Bitching

I was re-checking the comments on TechTech's last post - out of curiosity, to see how many people responded to his final message, etc. I just saw that someone was bitching about me for trying to pat a friendly soul on its (virtual) back.
Now, if I was a guy trying to show off, (a) I'd be doing it through Oprah's show, and (b) I'd probably already be a celebrity, considering my intelligence, good looks and gigantic male genitalia. Still, since I've seen this 'hater' kind of behavior spreading out (again) through the last months all over the share-net, I feel like clearing some things out.

When someone spends time of her/his day to rip a CD or a vinyl; to correct any pops or frequency imbalances; to scan or gather the covers and labels and whatever; to pack and post them in a premium account which s/he sustains just for the fun of sharing; to write down some shit in a language that might not be her/his mother tongue; to sum it up, when someone's blogging and posting her/his own rips he needs time to do that. I consider myself to spend an average of just less than an hour per day for posting. Considering I work about 12 hours a day and spend at least two more in the traffic, it's off my sleep time (I like to spend time with my wife now and then, you see). This hour is oh so fucking precious. And I rip CDs; I just couldn't do it if I did ripped vinyl.

Some people I know steal time from work. Others temporarily isolate themselves from their family or friends, lost in the posting vortex. We could be spending this time for recreation, fucking around with friends or playing games. But no, we're still here trying to share stuff, like so many people did before us; trying to keep certain material in the surface, not to let it be buried under the tons of crap flying around. Trying to give back some to those who we took some from. But the main point here is that everyone of us is doing it on her/his own free will. Not for money (well... most of us don't), neither for the glory. We're no 'heroes of the underground'; we need no medals, we're all in this together and egos have no place in the net. Many cannot handle this conflict between 'real' and 'internet' life; that's why they stop. Exhausting work schedules and/or unpredictable events do take their toll and demand time more and more.

Still, some leechers (most of them under-aged, I guess) seem to think everyone of us is out there just to supply them and their own bubble-world with the latest crap from the X hype label; which they'll never support anyway. Or with the 'long lost gems' from the past they've been 'searching' (= cruising around the net for twenty minutes and pressing everyone they know about it, instead of just buying the fucking record for 2 euros on discogs) 'for ages' (= since last Tuesday). So, it doesn't matter if that guy who slowed down a bit or even shut down a blog had a really serious issue, like collapsing from overworking or losing a beloved one; no, he's a fucker and they hate him for cutting off their supply, so they end up insulting him or even fucking up with his page.

As for the case that spawned this post, I only have to say to mr. 'Big Daddy Fat Ass' that I'm also going through a lot of stuff lately and feeling exactly like TechTech sometimes, as far as I can tell from the distance. But if you think I showed off or that I owe you something more than I offer, you must be really confused. You don't know me. You don't know how I live, where I live and if I'm actually 'keeping it real' or not (whatever that means). I don't, either, and I wouldn't care to know really. But I'm a human being, like all of us; a bit more than a stupid persona in the internet. And I have to say that you don't get a saying in how much I post or how often. This is not a free supermarket and I'm not your music dealer. If you don't like it, get off. The worst thing though (I would ignore you otherwise, believe me) was that you crapped on TechTech's page, where everybody tried to comfort him. Most of all, from the safety of your anonymity.

I wouldn't go so far as to ask some respect from anyone, as it is entirely up to one's culture and mental capacity to grasp this much misunderstood concept, even more to apply it to someone you don't even know and you probably never will (I might be a 60 years' old mother of three in disguise, as far as you can tell). Some politeness would be nice, though. And if you don't like someone, just leave their pages. If you don't like what you read, then just don't. Stop fucking around, people are not your toys.
(By the way, if you had given an e-mail, I'd be PMing you instead of doing this in public; that's why you see these sentences here. They'll stay up only for an short amount of time anyway, just in case you happen to see them.)

I might have over-reacted on this (and spent a lot of time I don't really have...), still I know some of you out there will understand (I even know who you are, guys). But the 'haters' issue is really troubling me, I can't even grasp why would someone spend time on something s/he doesn't like at all, and I keep seeing it all the time in other blogs. It's a kind of vampyrism, I guess

To all greedy leeches, suck these first.