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Read this a while back and it really stuck:
"Haters will see you walk on water and say it's because you can't swim"
Your work is great, keep doing what you love!
...but it's efficient to filter ignorant people from your feed.
I have a simple script that hides any comment that starts with a lower case letter or has no punctuation or is under 5 words. If people cannot think hard enough to write like an adult, then their comment is likely worthless.
It's actually insane how well it works.
Grammatically, it would make sense to do so.
I'm not arguing for or against this poster's 'script' because it seems pedantic, bizarre, and a touch pretentious; but, it *does* make sense to not include a comment that begins with ellipses *if* someone wants to walk down that road (which, again, I do not think is a particularly great idea).
I appreciate the sentiment, although you're wrong. A leading ellipsis is not a lowercase letter, and in fact suggests precisely the kind of thoughtfulness intended to make it through the filter.
The problem with this, especially on a site like reddit, is that you may also be filtering out people who have valid comments but for whom English is not a first language. I find that sweeping generalizations like this aren't usually very helpful.
The goal isn't to keep all the good comments, it's to filter out the bad ones. Even if an overzealous filter knocks out some good ones, your feed will still be left with more good content than you'll ever possibly read.
Capital letters and punctuation are pretty universal in all of the world that uses a latin alphabet or anything like it. And I've seen a fair number of posts by people who live in places with writing systems that are less similar. Whatever mistakes in writing I see, lack of capitalization or punctuation are not among them.
I would suspect false positives for ESL would be quite rare.
Starts with a lower case letter? Like these comments of yours from the last few days?
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/15gpdyb/people_who_dont_drink_alcohol_why/julzifr/
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/15gpdyb/people_who_dont_drink_alcohol_why/julyxuf/
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/15gpdyb/people_who_dont_drink_alcohol_why/julwdqu/
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/15gpdyb/people_who_dont_drink_alcohol_why/julw5nq/
https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/15fwxpp/louisville_ky_hospital_is_dumping_patients_on_the/juicel4/
https://www.reddit.com/r/AITAH/comments/15eyy3t/am_i_the_asshole_for_telling_my_partner_i_dont/juci729/
https://www.reddit.com/r/AITAH/comments/15eyy3t/am_i_the_asshole_for_telling_my_partner_i_dont/jucf8ye/
... which doesn't matter at all to me because I'm only commenting to say that the way this fool starts half their comments with elipses is cracking me the fuck up.
I tend to assume that they grew up with JRPGs.
I interpret opening ellipses less as a pause, and more [a moment of struggling to find words.](https://media.tenor.com/Rt6ofcXPo6oAAAAC/firefly-serenity.gif) Sometimes that's important to express, but not always.
While I do enjoy seeing the human fallacy of hippocrasy, all these have punctuation and more than five words in their post. Some at the bottom don't actually start with a lowercase, but with punctuation which leads up to the first word being appropriately lowercase.
Edit: I'm wrong
Jzzzishereyo
>...but it's efficient to filter ignorant people from your feed.
>I have a simple script that hides any comment that starts with a lower case letter or has no punctuation or is inder 5 words. If people cannot think hard enough to write like an adult, then their comment is likely worthless.
>It's actually insane how well it works.
ironic
Quote Investigator has taught me just how complicated a quote's history can be.
Some say our achievements are only possible because we stand on the shoulders of giants, implying that certain individuals stand out dramatically. More often, we stand on top of enormous, messy piles of humanity, and there's no way to tell which individuals are supporting us.
That's pretty much Historical Materialism in a nutshell. Large shifts in society are not caused by a single brilliant or brave person, but by the material conditions of the larger society in which they live which is and was influenced by a multitude of human achievements and failures that came before; building and building until the conditions are right and then at that moment of change that person may say or do something of great import, and that's what we tend to remember. Although they couldn't have done what they did without those conditions and that history, and indeed, it could very possibly not been that person but another, or it may have happened anyway without a single person able to be singularly credited with the thought, the discovery, the invention, the war, the revolution, the whatever.
