The Anonymity of the Internet!!

A strange title today - and you may wonder where I am going with it. Well - I will get to it a little later after I have shared today's card.

I made this for a friend's 50th birthday. She is a runner (that's how we met) hence the theme for the card. 

The runner is a cutting file from Beanpole Books. It comes as part of a sports themed set. I dusted off my Craft Robo to cut it out - and did the name and numbers at the same time. The purple background paper that I edged with Spellbinders Triple Scallop Edgeability and Insert, is from a lovely little site with some great free vintage stuff.  The green flowery paper is Papermania. 

The matching box had lots of photos inside from all her running exploits - both local - and in the recent Paris Marathon. Hence the map of Paris and of Cerne Abbas (English Heritage) on the front.The usual ribbon and pearls finish it all off.

So - to today's strange title. Whilst I was waiting to meet a friend for lunch, I noticed a card in a shop window. It said "On the Internet you can be anything you want. It's a shame so many people choose to be stupid". The word stupid could be replaced by insensitive, unfeeling or tactless. Or indeed a myriad of other similar or stronger words. The anonymity provided by the Internet enables people to say things without taking responsibility for what effect those words will have. And indeed some hide behind it simply so they can say things that they know will have a negative affect on someone.

In my last post I mentioned that I love reading all of your comments. And that is true - I absolutely do. People take time out of their busy lives to pop over to my blog and sometimes leave me a comment. I am most grateful for that. As a blogger it's difficult to know what the reaction to your blog is without feedback.

But I have recently had some interesting critique of my projects via anonymous comments. I always moderate the comments, and have not published them. Not because I will only publish positive comments - but because the person/people have left these comments anonymously. I have also not published a recent positive comment for the same reason. 

Everyone has the right to an opinion. There's a lot of stuff out there that I don't like or isn't to my taste. The difference is I tend to just not comment - I don't feel that I need to be negative to anyone. And if for some unknown reason I did, then I would do so without standing behind the screen of anonymity that the Internet so conveniently provides. People think that they can hide who they are and then feel free to say what they like. If you want to say things to others about their work, then you should give them the means to respond directly to you. 

So, because I will not respond to such comments left anonymously, I have decided to turn that facility off on my blog. This may prevent some people being able to comment due to the other restrictions that this brings, but if that's the case then please feel free to follow the blog through my Facebook page and leave your comments there.

Maybe me writing this has given those people the response from me that they thought they were looking for. If that's the case - then so be it. It will not, however, stop me from crafting or blogging about my crafting.

Well, that just about finishes me off for today. Looking forward to a meal out tonight with family.

Cxxx