My wish for 2011

I thought about writing some sort of “year in review” for 2010, but there’s honestly way too much to think about — between moving to Oakland, getting Dresden out, my 20 conventions this past year, and a fuckton of personal shit. Then I thought about writing a list of people to be thankful to and why over the last year, but that didn’t feel right either. So instead, here’s what I want in 2011:

I would like you to treat each other better on the Internet. Yeah, I know it’s asking for a lot. I’ll try to lead be example.

And because “be something” is really shitty as advice or an imperative compared to “do something,” let’s talk about three things we can all do:

  1. Apologize to people. We make mistakes and people misread us. Let’s admit that so bullshit can move on. (Seriously, you stand out on the Internet if you’re willing to apologize and be wrong.)
  2. Ask yourself if what you’re writing is hating on haters. If it is, set it aside before posting or tweeting. (Because hating on haters is hating, and that’s just fucking ridiculous.)
  3. When you see other folks being fucksticks on Twitter, make a #HappinessIs post. Do the change of mood you want to see. (When you see me do them, it’s an attempt to lighten my own mood.)

Let’s face it, the shit we see in these constant information streams affects us, and how we’re affected by the previous bit colors how we might misread the next. We’re constantly being complete cockbites to each other — often on accident, sometimes not. Or we’re being a cockbite to a specific person (playfully or not) but forgetting that we’re impacting other people reading us. Point fucking is:

For 2011, I would like you to treat each other better on the Internet.

And I’ll fight my nerdrage impulses and everything like that to give you that courtesy. Hell, call me on it when I fail. Please.

Happy new year, Internet.

- Ryan

  1. lifeofmack posted this