The Site Takedown and Why it Doesn't Matter · 2:32am Apr 18th, 2015
So, I'm a very new user on this site. As of this post, it has only been three weeks since I posted my first story, "Butterflies." I already like a lot about this site over Fanfiction.net, though I have a much longer history on this site. The interface, the system, and just the overall look of it. Not to mention the fact that your story has to at least be legible to be accepted.
Then yesterday, some script kiddies did a DDoS attack and the site went down.
Was I annoyed? Oh, most definitely. But I was more annoyed with the sheer number of people who found the little twerp who claimed responsibility and tried to vent. It amazes me that we still - STILL - have people who don't remember the most trustworthy rule of the internet:
DON'T FEED THE TROLLS
And that really is all it amounted to: trolling. All the talk about social justice warriors or anti-feminism or any other high-minded ideology when the kid in question just re-tweeted all the folks who posted angry stuff for giggles. The word "trolling" is used too often to refer to anyone who's just messing around or casually antagonizing others. But trolling isn't messing around. With that, the joke is still funny if you laugh along with it. No, my young children... you have forgotten that the word "troll" means the guy who pisses you off for the purpose of pissing you off. If you don't get mad and laugh it off, the troll loses. If you argue, the troll wins.
To be clear, I do get how mean it was. I saw one post that actually really stuck me:
I've got a seemingly minority view on this, due to being the ripe young age of 13, a girl, and autistic...
A fandom, from the outside, is a group of nerdy people who all obsess over the same thing. A fandom, from just inside the border (aka, becoming a member), is a club of potential friends who, just maybe, will tolerate your rants for five seconds before kicking you to the curb the second you open your mouth. Like the rest of the world. Including your family, though you know they're trying their absolute hardest every single moment of the day. Am I dramatizing it? NO. WELCOME TO MY LIFE. ...A fandom from the inside, though I'm sure I cannot even try to comprehend any of this as I am still a kid (and no, I'm not bullshitting you. Of there's one thing I know, it's that crap like that is obvious and you won't put up with it) is the most beautiful thing ... [T]hese people, they are so amazing! (You think) you might just find someone that actually cares! And look, they can write too. Well, some of them. Such amazing stories! Hey, maybe you'll be good at it, too! It's better than staying quiet forever.
For folks like that girl, I get how precious the fandom can be, and what a huge slap in the face it is when someone just takes that out of your hands. I'm no stranger to bullies back in my younger days, but I've grown and I've got a pretty great life and it all seems a distant memory. Yet it still really really sucks when someone else acts in a way that says "No. You don't deserve to feel accepted."
The kind of people who say that, of course, don't care how upset you are or how much you hate them. They didn't say that because they cared. They said that because they wanted to see how upset you were when they said that. Which is why I'm very proud of the folks who run this site and the good folks over at Equestria Daily for one simple fact: they didn't mention the name of the script kiddie.
The site was back up in less than a day, might even be improved for the experience, and nothing was lost but the better part of an afternoon and evening. The fandom's moved on and tomorrow there will be a new episode of the show. The script kiddie has begun his fall into the pit of obscurity. And when the next one rears his ugly head, we should do the cruelest thing we can: let him drown in that obscurity by not taunting him and by completely forgetting his name.
Amen to that.