I have a message for those individuals who have been posting negative comments about me and my blog on various forums and websites over the last few weeks:
Thank you.
Negative publicity is still publicity, and all this has done is attract more visitors to my blog. If your goal was to blast me off the Internet, then you have failed miserably.
Although I have made some enemies by bringing this blog into existence, my supporters outnumber you by a hundredfold, and these are the people that I care about. I knew well in advance that when this site was created, Internet trolls would come in droves to start a never-ending flame war. So, none of this surprises me.
Since I’ve broken new ground by starting an s.o. prison blog (I think), I knew this site would be either favored, or infamous. It’s actually turning out to be a bit of both worlds since my audience is so polarized. I really had no idea that I’d draw tons of readers with pending cases to my site. I just thought that I’d get yelled at by a bunch of gremlins on the Web for attempting to educate the public about how prison life is for a sex offender. The positive interest and feedback is a welcome sight, and I would like for you guys to keep participating by asking me questions. [Editor’s Note: See the “Ask Joe” page on this blog.]
As far as you Web gremlins are concerned, this is my final message to you: If you are trying to insult me or hurt my feelings, be aware that I have never actually seen my own website on a computer. All that I see is the occasional screenshot printed on paper, or comments from readers that my editor sometimes emails me. All of YOUR dumb comments get filtered out by my editor so that the public and I NEVER see them, so you’re just wasting your time.
If you wanted to see me fail, you were better off just doing nothing. In your own way, you have contributed to my success, and I thank you. Please keep spreading the word about this blog, so that the readership will keep growing, and so that more people can benefit from the experiences shared here.
Joe, I marked this entry as "cool." Not that the topic is cool, but your reaction to it is. You are absolutely right: any publicity is good publicity. You are providing a good service to many people... to those of us who have loved ones inside, to people who people who are facing time inside, and of course to your own family and friends. And, well, to yourself. Keep doin' what your doin', and don't let the gremlins get you down. And to the editor, thank you for keeping the negativity outta here. We see plenty of that everywhere else we turn. I'm sorry you have to see it, but thank you for shielding Joe and the rest of us from it. ~SimplyMe
ReplyDeleteI think it is very important for people in jail to write! Most of the American population has no idea what it is like to be labeled a criminal and sent to prison. I myself feel like we live in such a strange society and not that I want people to do so called "bad" things to one another, but we need to create a imprisonment that is geared towards truly helping inmates rather than just getting them "off the streets." I'm happy to see you have an outlet... no matter the subject it is an important part of our reality to write and express ourselves! Hope things are going as well as can be expected and all I can do is say that all experiences are a test of what we want to work on in ourselves. When you ask for patience... you'll get harder situations to deal with in your life. Peace!
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