An opportunity for our Prescott Oakland Point neighborhood to receive some well deserved press after the community party held Oct. 29th in two San Francisco Chronicle articles located in the real estate section and Chip Johnson’s Tuesday, 11.03.09 column highlighting the Central Station Development, immediately became a target by those with cruel and sometimes derogatory statements about our community and people.
Admittedly, I lost it after reading a number of comments and I reached out to community members and invited them to read the comments and respond appropriately. Although initially it felt good, I realize this was wrong, emotional and may have inadvertently gave them more undeserved visibility. There’s a time-honored adage that one should “never get in a fight with a guy who buys printers ink by the barrel.” It’s easy to forget this negative side of the internet.
I forgot about the behavior of the online anarchists who laid in wait to swarm article after article and pictures carping in most cases inappropriately and off topic, leaving comments like popping popcorn, all over the place while occasionally addressing the subject matter.
I forgot how cruel people can be especially when hiding behind the anonymity of an incomplete profile. Only some are bold enough to provide information that identifies them as out-of-towners. Reading their profile and their posting you learn like most kindergarten behavior, they have no regards to those they hurt, demonstrated by their comments directed towards victims of crime.
Remembering these people feel a sense of accomplishment engaging those with erroneous information, injecting their own garbage and getting a reaction (rise) or response, I should have known better than to respond. I realize this is what they do.
Cowardly on-line anarchist are not new or original just hard to get use to.