![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I think Howard Hendrix's original rant was the most perfectly classic case of shooting oneself in the foot that I've seen in a long time, perhaps ever - because even if he does not have any particular attachment to the Internet he probably knows enough people who DO that he should have realised that he was uttering fightin' words, and that the cyberpeople would stand up and raise cyberbanners in cyber-revolt. Which, in fact, is exactly what happened - and here we all are, on International Pixel-Stained Techno-Peasant Wretch day.
But I'm not entirely sure about having a single dedicated day on which one posts something on the Internet apparently just to prove a point - and why? Because if this is being done to prove that point to Howard Hendrix, (a) he probably doesn't care and (b) he very probably won't be reading any of this. He's said as much - he doesn't DO the 'Net, doesn't want to, doesn't care. And if it is being done to prove a point to the rest of us, well, as far as I am concerned that point has already been made and made and made, many times, and we're kind of preaching to the converted here, really, aren't we? And if, as I've seen in several posts today, this is being done just because we can, because we are writers, because we enjoy it, because we're feeling generous with our words - what is this day saying, that we do this only on one day of the year? What happens tomorrow, or next week, or in six months' time? And I've seen messages around the Internet which say something like, "There, I was first to post, I've beaten everyone else, do I get my SFWA points now?" - which makes me cringe just a bit. We're doing it for SFWA points now?... The message seems a tad... mixed. Or maybe I'm just the token Pixel-Stained Techno-Peasant Cynical Wretch. There always has to be one, I guess. But far be it from me to rain on anyone's parade.
I've had stuff online at my website for a while - you can find the short story that won the BBC Radio 4 competition back in 2000, as well as a couple of essays, here; you can find a sample of the new YA book, "Gift of the Unmage", here. So, if you wander past those places today - happy PSTPW Day. Enjoy.
But I'm not entirely sure about having a single dedicated day on which one posts something on the Internet apparently just to prove a point - and why? Because if this is being done to prove that point to Howard Hendrix, (a) he probably doesn't care and (b) he very probably won't be reading any of this. He's said as much - he doesn't DO the 'Net, doesn't want to, doesn't care. And if it is being done to prove a point to the rest of us, well, as far as I am concerned that point has already been made and made and made, many times, and we're kind of preaching to the converted here, really, aren't we? And if, as I've seen in several posts today, this is being done just because we can, because we are writers, because we enjoy it, because we're feeling generous with our words - what is this day saying, that we do this only on one day of the year? What happens tomorrow, or next week, or in six months' time? And I've seen messages around the Internet which say something like, "There, I was first to post, I've beaten everyone else, do I get my SFWA points now?" - which makes me cringe just a bit. We're doing it for SFWA points now?... The message seems a tad... mixed. Or maybe I'm just the token Pixel-Stained Techno-Peasant Cynical Wretch. There always has to be one, I guess. But far be it from me to rain on anyone's parade.
I've had stuff online at my website for a while - you can find the short story that won the BBC Radio 4 competition back in 2000, as well as a couple of essays, here; you can find a sample of the new YA book, "Gift of the Unmage", here. So, if you wander past those places today - happy PSTPW Day. Enjoy.