I just caught two rather synchronous internet implosions in rather quick succession. Both are object lessons in how the internet doesn’t care what you really meant. The one implosion happened from a post on Tess Gerritsen’s blog that inspired a incredulous response on the Dear Author blog. Which is sort of where it should have ended, but the internet said “flame on” and it ended with a lot of ill will and hurt feelings. The other implosion is a little less sad, and more WTF. Apparently, feminists do not appreciate “Open Source Boobs” while Scalzi stands back and protects his personal space.
It strikes me that the victims both of these situations could have benefited from internalizing the following maxim: “The Internet has no context.” People will be offended, they will respond, and rarely, if ever, will you get a chance to explain the joke before it gets blown all out of proportion.
