An odd thing happened this weekend.
I was very happy to receive another donation to the Indiegogo campaign for Gray Zone, so I made the following post to my author Facebook page (the public one):
“Yipee! Another good person has contributed to the Indiegogo campaign. Happy, happy!”
Seems harmless enough, right?
Someone thought not.
He sent me a private message saying that he didn’t like the post and that I had to delete it. To make sure I got the message, he sent it three times.
Translated to physical world terms it equates to a stranger walking up to me and saying he doesn’t like what I’m saying so I should just shut up.
Now, just to be clear, know that I have no clue who this person is. He’s a total stranger, and as far as I can remember he hasn’t even commented on my Facebook page before.
He could be a normal person who is confused about Web etiquette, or he could be a cyberbully-in-the-making who’s dipping his toes in to see how it feels.
Personally, I believe it’s the latter. Here’s a person who certainly appears to be emboldened by the anonymity of the Internet. Someone who seems to enjoy bossing around whoever he wants, saying whatever he feels, and throwing his weight around–all because he’s hidden behind a screen name.
Fortunately for me, I don’t make a very good bullying victim. I’m not easily intimidated and I understand the cyberbully mentality.
Which is that it’s easy to be mean when no one can see your face.