I assume this was in response to a post which I remember not really getting, but you know what I did? I said to myself “That’s not my style, but let them be them,” stopped reading it, and went on to the next one! It was a bit crazy, but it worked!
As an old and dutiful Old Man Boyfriend my Saturdays usually are devoted to being there for The One and Only Girlfriend. She's THERE for me and I am THERE for her. That's non-negotiable.
So I guess I missed something huh? Something bad? Something bad directed at Ms. Sara? Something that made Saturday bad?
So I will just praise Crom that I missed it and pronounce a blessing upon the GOOD People and level an anathema upon the bad ones who should be ashamed of themselves!
Sadly, it was not trolls. It was some established commenters who (IMO) overreacted because the subject and prose style were unfamiliar to them and then piled on unnecessarily personal and nasty attacks against Ms Sara, whom a lot of people don't seem to realize is a Wonkette alumna. I hope the people involved have thought better of their behaviour and will just scroll by next time if they don't care for a post.
Thanks for being great. I didn't want to bother you or Robyn about it because I just figured, "Well, maybe things have changed around here since I wrote for Wonkette in the 1820s, IDK." But it certainly didn't sit right with me, and felt odd (and unpleasant). I know you don't foster that kind of environment, even as you're careful not to ban people just because they disagree with a writer politically or are sharp-tongued in a witty way. This...was not that. I probably wouldn't have brought it up at all, which in retrospect is silly behavior on my part. You've been so great about it since you noticed something being amiss, and thanks to you and Robyn for being so supportive. In future, if I see shit like that thrown at me or any other writer (or a commenter), and I think you or Dok or Robyn won't see it, I'll give you a heads up.
The post wasn't written in a style for me, an old, but not everything is about me. It was cute and I appreciated learning something about what the youngs are up to. A lot of the comments were mean people acting superior and I am sorry that happened here and to you.
Wait......thinking back...your post from Saturday that was a little weird but cool and you had to think and it was kind of different from the usual postings but I read it and liked it and I guess I missed the comments cause Real Life intervened and I may have scrolled a little but nothing stuck cause I was listening to my mother worry about her 4 upcoming doctor appointments? That post? Oh, honey, all the hugs in the world for all the nasty things pointed your way. I enjoy your writing. I hope you stay. Please stay. I'm so sorry people acted like common asshats.
I completely missed this kerfuffle. That's what you get for hanging out with your awesome sisters instead of being online. We hung out in Staunton Virginia, which is a weird little liberal enclave in southwest Virginia. We inadvertently made a meet up date during a Harry Potter festival where over 10,000 people celebrating witchery descended on that little town. What fun! I can't imagine what was going on over here on Saturday. It sounds really weird for this venue. Part of me wonders what I missed, but another part of me is glad I missed it
They had EVERYTHING for sale. While I'm not into the Potterverse myself, I DO know that those who are tend toward the liberal end of the spectrum, you know, because if the 'book' thing and the 'OK with witchcraft make believe' thing, oh, and the 'OK to have fun with your nerdy outlier kids' thing. Its a wack ass town that LOOKS like a place where that fiction might take place. If u go there, I buy you beers. My baby sister, now 52 lost a bestie to cancer last week. She NEEDED this unexpected thing. I swear to fuck I wanna retire in this burg, whatva weird treat
Longtime reader, newbie commenter as my previous phone maddeningly wouldn’t load the comments section. I missed the shitstorm but am chiming in to say I’ve enjoyed your writing bigly, Sara. Despite my professional jealousy Rebecca made a new hire and it wasn’t asking me to be her new Canadian correspondent.
I do not know all the details of this but I do want you to know that I would NEVER SAY ANYTHING BAD TO OR ABOUT YOU.
I also want you to know that i admire the premise of an advice column at Wonkette.
And finally I always admire the courage you and all the other people writing for the mommy blog exhibit by TELLING IT LIKE IT IS! That takes guts because any time the truth is spoken there is a price to pay for it.
There is a whole book somewhere where the hero, a nice Jewish boy, spoke truth to power and ended up on a cross for it. Fortunately that story had a happy ending for that boy. (although the people who purportedly idolize that hero continue to hang their hero back on that cross every single day here in America)
Stay strong Ms. Sara. Now please accept my benediction sung in my deepest and most booming baritone singing voice:
THROUGH CROM AND WITH CROM AND IN CROM! IN UNITY WITH THE SPIRIT OF CROM! MAY YOU ALWAYS HAVE THE STRENGTH NEEDED TO FACE EVERY OBSTACLE AND DESTROY YOUR ENEMIES!
