WTF! How Dare You Write Garbage Online and Still Earn Money From It!
Reaction 1: Huh? Reaction 2: What? Reaction 3: IDGAF.
No kidding.
Comments like these are commonplace. It made me wonder what have I done. Maybe I have mistakenly stepped on the tail of their puppy.
I must have apologized, I am sure.
But…
Some DMs are bl00dy weird.
Like, I cannot understand for the life of me why people would invest time to,
- Seek me out on social media,
- Initiate contact,
- Then blast me.
It made me think.
Like, did I cause you to lose an arm or leg?
Thank You for Bashing
Yes, I mean [exactly] that.
Thank you for telling me that I dump garbage online. I didn’t know that. I invested considerable time in every piece of work. Every 4-minute, 5-minute read takes me, on average, 90 minutes all in.
This garbage takes effort, you know.
I don’t know how long it takes to write a dismissive or condescending comment. Probably minutes. Do you use Grammarly? Is it ChatGPT written?
Who knows?
Does that bother me?
Well. Allow me to say this.
And please pardon my direct response. The truth is… IDGAF.
Troll me. Thrash me. Bash me. Throw me under the bus. That is all fine. But I remind you this.
I paid to write here.
So, I write here.
Really. That’s it.
Earning Money, Gaining Trolls.
What is wrong with earning money from my words?
According to one affectionate troll on X, the answer is everything.
“You wrote in one of your articles that you are earning 4 digits from your Medium account. I can’t believe this. What has the world come to?”
Yes, dear boy.
You are exactly right.
What has the world come to?
And you genuinely think… I will engage with you, tit-for-tat, trading fist-bumps on DMs? Good try. I won’t.
I just spent my time monetizing you indirectly in this article. Haha.
Thank you for thrashing.
Thank you for helping me earn [more].
Punch First. Ask Later.
This is the funny part.
The bashing continued after saying that I dumped garbage online. The hater goes even further. Your garbage stinks. What a waste of precious time reading them.
Oh, that is a positive! Thank you for reading them!
How weird is that?
This person said he [Maybe a she? No idea] regretted following me and having my low-quality work infiltrate his feed.
Hey, man.
Then, don’t.
You have already left unkind comments on my work. You have already pissed on me on X. You can stop reading my stuff.
Yes, you can.
Just swipe left.
If you are on the web browser — Just hit the back button.
You have a choice. Exercise it. I am not that bothered, you know. Really. You do you. I do me. Life goes on.
But this surprised me.
At the end of the long bash-me message is an ask.
You read that right. An ask. A troll asking me for something in return after punching me.
Wow.
“Teach me how to write trashing online content and clickbait headlines so my good work can be read by many more. It is unfair how subpar writers like you earn more than me.”
So you want my attention? You got it.
But you will not get what you want.
I apologize for not being a saint. I am not devoid of feelings. I don’t see the need to exchange my time for disrespect.
If that means more toxic comments on my stories, so be it.
Remember this, my friend(s).
IDGAF.
Kindness for Kindness, Respect for Respect.
Be nice, shall we?
Everyone works to be the best writer they can be, earning the maximum dollars and building a sizeable following.
If those are your goals and ambitions — More power to you.
That said, there is no need to run around and sh!t your emotions on others. That is real garbage.
And so, here’s one piece of advice from an ex-self-improvement junkie.
Keep your shit to yourself.
I never said I needed it.
The Close
I am not the only one grappling with unfriendly, or troll-like, hater-like behavior online.
Read Denis Gorbunov’s work for a more hilarious take. I had a good laugh.
To fellow writers who got pissed and dissed at — I say this.
Life goes on.
Keep writing.
Meet some nice people on this platform. They will support you, as they have supported me.
Denis Gorbunov, Matt | Financial Imagineer, Sarina Chiu, and Tracy Collins are the kindest people I’ve met here. Connect with them! They can teach you ingenious ways to deal with haters. Haha!