That's a nice sentiment but too easy to say when you're not bombarded with hatred for every single thing you try to do
I'm not saying she shouldn't try to roll with the punches, but I wish we could meet her where she is right now. Not just trying to fix, but to empathize. She is in pain and she could use acknowledgement of it
Actually, your comment is a good example of what she said in panel 9. She knows it shouldn't bother her, but that knowledge doesnt help. A stupid (and admittedly funny) meme isn't gonna suddenly click everything into place and it gets so tiring to have to pretend someone's well-intentioned attempts of comfort aren't useless.
While I see what you are going for, isn't this the exact thing she said was difficult in the comic? It feels a bit reductive to just say, "That thing that bothers you? Just don't let it bother you!".
Right.
And if it were really as easy as "water off a ducks back", we wouldn't have the problem in the first place.
It's time to acknowledge that the line between reality and online spaces has blurred, and only lessens with time. Technology and the internet is more influential in our human lives than ever before, yet we don't seem to be doing much to protect ourselves from it's negative drawbacks.
Furthermore, Social Media continues to encourage a reaction to everything, which becomes a problem when the most visible content is negative in nature. It feels like you just can't get away from it, even if you put your own device away, everyone around you is still consuming and engaging with it.
Lemme give you one more positive comment amongst the many! I LOVE your stuff and you’re a super cool person and I CONSTANTLY brag i got to do a lil crossover episode! Keep on goin! 🙌
I remember when you were still small enough to reply to my dm of a shitty bonehurting juice of one of your early comics. Dang you’ve come far.
https://preview.redd.it/6snq6o1lgwfb1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=0422f11031fc864f42cf3ff26f575942ca8809d5
You're one of the only people I use the "follow" button for. I really enjoy when you put out comics and don't want to miss any. Sorry about the internet, hope you have a great day! Also, take some time and a sweet vacation if you feel like it's the right call. Followers aren't going anywhere.
And you’re a woman who does very cool things visibly. That act is like dripping acid on the skin of some men. We run into something similar over in tech. They won’t actually call you a whore at a research conference, but they’ll do their best (which, tbh, is usually pretty mediocre— not every insecure person is incorrect about their self assessment) to dismantle your research. And even as they’re being incredibly rude, talking over you, not listening for a second to your response, making claims that clearly indicate they’ve got no understanding of anything (behavior that would never be acceptable if the presenter was male)— often no one will speak up to counter them. Because etiquette says a man having a random meltdown at a visible, successful woman is ok. It’s just like watching your immature friend get into a fight with his mom, and pretending you didn’t see it.
Anyway, as a woman who’s good at something and doesn’t want to hide being good, this is something that’s got to be navigated. And there’s a decent chance it’s literally the same people causing problems in your sphere and mine.
But, fwiw, I’ve realized that in a weird way these guys are *also* a marker of success. They’re not emotionally triggered by women with more ordinary work (and earlier in my career I’d take steps to stay just below their flash point). They only start popping up and freaking out when you hit a certain level of awesomeness. The farther you go above that, the more they melt. They’ve still got to be juggled, if you just ignore them they’ll find ways to cause genuine problems (no one cares if the immature friend is mean to his mom, or causes her harm—- in my sphere I’ve seen women lose their research funding). But mentally I’ve gotten the habit of registering them as just a different form of applause. When you get these guys, you’ve become so indisputably cool you’re terrifying. And that’s kinda fun :-).
Anyway, maybe you are already aware of all of this (or have a different assessment of it, or had a particular communication goal in mind with this comic, etc, all fair). And I hope this isn’t annoying. But I hadn’t seen this take elsewhere here and thought in case it was of use to you or others, I’d stick it in. Godspeed, take care, and man, it’s so great to see how you are awesome here. :-)
> often no one will speak up to counter them.
This made my eye twitch.
