I have opinions.
I mean, who doesn't?
Sometimes I have opinions about leggings. Or crop tops. Or wine.
But here's the thing about opinions. You have them too. And sometimes your opinions are going to line up with mine. And sometimes they are not.
And that's OKAY.
The world would be a really, really dull place if every single person felt exactly the same way about everything.
But here's the thing about sharing opinions:
REMEMBER TO BE RESPECTFUL.
It's a funny thing, this internet world. Because people have the ability to sit behind this veil of anonimity and shout things that they would never shout at your face, and they make up fake email addresses to give dissenting or rude or obnoxious or cowardly opinions.
Only, here's the thing. Whenever you leave a comment anywhere, you are leaving behind a virtual FOOTPRINT of who you are. When you leave your comment, you leave an IP ADDRESS. And I don't know if you know this, but leaving an IP ADDRESS behind leaves all sort of information, such as where you work, what city you live in, what size your screen is, what web browser you are using, what site brought you TO my site, what you clicked out to FROM my site, how many hours you have spent on my site. Essentially, you are basically telling me exactly WHO YOU ARE. All it takes is a little digging and some help from, say, LinkedIn.
If you want to tell me that you don't like my post, please tell me you don't like my post.
If you want to tell me that you love to wear leggings as pants, please tell me.
If you want to tell me that you love crop tops, please tell me.
If you want to tell me that you love wine, please tell me.
That's OKAY. It's encouraged even, as it creates a dialogue, and a discussion. Which, when we write on the internet, is what we want; it's what we crave.
But here's what you should not do.
You should not leave a comment as someone such as, say, "nothingmuch" with a fake email address, and tell me that something that is very important to me is too melodramatic for you and that it's ridiculous that I choose to cry over something that was very emotional for me.
Because, really?
You are dictating what I should find important?
You are dictating what should or should not make me cry?
I wonder what you, NOTHINGMUCH, would have to say if I tell you that I cry at Folger's commercials.
I wonder if you, NOTHINGMUCH, know that I know exactly who you are, based on the IP ADDRESS YOU LEFT BEHIND when you so cowardly left me a comment behind an anonymous veil.
Because that's just the thing.
It's not anonymous.
So, I hope people can remember to RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE when they do, in fact, diasgree.
Because it's okay to disagree.
It really is.
What is not okay is being disrespectful.
What is not okay is hiding behind a fake email address.
What is not okay is telling ME on MY SITE what I should or should not feel.
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