The Writers Cafe Virus

Why is it we all tolerate what in real life we would not take The art of being someone’s friend just to use them for our own sake

When did we ever say that we

regulate anonymity

Nor wish it on another soul

to bestow mediocrity

 

This virus if allowed to grow

will infect each and every one

With the feeling of helplessness

hiding the dark within the sun

 

We lose good people everyday

tired of wondering on their friends

They will keep fleeing from this site

until this childishness here ends

 

I can't speak for everyone

but for myself I will say this

I would never let a nightmare

send me off to the great abyss

 

Why is it we all tolerate

what in real life we would not take

The art of being someone’s friend

just to use them for your own sake

 

If you can't find it in yourself

to be truthful open and kind

You are wrong simply to assume

that we are all deaf, dumb and blind

 

Tate  

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Author's Note

We all want the same thing here.To meet and share with friends. I say we stop tolerating this nightmare that never ends. Some will say I should not be so upset .Let it roll off.But I have never lain down for abuse. I would rather be knocked down.
A man can always take comfort
in the things he must abide
To look in the mirror fallen
taking resp-it from that he tried

Lately the bad actors are coming out of the woodwork and i am half tempted to open a site just to list each and every one of their names for the sake of the good people here.
Today one of these vermin trashed the work of David Lewis Paget. I say enough is enough! Even if it means we have to publicly out them !

Reviews

[The Analog Kid]

Most know who the main problem is on here. Desbest said it well. For a while this virus was abated, but it is like Herpes and it keeps coming back. I have no problem blocking and ignoring, but it gets uncomfortable not knowing who you can trust. I just purged approx 75 people from my list of "friends." I will not leave because of a few trouble makers. As a few of us have concurred that this is a social experiment. Konsor lets anything go. Like Animal Farm or Lord of the Flies!

[Alex Falkner]

I agree with this piece, I've only been on writers cafe for about two weeks and already I have noticed such things, I have been got a friend request from two certain people and frequent read requests from one of them, I will not name names, However the ones I speak of have not sent a message to me at all, nor have they reviewed my work, to add to that I am doubtful they have even bothered reading my work at all.
I do read the work of the people on my friends list, and review them.
I also do my best to read and revew the work of people that have reviewed mine, it is a two way street, the phrase "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" comes to mind.
I have always been a very untrusting person in real life, and continue to be so on here, this virtual world I believe is more danger than the real world as you cannot see the face of the person talking to you and judge what he/she is truly thinking.
I have read a lot of the coments made on this one, and I believe someone said something about posting a photo of oneself, to that, I believe it is a personal choice, I will not post a picture of myself for the sheer fact it will break your screen.
All kidding aside, I have no photos of myself and if I did I would still not post it as a matter of personal choice and privacy.

[Veronica Chandler]

I am speechless in response to the events which inspired this write; What can be said to ward off spiritual and emotional vampires? They feed off of the warmth and light of others in order to stave off their own feelings of inadequacies; they are typical school yard bullies and when the whole school yard unites against the tyranny of a few...surely they must sulk away...tail between their legs. There is no accounting for bad taste!

[Tate Morgan]

Thank you I suppose like leaches they will stay and show up and b***h and bemoan their station But We can share our collective knowledge of them.

[Veronica Chandler]

Amen!

[roarke]

It's not just here Tate, it's the subtext of the internet. Anonymity IS it's own problem in a public/social forum, but it's not that either.
There's a malaise in the world, both the real, geo-physical world and the virtual world.
The internet, for most who frequent it, is not much more than a distraction to the boredom in their lives. The boredom comes from not doing things, learning lessons of life, not interacting with real people and family so they can become well rounded people.
As "large" as the internet is, it's really only composed of a very narrow spectrum. It's become the side spawn of consumerism and advertising- not to mention DISinformation. So only those that know HOW to learn, actually use the internet as a learning /communicating tool.

Then again anonymity morphs into transience. People come and go on the internet, the tire of the narrow scope and go searching in vain again for something else, not knowing what that something else they look for is.

On another note you've touched here, if you don't contribute, then you are using. Create, don't consume and if you consume, then contribute. I once joined a writing club.... if you could call it that. After about six months, half the people quit reading the other half's pieces and then there was nothing to discuss in critique. So people dropped out. I foolishly stuck with it for about a year, but it only got worse and the new people coming in were illiterate, and had never written anything and worse. But I see that as the responsibility of the group leader, not the individual people. My point is the old adage, you get out of it what you put into it.
That being said, you are right, there are very few on here who read and review. I have sixty friend requests that I don't accept because they had first never read anything of mine nor were their few submissions of any serious effort. I'm not on here to read someone's diary and I don't enjoy reading poems written for bubble gum wrappers.
But as people grow, develop, read, ask, listen, try, DO.... then they want more. We all want more. So the grail search moves on, forgetting the good things that helped them grow. Even in small remote towns, the young move out, the old die, the town becomes deserted.
The simplest way to look at it is: CONTRIBUTE WHEN AND WHERE YOU CAN
as for the ravers and trolls here, I haven't been accosted by them, and I don't care, it's only words and delusions from people with narrow experiences. Not my worry.

