Dear haters: posts people actually WANT to read aren’t ‘clickbait’

The other day, someone called me a ‘toxin’.

Now I don’t typically raise an eyebrow over online hate — I used to write about sports, and no readers are more hostile and vitriolic than sports fans.

But I have to admit it was a little jarring to see something so overtly hostile and mean here.

Even if you don’t like my writing, I’m pretty sure you’d like me as a person if you ever met me.

And yet there are people out there who would suggest I’m literal poison because they didn’t like a blog post I wrote.

Typically people on this site are very positive and kind.

I do have to say, however, that more and more haters have been coming out of the woodwork lately.

And it all seems to stem from a small fraction of articles I’ve written that some people like to mischaracterize as ‘clickbait’.

Let me explain why they have no idea what they’re talking about.

Some of the things people say online are downright jarring. (Licensed by teh author under the Unsplash+ License)

Deeply personal writing

Now I’ve done a lot of lengthy, deeply personal writing here.

In fact, most of my first full year on this site was spent documenting my descent and re-emergence from a 15-plus-year alcohol addiction.