I’m going to try to keep this one short, but I’ll probably fail miserably at that. I’ve noticed recently that two of the people who’s music I almost religiously listen to have taken measures to limit their online interaction with listeners and fans, recently. Normally I wouldn’t really pay too much attention to that kind of thing and just continue on ranting and raving about 3D printers, the future of piracy, all things steampunk, the web & new media and all that wonderful stuff I usually like to talk about… but this situation is simply perplexing to me:

Mr. Good and Mr. Reznor both have setup websites with both forums and blogs with registered commenting systems, as well as twitter accounts so they can not only have a somewhat serialized updates to their fans, but a small but seemingly steady feed of bite-sized information and online presence on a daily basis. And I think that’s great! I really do, I really like how interactive technology is a totally new and fresh way to go about meeting and communicating with, not only people you have heard of, but new friends as well. But, the flipside to all of that is… well… everyone. Like it or not, the internet is almost a public forum, to be precise. (the costs of getting online does exclude a huge part of the population, but I’ll leave that theme for another time.) So for every well spoken, well mannered, interesting and funny person you encounter online, you are bound to find about a thousand douchebags with their head’s up their asses.

I mean, this is the general public we’re talking about. These are the dame dickheads who cut you off in traffic, talk on their cell phones in the theatre, pee all over the floor in public restrooms, park in handicapped reserved spaces and leave their empty Starbucks garbage amongst the DVD’s at your local HMV. You know, so that when you’re looking for that elusive special edition of Run Lola Run you just so happen to tip over their stealthily hidden cup of lukewarm, day old chai latte backwash all over your arm, leaving you standing there with a pissed off look on your face, muttering: “if I just got hepatitis I’m going to goddamn kill someone, I swear to god!”.

These people populate our world and they know how to use computers enough to either ham-handedly mash their clenched fists against a keyboard or shout near-incoherently into a camera that’s uploading to youtube and they will eventually cross paths with you. There really is no way around this and it will happen at one point if you claim to attract any kind of attention at all on the internet. The best thing anyone can do when those people show up is to ignore them, really.

It’s not like a concert or a round-table discussion or an interview or a rant on Much Music where a witty remark or a tug on the social status rank is enough to make the most overzealous heckler shy away in embarrassment. On the internet, loudmouthing is the rule of law and they will be aiming their hot air at just about anyone who has more people listening than they do.

I mean, the best example of this I can mention that’s happened in recent memory started back in 2006 when Tom Green was being hassled by some kids from an imageboard. But instead of laughing it off or ignoring them, he got all bent out of shape and just fanned the flames by doing so. And, last time I checked? they’re still doing it to him every time he tries to tape a live or call-in show because he’ll freak out if they do.

Now, this is a pretty extreme example if you’re aware of what happened but the point I’m making here, is that the internet is by no stretch of the imagination, an intellectual’s oasis and there’s going to be hecklers and hater’s everywhere. Around every corner.

And, I hate to say it, but I really do think that if you’ve lived in a world long enough where you’re often performing in front crowds of people who’ve paid hard earned money to see you and writing out online to people who comment with praise and approval, it can be easy to forget that there are there tons of people out there that not only despise you, what you say and what you do, but are big enough assholes that they don’t really give a shit what you may think if you obviously get offended enough to react to their commentary or call them out on it. (that’s if they don’t get their kicks from that, altogether.) Because, in a nightmare scenario after all of this? you just may end up with an icy stonewall of blocks, ignores, angry forum posts, insults, allegations, locked threads and disabled commenting systems where alienating the very people you sought out to meet and mingle with. Like razor wire and barricades at the base of a podium that you still insist you stand on top of, proclaiming that your voice & vision need to be heard, regardless.

Now at this point a lot of people will probably complain about “what about a persons right to personal privacy and voicing their own opinions?” well, those are perfectly fine and everyone is entitled to those rights, but you have to remember that these people are going out of their way to put, in varying degrees, their private lives out into public view. And I think it’s kind of naive to waltz onto the internet and stick a sign in the ground that says “come one, come all: read what I have to say and then make a comment telling me what you think about it!” only to get angry and frustrated when some yokel shows up and makes a mess of the whole thing.

That’s what happens when you let any old riff-raff off the street into the party and you really should be ready for that kinda stuff when you decide to let them in, you know what I’m saying?