In an international forum which is what the internet is, the participant supplies all the information anyone wants to know about them. If you offer negative, aggressive traits... that's good information for the rest of us to know.

A good soap box topic, I brought my old saws.... No one on here for any length of time doubts your contributions or sincerity Tate. You're well appreciated.

[Tate Morgan]

Roarke You are the professor of us all.Both in life lessons and ability to communicate.What i wouldnt give for your expertise in language,.I thank your input as do my friends. Though you are more of a novelist than a poet if I might say so,I still think you and SAM are the great wordsmiths of this conversation.

[Peter H]

i'm new hear but is their someone on this page who plagerizes poetry or is a troll of some sort cause that's the meaning i get from this piece or do we have a troll of some sort's ?

[Jack...]

Very cool and makes the point. You should feature each day for a while.

[Tate Morgan]

Oh I intend to do just that !

[Marc Marlon Villaflor]

Great write about the virtual world of WC. I just can't give criticism about the theme of the piece, because I am new here. I think it is a freedom of any writer to choose friends. However, we should be careful also in adding friends in our friends list.

[Tate Morgan]

thank you very much marc

[Rogue]

Tate, Dear, it is the same the Internet over. It does not matter what site one joins. In this cyber world abusing others comes very easily to some. There are no repercussions for their behavior here. Their morals and manners (if they ever had any) go right out the window. We aren't supposed to consider this place real. Any insults or injury is supposed to just roll off our backs. Afterall, this is just a fantasy land isn't it?
Yet for some of us, a part of us believes. In both the people we converse with and the words we say. Each one that comes close and proves eventually to be false leaves a mark.
A conundrum really. Should one just buy into the fantasy and not care about others even when it is in their nature to do so? Or should one just keep on hoping to find the "real" in all the make believe and suffer the consequences?

You've brought some very good points in an ever growing Internet society.

[Tate Morgan]

One of the greatest of problems here are the avatars and fake identities.I for one am not accepting any new friends afraid to show their faces.There is no reason a writer need hide behind a avatar

[quinfinn]

anyone who has more than one identity here is a poseur, an imposter and probably a plagiarist....so insignificant in their own identities that they have to pretend to be others....kicking down their hard work and efforts with subterfuge and theft....shame on them for being the scum of the earth! we will root them all out eventually and expose them for the garbage they are.....

[Rogue]

Well, my face is my face. And that is it smiling at you, as with other pictures in my photos.
But my name is my own. With a name one can be found. Seems silly right? And yet I have seen more Internet people become real life stalkers than I care to. To those I become extremely close to, my name is given. This is the most I am willing to do at this time. Hope you understand.

[quinfinn]

oh, no one's attacking you, dear......we have an idea who these people are

[Jack...]

I'm me

[Tate Morgan]

Well i am easy enough to find as well

[Rogue]

I know you're not, Quinn. I also realize there is a problem. I was partly responding to what I was reading in the reviews on this. Another word that comes up is "cliques". I don't know about that. What I do know is that many of us gravitate to writings and writers that connect or speak to us in some way with work we truly enjoy. As in real life, you find a writer that does this, you generally read all of their past works and are quick to snap up anything new they publish. It is much the same here. Comfort zone and clique are two different things and should not be confused. Although many of us read the work of new writers here, we will in the end always be drawn to that which touches us.

btw Jack & Tate, I'd be easy to find too if I was a big strong male and had no bushes outside my home. -grin-

Alright, I've said my peace on all this. I will leave it alone.

[quinfinn]

good on ya, sweetie!

[Jack...]

Wait, I have bushes outside of my home.

[quinfinn]

i live on the second floor (but my name's not Luka)

[Rogue]

Hahahahaha just toss a pb&j sandwich in there every once in awhile, Jack and hope that satisfies them.

[Jack...]

I'll try that...one never knows what is lurking in the bushes. Quinn, can you hear me up there?

[quinfinn]

nah, i've got the best of steppenwolf blasting at full volume!!!!! "a girl i knew"

[redflutterby]

Obviously my pic is an avatar. For me w/c is a private place where I can't post my writing. Those who have interacted with me should be able to tell I'm a real person. Because some of my poetry is my personal experiences and deeply painful I prefer the anonymity. But I can understand how people are suspicious and wary.

[Tate Morgan]

Am I have no problem with you You are as fine as any I have met. I thank you all for your conversations on this subject

[Adam Lebzo -RonninWarri..]

good one, tate
I sensed you anger

[Frieda P]

Go you....haven't been on WC long but I already see what you're talking about here. I guess it's not unlike real life, people come and go, if you're lucky you make a few friends that make an impact on your life and stick around. Well done.