Don't bend to bullies. You are an asset here and deserve the respect.
If you ever figure out why they went all ape shit let me know. I am not a writer but a post I made over something so trivial got heaped on a few weeks back. It was mind melting.
I think that a few readers projected their own insecurities when they didn't understand tone or context, and flipped out. The usual Internet weirdness, ultimately. And I'm sorry you had to deal with that too.
You're right. Been a minute since I dealt with it because books and scripts don't talk back (unless I've had one of those horrible Celsius drinks late at night, in which case everything talks back.) But it happens.
Good gawd what is wrong with people. I had a blow out with others because of my opinions on a topic here. It really trigged some people and it blew my mind. It really amazed me how fast it went tribal and the rapid way it went down the shitter. In the grand scheme of things it was totally stupid over something so trivial. Clearly other things were going on but dayum to stockpile that shit is explosive.
Communicating through typed word only is insufficient in many ways. It doesn’t always convey tone, and we can’t see body language for contextual clues. Misunderstandings seem inevitable. Add to that any bad timing due to tech disparities. It looked to me like a brief, snarky interaction turned into an unnecessary pile-on from other folks who missed the tone. I wonder how much alcohol was involved. Also, wtf and lol! The absolutely stupidest shit to get miffed about. See, this is why the internet is a bad idea and everyone should just go back to using telegraph to send their miscommunications.
One time someone (on another site, not this nice site) got steamed at me for my username, which always has "dino" in it, because they thought it meant "Democrat in Name Only." My post was about as un-un-Democratic as could be, so it was just the name. That silly human didn't realize "dino" means "dino(saur)." Arrant speciesism, I say!
Online (or text, ugh) communication is notorious for epic problems with tone, delivery, and above all any attempt at (heaven forfend!) HUMOR. It is so easy to fly into a rage now when the 'offending' post really had no intention of being assholish or even provocative.
Back on Disqus, the easiest solution to such moments was to post cute animal pics. Substack doesn’t let us do that so easily in the Comments, which I can only conclude means they want to encourage violence.
I wish the LoTT long and desperate lives where the only people who are willing to give any fucks at all for them are the assholes just like them. May they die old and alone.
One of the distinctive things about this site is the wit and intelligence of the great majority of the comments. I wasn't aware of the Saturday fiasco, and am sorry to hear of it.
oh god Rebecca, that was awful. I just shut the whole damn thing down and I was very upset with the disrespect that was shown to one of the many fine writers here. I thought I was on X for a minute there.
Yeah, I had to leave for awhile. If you don't like a post, or understand it, go elsewhere. In the case of not understanding, you can state that and ask for clarification, or as I've mentioned, leave.
(I am a fan, and I am glad you're here, and I really like your work, and I thought your Saturday article was perfectly cromulent, and I'm (weirdly) a linguist by training, and I had no fucking idea why people were freaking out at you, and I'm sorry that happened to you. The Wonket was, in the main, in the wrong, and you deserve better)
If you’re a linguist I want to know you! My grandparents did Bible translation (problematically, but it was seventy years ago) in Ecuador and I think the linguistics bent is genetic. So basically that makes us cousins now and you’ll have to formally disown me if you want to get rid of me.
but! "a linguist is *not* a polyglot" as the trope will have it, though there is something to the idea that 'facility with languages' may indeed be genetic! :]
Yessss!!!! Their work also involved creating a dictionary for a language that did not use writing. My grandparents once said “come give me a goodbye hug and [phonological terms for kiss sound]” to see if I would figure it out!
I hope we're getting to the point where groups like Libs of Tik - Tok are too worried about the coming mighty Swifty Retribution to spend time tormenting the helpless.
Sara, you'll never get anything but love, admiration, and respect from me. Brooklyn Public Library is where I got my very first library card, when I was two. Love them, too.
