in & Caitlin got the blame. People also dragged up tweets of hers from four years ago to try and say "see! she's abusive too!!"

Grasping at straws, much? Also, she explained them all beautifully & made you look even more silly.

Anyway, although I didn't take part in it fully (I decided to join in the interesting discussions that were happening & share my video on the subject), it brought attention to the issue at hand. High-profile men & women making a stand online made the news. Also, whilst some said it was the goal of "trolls" (they're not trolls...but more on that in a sec) to silence the women that took part, they weren't being silent for the "trolls". It was to send a message to Twitter to say "I can live without you, I can easily use another site". Just look at all the sites that used to be huge & are forgotten now.

Also, it wasn't forever. They were not silenced, they just went quiet for a bit. They walked off for a day, and you know what? Sometimes you do just need to walk away for a bit and come back. Often it clears your head & gives you a fresh perspective when you return.

But some people decided to call it a "Trolliday".

Sorry, but no. I am fed up of this mistake. I used to make the same mistake, but then I realised I was wrong. The arseholes sending abuse to people are NOT "trolls". Trolls do not send death threats, rape threats or bomb threats - those people are ARSEHOLES. 

I have created this handy little poster to explain the differences between trolls and the less-fun people of the Internet (the last 2 fit under the wider category of "arsehole"):


You see, I believe we should call these people what they are. They are not "trolls". People are not called "trolls" because of the ugly fairytale character. People are called "trolls" after the verb to "troll", one of the meanings of which is to fish by drawing bait along in the water. They use bait to lure people into falling for their tricks/jokes. They do not send bomb threats "for a laugh".


If you want to see me rant more about this, here's is my video on the subject:


Anyway, please do spread the word. We mustn't let arseholes try and brush off everything they say as "trolling" & try to make out that they didn't actually mean it (when they usually do - even if their threats are often hollow, there is often real malice in them) & that they were just joking. And to those that try to "troll" by saying abusive/threatening things, we must teach them that they are actually just being really, really, stupid.


The people that abuse & threaten others online, without any hint of sarcasm, are arseholes, exactly the same name as we would call them in real life. To quote myself: 

A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, and an arsehole is an arsehole whether they're saying something rude to someone's face or via Twitter.




Thursday 1 August 2013

Geeks are not Hipsters...!!!!!

Ok. So I am someone who understands, and is actually pretty happy, that geeks are now seen as "cool". As a teenager I was a closeted geek, hiding behind an emo-looking fringe. I enjoyed getting good marks at school and was a fantasy-geek (also with a bit of a love of sci-fi), spending my time counting down the days to the next Harry Potter book or film release, playing video games like Runescape and wanting to be in Lord of the Rings (although, to my shame, I have not read the books yet...). I'd spend my time online watching Weebl and Bob, or the latest Rathergood or Matazone animation.

Basically, I wasn't the sort of person who was in the popular group. I was fortunate enough not to be at a school where people got beaten up, but I often found that I was a little bit invisible.

Basically, when I was 16, I wouldn't have had the confidence to make YouTube videos like I do today. 

I came out of my shell whilst at uni & embraced my inner geek and looked for more geeky stuff I could enjoy. I also started to proudly show off the geeky things I enjoyed, both online and off.

I love the fact that people can literally wear a "geek" badge, on t-shirts, jackets, etc. I don't even mind that non-geeks are wearing them - it's kinda funny honestly, and an amazing sign that geeks can be proud to be themselves without being worried or scared (at least not to the extent that generations before them have been). Although, I personally feel that actual geeks don't usually wear t-shirts with just "geek" written on them, just geeky t-shirts in general...

[Edit: a Facebook user named Callum replied to the picture shown below & told me how a girl shouted "F**king geek!!!" at him whilst she was actually wearing a jumper with "GEEK" on it. Perhaps stupider people don't realise it's labelling the wearer and assume it's like wearing a jumper with "you're a tosser" on it?]

However, I saw this today and it made me want to punch something.



GEEKS. ARE. NOT. HIPSTERS.

Whoever owns this pillow is a hipster, a wannabe hipster or someone wishing to mock hipsters.

I can understand the specs - both geeks and hipsters wear thick-framed glasses. However, the geeks that wear them wear them so they can READ a statement, not so they can MAKE a statement.

But the MOUSTACHE?! That is NOT a symbol of geekdom. Some geeks may happen to have moustaches, but moustaches are not inherently linked to geeks or show how much of a geek someone is.

Moustaches DO often show how much of a hipster a guy is - usually on younger guys. The flouncier the moustache, the bigger the hipster.

Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that the word "geek" is merely put in there ironically, as glasses and moustaches together symbolise hipsters, and hipsters effing LOVE irony.

Either that or the designers at Primark just stamped a load of shit onto a pillow because they thought people would be stupid enough to buy it, and they couldn't be bothered to work out the difference between a hipster and a geek because...money.

Yeah... My guess is on the second one.