Diary of a Hate Reader

Dear diary,

Well … it’s been a busy time on the interwebs today! So much so that I got barely any work done. Oh well, tomorrow will be a catch up day I suppose.

But forget tomorrow – this entry is about today!

As always I kicked things off with a visit to my favourite online forum (HRW – Hate Readers of the World). I often wonder at the special kind of genius it took to create this place – somewhere people like me can share our most ardent vitriol about the online writers we detest the most, all from under the safe blanket of anonymity. It’s the best.

Anyway the first thing I saw there was that apparently Penelope Trunk* has been at it again. Today on her blog she was telling people not to get divorced because it’s immature and selfish. So I think you can guess where my first stop for the day was. Penelope’s blog is always great for a stoush because she doesn’t moderate her comments and her minions are always up for defending her. Which means having a crack at her is always good fun. Less fun is the fact that I think she actually loves provoking us (her haters) into leaving a comment. But … whatever.

After dropping a few ‘truth bombs’ in the comments of Penelope’s divorce post  (guaranteed to at least rile up her stupid followers if not Penelope herself) I headed to Joni B’s** blog. Gawd I hate that woman – she leads such a friggin’ blessed life and I am so sick of reading about it. Nothing cheers me up more than bursting her bubble and there is nothing more satisfying than seeing my beautiful incendiary comment (anonymous of course!) appearing in the middle of those left by all the crawling sycophants who read her blog. Seriously – if all you’re going to say is ‘Aw, I love this post so much Joni’ – why even bother leaving a comment at all.

After clawing my eyes out from reading the tripe on Joni’s site I quickly checked out a few other blogs that just do my head in. I know, I know. I can hear you asking Why even read this stuff if it does your head in? But I can’t contribute in the HRW forums if I don’t know what’s going on in blogland … and those HRW people are my tribe. I am so sick of all the nice out there in the online world. Nice does not sit well with my miserable life and those HRW people just get me.

Speaking of people who just get me, I saw the most awesome thing on twitter today. Valentine Lord*** is doing an online book club for – get this! – hate reading an entire book.  How cool is that? She’s chosen Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, which incidentally I have already read, and truth be told, really enjoyed. But no matter, I am sure once everyone starts talking about what they hated so much about it I’ll be able to join in somewhere. The best thing about this though is that I never imagined Valentine was one of us! So cool to have someone like her in the hate reading world.

So anyway – now you can see why I got nothing done at work today – all this hating takes a fair amount of time and energy. Best I sign off now Dear Diary. I think I need to go and kick a cat or something to really ice the cake on this most excellent day!

—————————————————————-

I just don’t get the whole concept of hate reading … or being an online troll (someone who leaves hate filled comments on blog posts or Facebook posts or in response to tweets, just to elicit a reaction from someone.)

As my husband says – we could all be dead tomorrow. Is this really the way you want to spend your last day on earth?

 * Real person | **  Not a real person | *** Real person, not her real name

Do you hate read? Do you understand hate reading?

This post originally appeared here and has been republished with full permission.