Do you read websites you hate? Do you read online journals that make you sneer? Do you lurk at forums whose posters you dislike?

C'mon now, y'all driven-snow types... do you even check on those sites once in a while?

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2000

Answers

I was going to say no at first, and then realized that there is someone who I don't like very much that I read all the time. She's just so mean and angry, and sometimes I wonder if there's going to be some kind of change in her life that chills her out and makes her more likeable. I'm also on her notify list, and I am terrified to leave it. Isn't that awful? She gets so mad at the people who leave, and makes their life miserable for a few weeks, it's incerdible.

I used to lurk at Beth's forum, but now that the new one is set up, more of the people seem cool, so I post to it. A lot. Man, I want to get the virgin stuff over with, ya know?

But yeah, there are definitely people who post there (not just there, everywhere) that I don't agree with, but I don't say anything about disagreeing, because then a million people who have never posted before crawl out of the woodwork to defend that one person. Not worth it, I let them go on with their own mind, not trying to bring new ideas into their cranium.

Can y'all tell I don't like confrontation?

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2000

I had an identical situation with the very first online journaler I ever read regularly. I don't even remember her name now, but she turned out to be a mean, small and ugly person (I'm talking about her personality). I found her so vile after about a month of reading the kind of hateful garbage that would occasionally spew from her keyboard with no warning that I bailed, and for good. That was NOT what I had signed up for, and I hoped that I would never meet her.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2000

Geez Gwen. Shows everyone my frame of mind. I thought your post might be talking about ex-boyfriends.

-- Anonymous, August 28, 2000

There are a few I check on periodically just to see if they're as godawfully self-absorbed and misguided as ever. Hee hee; wish I could mention names without being an ass!

By no means do I find this guy or his journal loserly but I'll mention him here because he comes off like he perceives himself that way: Walter Miller. Does anyboy else read his stuff? I think it's brilliantly funny and I love how his page is all ugly and un- stylized. He misspells like crazy but he never misspells the same word the same way twice. I have to wonder if he is for real. His stories about his grandfather are so horrifically hyperbolic I can't decide if it's all complete fiction or what. I hope it is, for Walter's sake. Either way, he's quite a talent.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2000

I spend too much time reading Web sites I *like*, so I don't bother reading ones I don't.

That being said, sometimes a journal or Weblog will mention some train wreck going on elsewhere, and I'll just have to go check it out. Once is usually enough, though; there's plenty in the world that pisses me off without my actively searching for more. Also, there are some very popular journals that I don't read, because the writers write about things I either can't relate to or am just not interested in.

I don't like some of the individual posters at some forums I participate in. (Not here, Gwen! Your people are cool.) But that's to be expected - no one likes everyone, and we all have our own opinions about things.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2000

I recently found an ex-boyfriend's site--email me and I'll send you the link--and I have it bookmarked. But the loser hasn't updated it since February!! Shit or get off the pot, Vernon! Yes, I actually admit to having dated a Vernon...but I was in high school! I've made my peace with my past. Plus, he was a nice guy, just terribly boring. He's even put dorky pictures of himself on the site. I check it every once in awhile to see if he's updated it. Of course, he hasn't. Did I mention he was boring?

-- Anonymous, September 01, 2000

Ha! I've been validated (my life goal). An ex-boyfriend AND a web- site. Thank you Claudia :)

-- Anonymous, September 02, 2000