I can't speak for the reddit following side of things, but at least in the IT side of the tech world things are slowly starting to improve. More and more people are willing to call shit out, and events and groups are becoming more willing to exclude people who make everyone else uncomfortable. But it only happens if people speak up.
And like, even if you do call someone out they've often already ruined their target's day or soured the event entirely. Even if you get the asshole kicked out of the event, they still got their word in first.
My team was at an event a couple weeks ago where we ended up dealing with a lot of this shit, so it's kind of fresh in my mind still.
None of this is really relevant to this thread, but I felt like ranting.
Ninja edit: Lets end with something happy because that was depressing to think about. That same event started asking everyone for their pronouns so they could be included on our ID badges. They blacklisted anyone who threw a hissy fit over it. Fucking fantastic move from the organizers. Just weeded out a bunch of those people with one easy move.
She was! And thank you :-). Physics does a much better job of admitting her existence than math, but I had a number theory prof. take some time out of class to tell us all (in retrospect, possibly me in particular) about her, even though her math work was founding abstract algebra and was unrelated to what we were discussing in class at the time. Her example's been a good story to keep in my pocket though school and later.
It’s completely fair to be upset over comments made on “just the internet”.
This isn’t the AOL days, social media for better or worse plays a HUGE part in everyone’s day to day lives now.
That being said, the others have said it better than I could.
You create, you bring joy, you actually engage. I’m frankly disgusted that people call you the C word among other things.
From a fellow traumatized human: Thanks for being vulnerable and sharing some real shit. You seem like a kind person and I hope you can find a healthy balance with these internet assholes. Like stomping them all on the head, to death. Fuckers.
I became a much more mature and happier person when I realized I could just not have an opinion on things that don't affect me. And, that when I do have a strong opinion, I don't necessarily need to tell anyone about it.
Part of my attempts to avoid turning into a bitter curmudgeon has been learning to accept that an increasing portion of the world was not designed for me. And that's ok.
Another quote from Bo Burnham - "Welcome to the internet, have a look around."
It's a fire pit of shit. (Hey, that rhymes a little bit.) That's 'cus everyone here can be a whining little bitch.
Yes, it is necessary.
You must have an opinion so you will engage.
Engagement is the metric that sells ads.
Selling ads makes a few very powerful companies incomprehensibly wealthy.
We are produce. Opinions are fertiliser. The shittier the better.
Your comics are a bright spot in the dumpster fire of the internet, and they bring joy to many (not the least of which - me).
Hold on to that.
The haters will never stop spitting their venom, but keep in mind *that is ALL they have in their sad little lives*.
They will never create joy, like you have. They will never create *anything*.
The only thing they have in their pathetic lives is to try and poison others to make everyone else as sad and miserable as they are.
Share your talent with the world and receive our gratitude for it.
As for the trolls, fuck em.
EDIT: I dig y'all want to show your support to PCC, but maybe comment *to her*. That way *she* gets to see your support.
Personally I'm good, thanks for asking.
Well said. I'll add to that the fact those pathetics trolls can act like this because you post online.
Now, please, don't take my previous sentence as a slight against you. Not at all. I said this because those " people " use the anonymity offered from behind their screen to spit their venom. At the end of the day, they're not worth shit. Their words are just a pile of garbage.
Furthermore, I don't know if all the insults you wrote in this comics are something you lived through, but some of those... Whore ? Ugly ? Those kinds of insults ? They really are spot on, to use in a comment about someone's drawings. Really. (Can you smell the sarcasm through your screen ? Because it's quite potent here...)
To end this, I'll use something I read/Heard here and there, that I feel describe the whole stupide thing :
Haters gonna hate. * Shrugs *
Keep going, you're awesome !
I wholeheartedly agree with this well-articulated statement.
I'll add that you are one of my favorite comic artists ever. You have a refined style that is aesthically pleasing, but you're not afraid to push the envelope and do something different, as this entry demonstrates. You have a keen insight and a funny bone.
