FanPost

A Well-Illustrated Warning

This is a few days old, but it caught my attention and might be useful as a teaching device.

To all of you bloggers out there who are unfamiliar with Excluding Zetterberg and the "19" readers of that site, be aware that any and all criticism of them will bring down upon you a furious flame attack the likes you've never seen before. Like most Red Wings fans, the disciples of that blog are notoriously thin-skinned, and will tolerate no disparagement, no matter how many Cups their hallowed franchise brings home.

BReynolds over at the Wild blog Hockey Wilderness found that out the hard way. The story in three posts:

In "Anyone Else a Little Bored?", BReynolds dares to criticize two of the Chief's posts, selecting quotes of dubious merit to pick apart. 220 furious, vitriolic comments later (not including some that were deleted), he is driven to post "In Defense of the Caveman," in which he directly confronts and responds to the Chief's defensive comments.

After more back-and-forth pettiness and juvenility (it's a word now), BReynolds plays French and posts "Apologies," in which he falls down in a heap and utters the most atrocious sentence I've ever read: "I have offered my surrender to A2Y."

Sad.

There are three important lessons for all bloggers to learn from this sorry situation:

  • First, never directly engage Red Wings fans for any reason. For one, it's a useless endeavor, and for two, they don't deserve the attention.
  • Second, don't be afraid of the Ban Hammer. Use it without hesitation and without remorse. Hell, if you have to close the comments down completely, do so. What's the worst that can happen? They badmouth you to each other in their own little online circle jerk? You'll survive.
  • Third, don't waste time linking to or discussing Excluding Zetterberg at all, ever. Nothing positive or constructive will ever come out of it. With the exception of this post, the MHH policy of ignoring them completely continues unabated.

Don't let BReynolds have died in vain. Learn something from this.

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