This is precisely the issue I have with the anti-choice crowd. I don't give a wet fart that your interpretation of Sky Daddy forbids you from having an abortion. If you believe Sky Daddy said "no abortions EVER," then don't get an abortion. But you are not allowed to force that belief onto my or anyone else. Same thing with LGBTQIA+ people and same-sex marriage. If you think it's wrong to be gay, lesbian, bi-, poly-, or pansexual? Then go be straight! Think being trans is evil? That's a YOU problem. Me, I will continue my lengthy transformation into a kick-ass woman. And god forbid (hah!) that you think same-sex couples shouldn't marry--that ONLY means that you're not going to get gay married to someone who shares your gender.
I'm originally from a small town in northeast Wisconsin, about 20 minutes west of Green Bay.
A new teacher to the district was recently outed as a drag performer. The town's Facebook group immediately exploded with calls for investigations and accusations of grooming. Thankfully, small-minded bigots were outnumbered by people telling them to pound sand. District officials did a quiet investigation and found that the teacher never told kids about his drag TikTok account. Kids just know how to use technology.
However, in the last 7 to 10 days, there have been two bomb threats called into the high school. I don't really have a point here, other than there are worse lessons for kids to learn that it's ok to be comfortable in your own skin (or in fabulous makeup) and being a weird doesn't mean you are unworthy of love and safety.
In better news, Governor Gavin Heartthrob, er, Newsom just signed a law banning books, I mean, banning the BANNING of books.
“From Temecula to Tallahassee, fringe ideologues across the country are attempting to whitewash history and ban books from schools,” Newsom said in a statement. “With this new law, we’re cementing California’s role as the true freedom state: a place where families — not political fanatics — have the freedom to decide what’s right for them.”
Meanwhile Red states continue to get shittier and shittier.
Our Sara would make Dear Prudence read like instructions for assembling a salad spinner. It's high time the Wonkette graduated from being a Mommy Blog and became the advice juggernaut we all know it should be.
In brighter news: That moronic “million for the kids” march last week up here in The Peoples’ Republic of Canuckistan fizzled out like a wet fart in church, with organizers forced to deal with “so we're the groomers, huh?” blowback after a kid at one of the events was very clearly coached to make a speech about how gay people are evil, psychopathic, etc. So much for their “we just want to talk about appropriate school materials” bullshit.
I know we're not going to have a replay of the ugly, ugly free-for-all that was the comments section on Saturday. I remain horrified. Don't be awful.
Thanks, Trix. I was horrified too. Just… not okay at all.
I assume this was in response to a post which I remember not really getting, but you know what I did? I said to myself “That’s not my style, but let them be them,” stopped reading it, and went on to the next one! It was a bit crazy, but it worked!
Wha!!??
As an old and dutiful Old Man Boyfriend my Saturdays usually are devoted to being there for The One and Only Girlfriend. She's THERE for me and I am THERE for her. That's non-negotiable.
So I guess I missed something huh? Something bad? Something bad directed at Ms. Sara? Something that made Saturday bad?
So I will just praise Crom that I missed it and pronounce a blessing upon the GOOD People and level an anathema upon the bad ones who should be ashamed of themselves!
Begone trolls! You ain't wanted!
Sadly, it was not trolls. It was some established commenters who (IMO) overreacted because the subject and prose style were unfamiliar to them and then piled on unnecessarily personal and nasty attacks against Ms Sara, whom a lot of people don't seem to realize is a Wonkette alumna. I hope the people involved have thought better of their behaviour and will just scroll by next time if they don't care for a post.
Thank you for 'splaining that.
However, I will point out that if someone sounds like a troll and acts like a troll etc. etc.
And I would know for I do have experience at that sort of thing; I am recovering from my own troll addiction.
;>))))
Sounds like something I'm glad I missed
I just like that you said alumna.
Once an editor, always an editor...
Thanks for being great. I didn't want to bother you or Robyn about it because I just figured, "Well, maybe things have changed around here since I wrote for Wonkette in the 1820s, IDK." But it certainly didn't sit right with me, and felt odd (and unpleasant). I know you don't foster that kind of environment, even as you're careful not to ban people just because they disagree with a writer politically or are sharp-tongued in a witty way. This...was not that. I probably wouldn't have brought it up at all, which in retrospect is silly behavior on my part. You've been so great about it since you noticed something being amiss, and thanks to you and Robyn for being so supportive. In future, if I see shit like that thrown at me or any other writer (or a commenter), and I think you or Dok or Robyn won't see it, I'll give you a heads up.