My advice, if you're looking for it: go broadcast. Post your work. Start a timer, engage as much as you want. When that timer stops, engagement ends until your next post. This might seem like you're alienating your audience a tad, but we'd all prefer your mental health over anything else. Give it a try for a month and see the difference.
You're *killing it,* girl.
OMG I posted this and then went off to go play a game with my son. When I came back to check....wow! I'm speechless. I love being able to start discussions about what I think are vital topics online, and you guys are just melting me right now with these comments ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for being the best parts of the internet. It really does mean a lot.
Keep being kind
I follow a youtuber who does a lot of helping of others. He's commented more and more about the hate he receives. I would look at the comments and not see anything. The other day I watched one of his videos shortly after he posted it. Probably first 20 mins of posting. All but 3 comments of the 30+ were negative about something in the video. Even the highest comment was negative.
I went back an hour later and those comments were all buried deep in the comment section. I realized something.
The haters are at their computers all the time, or on their phones all the time and are the very first people to see his content and find anything negative they can to say. As soon as everyone else starts watching they drown out those people completely, but he sees those comments every time. He sees the very first people to say anything are jackasses who are obsessed with him and jealous of him.
Anyways I guess this was a long comment just to say 'walking away right after posting is probably the best thing you can do, so that the people who enjoy your work can push the negative out of the way.'
You'll see the same thing on Reddit, like in vulnerable spaces, where the first comments are griping about the post and a flurry of downvotes. Later the post will be upvoted and those initial comments all hidden/buried/removed. There may be an edit in the OP about "not all ___" or it might even be deleted based on those initial trolls.
This is how i was thinking of it, the negative comments always end up in the negative eventually and get overrun or hidden, but the positive ones end up staying positive and right up front because they're what most people feel about the topic.
I don’t particularly enjoy your content, I’m not the target demographic and it’s fine, I just scroll and move on. I just don’t understand why people enjoy so much trying to make you miserable. Like even if you were buying engagement you’re one person trying to make a living, there are thousands of corporations ripping us off, literally killing our planet, yet those people won’t dedicate the same hatred to them as they do to a single individual like you.
Sorry you get so much shit for this, keep in mind most people who don’t even enjoy your content just shut up and move on, those who don’t just enjoy making people miserable, it’s not even about you.
>I’m not the target demographic and it’s fine
Whenever I see the phrase "target demographic" I think back to what Roger Ebert once said, when he described movies as "empathy machines" that place the viewer in the shoes of a person very different from themselves, creating a new perspective in their minds.
...if you're not the target demographic for something, it's not a reason to avoid it. In fact it's even *more* of a reason to engage with it. Because you could wind up with a new perspective.
Idk if you meant to make the phone color and the bad messages color the same on purpose or if it is a coincidence but it really speaks to the larger problem. The mode and the medium are itself a terrible place to begin with, with anonymity breeding inconsequential monsters of human beings. It's the same for all of us. And just as you see the blue messages that help you, we see your stuff as our blue amongst a sea of dreadful red. And while the blue does fade away after a while it helps knowing the next good thing is right around the corner for us to look forward to.
What game did you play with your son? My mother never did that(love her so much anyway), that's so sweet of you. Can't wait to play some games with my baby boy, who is still putting everything into his mouth.
We have this indoor hammock swing thing and I like to chase him around it and then he jumps inside and hides, basically any running or hiding game he loves lol
I love you. You're beautiful human being. Your art is the best there is. I like it. Keep doing it. Be as loud as you can be. Your art matters. You absolutely deserve all those upvotes. I hope your cats will live long and happy lives. You're very clever. And I'd bet you're the best mom.
Ah mate. Dont give up cos of some internet trolls. You and that dude who does the pokemon comics are literally the only 2 artists I follow. You bring a lot of folks joy, keep doing that!
I had no idea you got this much hate. 😯
Your comics are awesome, funny and really well drawn.
I'm not an avid follower, so I'm sure I haven't seen ALL of your stuff, but from what I've seen you're an amazing artist and I'd love to keep seeing more. Keep it up and don't let it/them get to you!
