The Cyber Fairies

You see them on all the social bookmarking sites. These are the individuals who levy the harshest responses to people's comments. I am sure you experienced this. You post something on one of the sites that is of interest to you (and possibly others). Suddenly, after letting it sit for a while, you go back to see what happened with your submission. That is when it happens. In reading the comments, you find there are some who slam you really hard.

These individuals have a good case of cybercourage. It is very similar to the beer muscles you find about 1 hour before closing time at any local bar. People have a lot more courage when they have a few in them. Cybercourage is exactly the same. These fairies have the anonymity of the Internet. They can hide behind this while saying things they would utter in person. They are the bitches of the web.

Who suffers from cybercourage? Typically, it is your little geek who was always abused in high school. He or she might be at the stage in life where they are alone, having run everyone off. Or, perhaps, they are total inept socially. Regardless, they are the ones who cower in a corner if they are confronted in person. These people lurk primarily on Digg and Reddit. They can feel like they are important.

How do you find these people? They are very easy to spot on Digg for example. These are the ones with a profile that reads something like this:

Diggs 32
Comments 6,453
Submissions 31

Obviously, this is an exaggeration. Nevertheless, you get the gist of what I am referring to. It is time to slap the fairies around. The next time you encounter them, just simply respond with a "fairy" in their posts. If enough people do that, they will begin to get the message.

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