The post wasn't written in a style for me, an old, but not everything is about me. It was cute and I appreciated learning something about what the youngs are up to. A lot of the comments were mean people acting superior and I am sorry that happened here and to you.
Wait......thinking back...your post from Saturday that was a little weird but cool and you had to think and it was kind of different from the usual postings but I read it and liked it and I guess I missed the comments cause Real Life intervened and I may have scrolled a little but nothing stuck cause I was listening to my mother worry about her 4 upcoming doctor appointments? That post? Oh, honey, all the hugs in the world for all the nasty things pointed your way. I enjoy your writing. I hope you stay. Please stay. I'm so sorry people acted like common asshats.
I admire you, am glad to see you back, and enjoy your always well-written posts.
There, I said it.
I'm so sorry! How awful. I love that you're here.
We are lucky to have you!
I’m freaking lucky and grateful to be here with the likes of you, sir!
You misspelled SER.
Hell, I ordered the book you recommended. And used the Wonk linkie to do it.
I completely missed this kerfuffle. That's what you get for hanging out with your awesome sisters instead of being online. We hung out in Staunton Virginia, which is a weird little liberal enclave in southwest Virginia. We inadvertently made a meet up date during a Harry Potter festival where over 10,000 people celebrating witchery descended on that little town. What fun! I can't imagine what was going on over here on Saturday. It sounds really weird for this venue. Part of me wonders what I missed, but another part of me is glad I missed it
Your thing was way more fun. Did they have Quidditch brooms for sale?!
Today's tautology.
You need this because this is what you need
The day you go wrong with Gwen Verdon is the day the universe ends.
https://youtu.be/MOPdAJmcAEs?si=wQHBrYDf_9VV7cNm
They had EVERYTHING for sale. While I'm not into the Potterverse myself, I DO know that those who are tend toward the liberal end of the spectrum, you know, because if the 'book' thing and the 'OK with witchcraft make believe' thing, oh, and the 'OK to have fun with your nerdy outlier kids' thing. Its a wack ass town that LOOKS like a place where that fiction might take place. If u go there, I buy you beers. My baby sister, now 52 lost a bestie to cancer last week. She NEEDED this unexpected thing. I swear to fuck I wanna retire in this burg, whatva weird treat
Longtime reader, newbie commenter as my previous phone maddeningly wouldn’t load the comments section. I missed the shitstorm but am chiming in to say I’ve enjoyed your writing bigly, Sara. Despite my professional jealousy Rebecca made a new hire and it wasn’t asking me to be her new Canadian correspondent.
BRIBE HER WITH BUTTER TARTS OR NANAIMO BARS OR SOPHIE TRUDEAU’S YOGA MAT
I do not know all the details of this but I do want you to know that I would NEVER SAY ANYTHING BAD TO OR ABOUT YOU.
I also want you to know that i admire the premise of an advice column at Wonkette.
And finally I always admire the courage you and all the other people writing for the mommy blog exhibit by TELLING IT LIKE IT IS! That takes guts because any time the truth is spoken there is a price to pay for it.
There is a whole book somewhere where the hero, a nice Jewish boy, spoke truth to power and ended up on a cross for it. Fortunately that story had a happy ending for that boy. (although the people who purportedly idolize that hero continue to hang their hero back on that cross every single day here in America)
Stay strong Ms. Sara. Now please accept my benediction sung in my deepest and most booming baritone singing voice:
THROUGH CROM AND WITH CROM AND IN CROM! IN UNITY WITH THE SPIRIT OF CROM! MAY YOU ALWAYS HAVE THE STRENGTH NEEDED TO FACE EVERY OBSTACLE AND DESTROY YOUR ENEMIES!
NOW AND FOREVER!
AAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNN!
This is fucking beautiful. Are you some kind of DEMON ANGEL? Thank you.
To paraphrase Mr. Pinhead in the Hellblazer world I am "An explorer in the farther reaches of EXPERIENCE! A demon to some; an angel to others!"
What did I miss? Trolls?
I know. I always miss the good stuff too.
I missed it for good reason: I was busy being a robot in a box for three days in a row.
Don't bend to bullies. You are an asset here and deserve the respect.