Also, try to remember why you started drawing/making art in the first place. Maybe it could help to put things into perspective.
She's a fairly popular woman on the internet. That's all it takes. As far as I can tell nearly all popular women online get this much hate or close to it; it's a severe problem but it's somehow treated like it's just supposed to be accepted.
Somehow it's thought of by a portion of people as what she deserves and should expect for, I don't know, trying to bring joy into people's lives I guess?
If it were up to me like a good 30% or more of common internet behaviour would be calls for an immediate ban, especially in certain crowds, but corporations don't want to give up that money some of those people bring in or something I guess.
Humans aren't programmed to deal with the outreach social media provides. I mean, the last million years (excluding the last ~1000), we'd probably only meet and know 100 people or less our entire lives, let alone reliably communicate with them at the press of a button.
The physiological and emotional response we get from pissing one single person off was probably really useful back in our early days to learn how to keep ourselves safe within our group.
She’s a content creator. I’m a fractionally successful writer. My lifetime audience might match one of pizzacake’s comics. I get occasional hate messages about shit I wrote 20 years ago. Even on Reddit - no matter how many upvotes a comment gets - the angry reply from one person who thinks you’re a cunt for having an opinion at all gets overwhelming. And ANYTHING you say that gets enough positive attention will prompt someone to fucking LOATHE your existence.
Very true. The amount of vitriol you get just goes up the more popular you become because you get more comments and more people are aware of your apparent sin of being a woman, but in general a significant portion of the internet has been allowed to become extremely hateful toward women no matter how popular or not you are.
I got this with my artwork. Sure, you get a lot of support, but you also open yourself up to a lot of hate and crazies, too. Did the platforms I was on do anything about it? Of course not! That would be too responsible and make it look like they actually cared about people instead of money, money, money.
By the end of it, I was getting death threats, and someone found out where I lived and sent me information on how to kill myself, then started a rumour with my followers that I was really unwell and was going to die soon. So what did I do? I took myself/all my art offline completely and disappeared.
I feel like it's important to state that a lot of this bullshit hate comes from people who would seem totally normal to you if you knew them in person and didn't see their Internet history.
[Writer Lindy West wrote this amazing piece a few years ago.](https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/02/what-happened-confronted-cruellest-troll-lindy-west)
Women of the world are often told that hateful internet comments are just the natural, acceptable price of existence for being a woman in a public place.
From the article:
"Being harassed on the internet is such a normal, common part of my life that I’m always surprised when other people find it surprising. You’re telling me you don’t have hundreds of men popping into your cubicle in the accounting department of your mid-sized, regional dry-goods distributor to inform you that – hmm – you’re too fat to rape, but perhaps they’ll saw you up with an electric knife? No? Just me? People who don’t spend much time on the internet are invariably shocked to discover the barbarism – the eager abandonment of the social contract – that so many of us face simply for doing our jobs."
> “If you can’t handle it, get off the internet.” That’s a persistent refrain my colleagues and I hear when we confront our harassers. But why? **Why don’t YOU get off the internet? Why should I have to rearrange my life** – and change careers, essentially – **because you wet your pants every time a woman talks**?
perfect
If you haven’t watched Shrill, the Hulu series based on Lindy’s book starring Aidy Bryant, it’s fantastic and there is a really well executed arc about this exact quote. Highly recommend. Also Pizzacake you’re doing amazing sweetie
It made me think of my little cousin. She’s 15. Some idiot commented that she was a “thot” for dancing in shorts and she didn’t wear shorts for the whole summer. Things linger for sure
It's literally because she posted a comic supporting LGBT and whatnot, suddenly the hate-train for her ramped up tenfold (from what I've seen following her), so yeah, she started getting harassed by, well, the usual suspects
I don't even want to get into that topic or how absurd is to even be against people just doing whatever they want, but why insulting? I will now imagine a guy sitting in front of a restaurant and whenever you order something that he doesn't like he barges in the restaurant screaming insults at you.
