Also, this essay was really well-written! I forgot to say that, and should have.
There are also several people implying that the toxicity is solely coming from readers and the easy access to authors that they get via social media, whereas most of the worst instances of Twitter pile ons that I can think of were instigated and led by professionally published authors, and other promininent figures in the SFF and YA publishing communities.
Yeah, it seems like there's a lot of punching down either by people who feel the Need to Speak because they have such a big audience (Scalzi used to do this a lot), or people who rather disingenuously claim not to realize they obvious power and influence they have (Warren Ellis recently claiming "I was just this guy and had aaaabsolutely no idea people looked up to me or would feel they couldn't say no to me" was really something). Which is again not something that Twitter started but Twitter really rewards, with the follower count and likes and RTs and quote metrics all being visible, and what drive most of the engagement.
And many — rather than offering an unqualified apology — seem to be self-pityingly angling for absolution. They want their friends and community to tell them that they were right to have reacted in the way they did to the title of Fall's short story, and that their motives were pure.
Yeah, I think I'm seeing that with most of the apologies -- the idea that either the person apologizing was hurt and lashing out, or just trying to express concern for people who were hurt.
no subject
There are also several people implying that the toxicity is solely coming from readers and the easy access to authors that they get via social media, whereas most of the worst instances of Twitter pile ons that I can think of were instigated and led by professionally published authors, and other promininent figures in the SFF and YA publishing communities.
Yeah, it seems like there's a lot of punching down either by people who feel the Need to Speak because they have such a big audience (Scalzi used to do this a lot), or people who rather disingenuously claim not to realize they obvious power and influence they have (Warren Ellis recently claiming "I was just this guy and had aaaabsolutely no idea people looked up to me or would feel they couldn't say no to me" was really something). Which is again not something that Twitter started but Twitter really rewards, with the follower count and likes and RTs and quote metrics all being visible, and what drive most of the engagement.
And many — rather than offering an unqualified apology — seem to be self-pityingly angling for absolution. They want their friends and community to tell them that they were right to have reacted in the way they did to the title of Fall's short story, and that their motives were pure.
Yeah, I think I'm seeing that with most of the apologies -- the idea that either the person apologizing was hurt and lashing out, or just trying to express concern for people who were hurt.