More In Sorrow Than In Anger

Is there anything more gutless than the silent lurker? Who only breaks cover when so offended they just have to announce how offended they are, and how long they've followed your page, and how now they've unsubscribed and will never read your stuff again?

Seriously. If you couldn't be bothered to talk to me before I offended you, if you couldn't make an effort to let me know you were out there, reading and presumably enjoying my work, for however long it is you were doing it, well, I'm not gonna miss you. I'm really not.

What I love most, though, is the silent lurker who drops in with one of these offendograms and says "you know, I've been pulling for you all this time, really hoping things would get better, but now, I just can't stick with you any more".

It's like, seriously? You were pulling for me all this time? You were really hoping things would get better? Did it ever occur to you to, you know, MENTION THAT?

There's something despicable about the person who claims to have been on your side for all these days/weeks/months/years, but now, oh, NOW, they have to regretfully walk away. And you don't even know who they are. They've had your back all this time and they never even mentioned it. They could never bother making the effort to let you know they were there -- until they finally do, in the context of putting you down.

It's the more in sorrow than in anger thing. Like they can't help it! It hurts them more than it hurts you, that they could never encourage you, never support you, never mention how much they liked your work -- until they could do it in a way that would not only not help you in any way, but that is actually calculated to do you harm.

That's pretty loathsome.