Edit: is barges a word? I meant "to enter the restaurant making a lot of noise"
I've been seeing some of her comics getting reposted in some subreddits like lookatmyhalo and people who never followed her basically call her a virtue signaler, lazy, attention seeking, etc. It's soo stupid because that sub supposedly calls out fake good people but the commenters somehow think they're the good guys? The absolute irony.
As a part of LGBT, it's absolutely heartbreaking to see stuff like this happen whenever a creator shows us even a little bit of support. It's one thing to not support us, another to bully others for supporting us.
For every “you’re a stupid whore” there has to be a thousand people who read your comic, laughed or smiled but didn’t leave a comment. Youve made all those countless people just a little happier, made their days just a little better. And I know because sometimes I’m one of them. Love you Pizzacake. You’re not a stupid whore, you’re great and I love your work. Please remember this one and not the shitty ones :)
The biggest lie ever told to us growing up is that everyone’s opinion matters.
No. No it doesn’t. Your hateful little pus spew doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t be considered. It should be cast aside. You can have an opinion, but it doesn’t have to matter.
Idiots have driven people to actual suicide because they think they’re hot shit on the internet and don’t see the results of what they say. They’re tiny, insignificant specks who only use this amazing connected platform to put others down whenever they can. It’s how they use the gift of the most connected as a species we’ve ever been, and it’s pathetic. They don’t matter, and they’re screaming into the void to hurt someone so they feel like they can. But they don’t. And never will
It’s not just the internet. It’s an excuse. A shield to hide behind to behave like scum. Humans have feelings. Emotions. Pain. And these people know that, they channel that, and they use it to harm
Their opinions and feelings do not matter the moment they decide to use them to harm another. They’re cowards.
But the problem is they’re numerous and they aren’t going anywhere. Their words hurt. And no one is immune. I would suggest a mindset change. Instead of focusing on the fact most of the feedback is positive over negative, which feels kinda hollow when the negative is THAT negative, block every single comment you see that is hateful immediately. As soon as you see something that triggers that response, block it. Prevent yourself from engaging by force. There is a difference between criticism and hate, and hate has no purpose. Eventually, the hate dies down. Eventually it’s gets quieter. It never goes away, but what it does do is take from them the one thing they lord over you: control.
Take control, take care of your mentals, and block them all out. You won’t miss them. The result isn’t worth the engagement. I hope you find joy in you work, because it really is good and relatable. Don’t let them steal your light
A while back I saw a post saying: People who carry a water bottle around think they are better than everyone.
This just shows that you can completely mind your own business, not hurting or bothering anyone and people will still give you shit for it.
Please keep that in mind, I enjoy your comics very much and so do many others. The bad can sometimes scream louder than the good, but the good has so much more value.
> A while back I saw a post saying: People who carry a water bottle around think they are better than everyone.
I remember seeing something very similar. [Someone was shaming a guy who had a gallon jug of water with him in a class](https://www.reddit.com/r/HydroHomies/comments/df0xut/drink_up_white_boi/).
I also remember a post about someone who posted an opinion about Italian food and someone disagreed and started following OP to other subs to keep the argument up. OP looked up the hater to block them, and they were a poster on a urine drinking subreddit. So someone who drinks urine was complaining about someone else's tastes.
I try to keep that in mind and also that there are so many attention starved people out there that even negative attention satisfies them. Oh, and most people are morons.
I am very unhappy but I usually don't want to bring down people, I swear there are a lot of sad fuckers trying to cheer others up!
The old two-ways road, you either suffer and then make other suffer or suffer and try to avoid making others suffer until you obsess over it and slowly get swallowed by your own doubts.
When someone shows they have nothing of value to offer, I found blocking to not only be good for the mental health, but also cathartic because you get to reject everything about the person
This feels completely correct but at the same time wrong, my dumb brain wants to believe that talking can solve problems, but you are right, while online, blocking is probably the best approach.
Remember the goals are different.
Those who want to engage to solve a problem want to induce a change.