If you ever figure out why they went all ape shit let me know. I am not a writer but a post I made over something so trivial got heaped on a few weeks back. It was mind melting.
I think that a few readers projected their own insecurities when they didn't understand tone or context, and flipped out. The usual Internet weirdness, ultimately. And I'm sorry you had to deal with that too.
Glad you're bouncing back. Comes with the territory shitty but it is what it is.
You're right. Been a minute since I dealt with it because books and scripts don't talk back (unless I've had one of those horrible Celsius drinks late at night, in which case everything talks back.) But it happens.
thank you dearheart
Good gawd what is wrong with people. I had a blow out with others because of my opinions on a topic here. It really trigged some people and it blew my mind. It really amazed me how fast it went tribal and the rapid way it went down the shitter. In the grand scheme of things it was totally stupid over something so trivial. Clearly other things were going on but dayum to stockpile that shit is explosive.
Does it help at all to use the "Report" function?
it does, and you should! But do know that Dok and I only remember to check it a few times a week. For anything truly pressing, email us.
Gotcha, will do!
Communicating through typed word only is insufficient in many ways. It doesn’t always convey tone, and we can’t see body language for contextual clues. Misunderstandings seem inevitable. Add to that any bad timing due to tech disparities. It looked to me like a brief, snarky interaction turned into an unnecessary pile-on from other folks who missed the tone. I wonder how much alcohol was involved. Also, wtf and lol! The absolutely stupidest shit to get miffed about. See, this is why the internet is a bad idea and everyone should just go back to using telegraph to send their miscommunications.
One time someone (on another site, not this nice site) got steamed at me for my username, which always has "dino" in it, because they thought it meant "Democrat in Name Only." My post was about as un-un-Democratic as could be, so it was just the name. That silly human didn't realize "dino" means "dino(saur)." Arrant speciesism, I say!
Online (or text, ugh) communication is notorious for epic problems with tone, delivery, and above all any attempt at (heaven forfend!) HUMOR. It is so easy to fly into a rage now when the 'offending' post really had no intention of being assholish or even provocative.
Sigh.
Back on Disqus, the easiest solution to such moments was to post cute animal pics. Substack doesn’t let us do that so easily in the Comments, which I can only conclude means they want to encourage violence.
[sleeping kitten pic]
It really is a deprivation that photos of Simba and Lil'Feller, etc, require so much more faff now.
I missed whatever it was. Sounds like it was horrible.
The whole point of the MAGA movement is to encourage people to be assholes in public* and online. We don’t need to be like them.
*See Boebert’s theater behavior for an example of public assholery.
Aw. I don't know what happened, but I hate it when we're dicks who fight with each other and the generous authors of my stories. Not cool.
It's upsetting me *now* and I don't even know what happened. I HATE it when people I respect and look up to disappoint me.
So, that's all I'm saying about this.
I wish the LoTT long and desperate lives where the only people who are willing to give any fucks at all for them are the assholes just like them. May they die old and alone.
somebody's been taking a refresher on The Rules! Thank you for your service!
We aim to please!
One of the distinctive things about this site is the wit and intelligence of the great majority of the comments. I wasn't aware of the Saturday fiasco, and am sorry to hear of it.
hey, it's good to see you.
Hello. Same here.
Neither was I. I'm sorry to read this.
I put up tweets from Jeff and Jo and tried to turn the crowd around but my steering wheel is way too small for that shedload of shit...
oh god Rebecca, that was awful. I just shut the whole damn thing down and I was very upset with the disrespect that was shown to one of the many fine writers here. I thought I was on X for a minute there.
Yeah, I had to leave for awhile. If you don't like a post, or understand it, go elsewhere. In the case of not understanding, you can state that and ask for clarification, or as I've mentioned, leave.
It was reprehensible and downright unfucking-forgivable.
I can hold a grudge for a VERY long time.
Hear, hear!!! I like Ms. Sara's writing and I don't care who knows it.
Same here!
Thanks for being so kind.
Love your writing!
