Keyboard heroes. We’ve all run into them before. People that only have something negative to say when they’re protected by the anonymity of email or the internet. I deal with them all the time at work when answering technical support emails. Somehow, despite the fact that I didn’t design the product, build it, ship it, supply it or sell it to them, it’s my fault that it’s not working correctly.

Often people will take out their frustrations on others because they’re annoyed with themselves. In the case of people I deal with, it’s usually because they haven’t done their homework, and now realise that these products are “actually kind of complicated.” – They need a scapegoat for their ignorance. For a number of reasons it’s not practical to respond to complicated technical issues via email, so I replay by asking customers to call me directly. Well surprise, surprise if most of them don’t lose their attitude the instant they get on the phone to you!

I do have customers on the phone sometimes though that want me to sit there and talk them through the entire setup of a product because they’re (by their own admission) too lazy to read the manual. Again, that lack of face-to-face interaction allows people to say things they wouldn’t normally say with little or no consequence. I have told customers like that, point-blank, “you don’t buy a new car and ask the dealership to teach you how to drive, do you?” Now I know what you’re thinking, “you wouldn’t say that if they were there in front of you.” Well actually I would. I welcome the opportunity to make people feel uncomfortable when they’re being unreasonable or just plain ridiculous. Sometimes you need to hold a mirror up to people’s ugly qualities. It’s been done to me before and while I’m initially annoyed, I learn and adjust as best I can. Most people will, unless they’re arrogant, narcissistic or just plain nasty.

I spend a lot of time on the internet and read a lot of personal blogs. This is where anonymity can get nasty. A personal blog is just that, “personal.” People keep blogs for all sorts of reasons. Whether it reads as vain or a desperate cry for help or attention (and everything in between) is irrelevant. Someone’s giving you access to their personal life and it should be respected as such. Using a false email or Formspring or any other form of anonymous contact to insult someone or provide criticism that’s not constructive is cowardly, insensitive and ultimately reflects very poorly on the individual.

Thanks to the internet and the rise of social media, today’s douchebag is devolving into primeval slime at a rate that’s comparible to the price they pay for their Ed Hardy shirts… As the old saying goes, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all you lousy rat bastard fuckers.

Like the chart says

* Thanks to VikingFunk for his contribution to Pruesaysit.com, if you’d enjoy hearing more tech rants and raves, check out his blog.