when you were younger, did you ever imagine the internet growing the way it has or that you’d one day control the lives of many, have global reach, be the overlord of multiple living breathing human beings, and the founder of a cult-lite made up of who knows how many dedicated and adoring fans, all who found you through a shitty blogging website? Hell I grew up with the internet in full swing and that even seems outlandish to me

in short: how do you deal with that lol I’d be stressin

(submitted by: Anonymous)

RE: imagine the internet growing the way it has?

Depends on what part we’re looking at:

In terms of infrastructure: Up until about 2010? Yes. My early 90s vision for the internet and what it looked like in 2010 lined up pretty well. But I didn’t foresee the rise of algorithmic advertising and timelines, which was a huge miss on my part.

In terms of culture: Once upon a time, I thought the most important thing I could contribute to the world would be creating spaces for open, challenging, responsible conversation between rational adults.

But then smartphones came along… I expected the phones, but not the mass adoption of them. I expected Crackberries for semi-nerds, not iPhones for eight year olds. And suddenly the internet was flooded with, well… idiots. There had always been assholes and trolls and creeps, but they’d at least been bright-ish, and more importantly, invested in being seen to be bright. They respected intelligence enough to fear looking like fools, and that moderated their behavior.

You can talk to a smart asshole. You can manage a bright troll. You can apply peer-pressure to a clever creep. It might be exhausting, but you can do it. Because ultimately, everyone involved wants to be a functional member of the community.

We lost that. And I absolutely didn’t see it coming. I had no idea how quickly stupidity —when forced into a realm where intellect dominates— turns into nihilism.

RE: one day control the lives of many

By my mid-twenties, yes, I had an idea I would. I was deeply in denial about several aspects of the job, and frankly afraid of it… but it was there. Waiting to happen.

Did I know the internet would be integral to the development of that control? Again, yes. From the moment I first dialed in to a local BBS, I knew I’d found my medium. I mean, the first girl I met online moved in with me and never left… obviously, this is where I was meant to be.

As for global reach… honestly, no, I didn’t plan for it. The early online spaces were very U.S.-centric, and I seldom encountered people from outside my country unless I went looking for them.

No, I did not foresee the overlord bit. The hub of a harem? Sure. I knew I had that in me. The bigger things, the more profound things… they had to dawn on me slowly.

And the cult…? When I was eight, I convinced all the neighborhood kids to attend my afterschool classes, where I whipped them with sticks when they failed to answer questions I knew they were too ignorant to answer. When I was sixteen, I spurred a walk-out at my high school because I wanted to watch a movie in class and I knew better than the teachers. In my twenties, I led a schism in an online community because I thought we belonged on the web and I knew better than the grown-ups. I haven’t always been comfortable with it, but people are generally happier when I’m in charge.

And I’m happier when they make it worth my while.

RE: outlandish

I lost my virginity to a married woman who became so clingy that I had to convince her she was a lesbian to make her leave me alone. For my 21st birthday, all the women who worked with me at a retail store pooled their money and ordered me a stripper, then kicked management out of the next morning’s meeting so those on the day-shift could watch the video of the event. The foremost love of my life met me at the door of a hotel room with a collar around her neck and a loaded .357 in her purse.

And all of that was before AOL mailed their first floppy.

So yeah, I knew shit was going to get weird.

RE: how do I deal with that?

I remind myself that they’re here for me, and do my best.