(I am a fan, and I am glad you're here, and I really like your work, and I thought your Saturday article was perfectly cromulent, and I'm (weirdly) a linguist by training, and I had no fucking idea why people were freaking out at you, and I'm sorry that happened to you. The Wonket was, in the main, in the wrong, and you deserve better)
If you’re a linguist I want to know you! My grandparents did Bible translation (problematically, but it was seventy years ago) in Ecuador and I think the linguistics bent is genetic. So basically that makes us cousins now and you’ll have to formally disown me if you want to get rid of me.
oh! another mystery cousin? well, come on in
but! "a linguist is *not* a polyglot" as the trope will have it, though there is something to the idea that 'facility with languages' may indeed be genetic! :]
Yessss!!!! Their work also involved creating a dictionary for a language that did not use writing. My grandparents once said “come give me a goodbye hug and [phonological terms for kiss sound]” to see if I would figure it out!
Do you use your training professionally?
Used to read you on Gawker and wondered what happened to ya. Glad you're here!
I am seriously in awe.
You've earned it, lady.
Is it time for a healing circle?
NO TOUCHING!!11!!1!!1!!1!
I don't think Wonketteers have cooties.
I do.
I'm not good around humans. Er, I mean, other people.
my cooties are bathed in LOVE!
Saw it. Wasn't overly surprised, unfortunately.
Don't make Trix turn this bus around!
The Kings English bookshop is an idyllic enclave of literature with an amazing staff. What happened over the weekend is appalling & gross.
I hope we're getting to the point where groups like Libs of Tik - Tok are too worried about the coming mighty Swifty Retribution to spend time tormenting the helpless.
When is someone going to sue that dangerous twat?
Sara, you'll never get anything but love, admiration, and respect from me. Brooklyn Public Library is where I got my very first library card, when I was two. Love them, too.
So I hate to be like this but has any bomb threat in the last 20 years ever been true?
They're banning talking about me and mine.
They're burning books about me and mine.
Pretty soon they'll figure out that the ideas in those books come from people.
I'm getting the hell out of this place.
I hate these ignorant idiots. If you don't approve of something, don't go. Don't tell others they can't.
This is precisely the issue I have with the anti-choice crowd. I don't give a wet fart that your interpretation of Sky Daddy forbids you from having an abortion. If you believe Sky Daddy said "no abortions EVER," then don't get an abortion. But you are not allowed to force that belief onto my or anyone else. Same thing with LGBTQIA+ people and same-sex marriage. If you think it's wrong to be gay, lesbian, bi-, poly-, or pansexual? Then go be straight! Think being trans is evil? That's a YOU problem. Me, I will continue my lengthy transformation into a kick-ass woman. And god forbid (hah!) that you think same-sex couples shouldn't marry--that ONLY means that you're not going to get gay married to someone who shares your gender.
I'm originally from a small town in northeast Wisconsin, about 20 minutes west of Green Bay.
A new teacher to the district was recently outed as a drag performer. The town's Facebook group immediately exploded with calls for investigations and accusations of grooming. Thankfully, small-minded bigots were outnumbered by people telling them to pound sand. District officials did a quiet investigation and found that the teacher never told kids about his drag TikTok account. Kids just know how to use technology.
However, in the last 7 to 10 days, there have been two bomb threats called into the high school. I don't really have a point here, other than there are worse lessons for kids to learn that it's ok to be comfortable in your own skin (or in fabulous makeup) and being a weird doesn't mean you are unworthy of love and safety.
In better news, Governor Gavin Heartthrob, er, Newsom just signed a law banning books, I mean, banning the BANNING of books.
“From Temecula to Tallahassee, fringe ideologues across the country are attempting to whitewash history and ban books from schools,” Newsom said in a statement. “With this new law, we’re cementing California’s role as the true freedom state: a place where families — not political fanatics — have the freedom to decide what’s right for them.”
Meanwhile Red states continue to get shittier and shittier.
Our Sara would make Dear Prudence read like instructions for assembling a salad spinner. It's high time the Wonkette graduated from being a Mommy Blog and became the advice juggernaut we all know it should be.
You wrote on a weekday!!!!! Oh Frabjous day, callou callay!!!!!!!! The subject is awful, thanks for publicizing it.
In brighter news: That moronic “million for the kids” march last week up here in The Peoples’ Republic of Canuckistan fizzled out like a wet fart in church, with organizers forced to deal with “so we're the groomers, huh?” blowback after a kid at one of the events was very clearly coached to make a speech about how gay people are evil, psychopathic, etc. So much for their “we just want to talk about appropriate school materials” bullshit.