A Public Service Announcement : Reporting Users On YouTube

This post has nothing to do with arty stuff or comics or cartoons or any of that stuff, but I felt the need to say something about this somewhere and this seemed as good a place as any.

I've just spent far too long reporting people for abuse on YouTube. None of this abuse was directed at me, but it should become obvious why it has angered me as you read on.

The sorts of people who do this kind of thing are usually referred to as 'trolls' in Internetland, but I feel this term is unfair to the forest or mountain-dwelling creatures of Nordic mythology. I don't know about you, but the mythological variety of troll has never caused me any problems. None have ever attempted to eat me, I don't keep goats and whenever trip-trapping over a bridge, I'm always careful to do so as quietly as possible.

I have no problems with trolls.

I do, however, have a problem with people who post derogatory and sickening comments on videos of children with medical conditions and physical disabilities, or on videos paying tribute to someone who has died.

That'll really get my goat, (if you'll pardon the expression).

Earlier this evening, I spotted some of this kind of stuff on a video I was watching and decided to report it, but found that it wasn't immediately obvious how to do so.

Here's a video explaining how to go about it...



...and you can ignore the first 40 seconds of that if you click
this direct link to where you need to go.

Of course, in the instances mentioned, I selected "Hate Speech Against a Protected Group".

So now you know how to do that.

One more thing before I go, whatever you do, DO NOT REPLY TO, OR ATTEMPT TO ENGAGE IN CONVERSATION WITH THE NON-ENTITIES WHO SPOUT THIS OFFENSIVE GARBAGE!

These people are seeking attention. They want to annoy you. They even say "I really like annoying people" on some of their channels. They get a kick out of provoking a reaction. The best thing you can do is ignore them completely and report them as soon as you spot them.

I know it's difficult and how much you'd like to punch their face in, but this is not real life. This is the internet. Attempt to punch someone over the internet and the best you can hope for is a broken monitor.

Ignore them. Because that's the one thing they don't want.

Trapped In A World He Never Made...

That's Howard The Duck.

The character has a long and convoluted history, so instead of going into it here, I'll just direct you to his Wikipedia entry.

My introduction to him was in the pages of British reprint comic, "Marvel Madhouse" in 1982. Because it was an anthology comic, it started off with the shorter horror-themed strips, which had originally appeared as back-up stories in "Giant-Size Man-Thing", (yes, I know, shoosht). It immediately appealed to seven year old me's sensibilities.

That's right. When I was seven, I was reading existentialist horror comics involving a chain-smoking talking duck who becomes romantically involved with a human female artist's model. That kind of thing was totally normal for the 1980s and had no effect on my impressionable young mind whatsoever.