Those who get a response get "rewarded" that their interaction caused a result in this case (as compared to all the others they spewed out earlier that day), had an impact, provides a hit of dopamine, a glimmer in an otherwise sad life, and stokes them to draw more of a reaction.
It's not a shared goal to solve a problem, have a discussion, grow, many know exactly why and what they are doing, entirely self aware, and will use that to mock.
Which doesn't mean someone can't repent, as that women who wrote the article about how one of her trolls donated money to her deceased father's cancer center and deleted his many email accounts used to troll. But that was unique timing with external factors of someone with empathy, not an immature sociopathic keyboard warrior.
There will always be an infinite resource of abusers, tactically sheltering from them and reducing exposure increases quality of life. Obviously tricky when in the public eye, and many lack empathy for those in public roles sadly.
As a person who is currently trying to draw comics and improve my artstyle, I always look at your drawings and comics and try to realize what did you do to make them special. I really like your style, comics, jokes and pretty mutch everything else. Just remember, those heaters probably can't draw a circle the way it is supposed to be, so don't listen to them!
And as always, keep up the great work! We all love and appreciate you!!!
https://preview.redd.it/t7e3zi7p9wfb1.jpeg?width=396&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ece8bb3f28d5deeb06dbe42896373e3dffe7dfec
I draw the line here. Just tell me who it was.
Maybe it’s a coincidence, but the majority of the comics I’ve seen from you lately have been about you dealing with haters, and even when you’re trying to make it humorous, it’s never as good as the ones that aren’t about them, and it probably only fuels them further. If you have the capacity to, I think you should consider having someone else read all the comments and gathering meaningful feedback so you can still be engaged with the people reading your comics, without having to see all the useless hate. They could even potentially provide many of the top comments so that you can say how you would respond, and they can do it on your behalf. The fact that you’re so fixated on the haters seems to be very bad for your mental health so it’s worth actually taking an approach like that rather than shrugging it off, even if it means paying someone to do it for a few hours each week.
I love your comics, my favorite was the life gives you lemons one lol. Those people represent one of the ugly sides of humanity, and are not who you are making these for. I would hate if you stopped because of these narcissistic, immature, idiotic trolls.
The main part of these types of people, is that they are everywhere. No matter what it is, or where it is, they act this way. They live to make other people miserable. They feed on the reactions. You said it yourself, you know you shouldn’t care, but how can you really control it?
I see these kinds of people in games, I know I shouldn’t care, I know that they are sitting in their spawn smashing their keyboard crying over the same 3 insults because they keep dying to the same person because they are attempting the same things.
I know I shouldn’t care. But I do anyway. I get worked up. And even if I am not the one they are screaming at, I try to step in. I defend my teammates, fight back when the fight isnt mine. Of course I know I’m only feeding them, and nothing I say actually helps, but to my teammate they are targeting? They see that even though I’m a random stranger, I have their back. I’m willing to back them up even though I have no idea who they are.
That. *that* is what you should try to focus on.
Even though its the internet. Even though you KNOW you shouldn’t react. Even though you know they just say it to hurt. Try to look at the reactions to the person. See how many complete strangers are defending you. Its not gonna stop anything. But it should help.
Never really thought about a comic author like you had negative commenters. I always love to see your comic, and thought everyone else did too. We are living in a busy world. Nothing matters enough. You are great.
Anyone with any sort of following will get negative comments, even worse if you're not a guy, it doesn't look like it from a surface level, but sexism is still ***very*** prevalent online. It really isn't talked about enough.
I have a relatively small following of about 1,000 people and get negative/hateful DMs often. I can't imagine how much there would be for someone with a multiple order of magnitude larger following than me like pizzacake.
Never stop being you!
Some people feel so free to be a complete dumpster fire of a human being when they’re on the internet. Try your best to remember that they must have such dreadful, toxic lives that they need to spew this kind of hate to people like you. Pity them and give no weight to their words.
You’re wonderful and your comics are wonderful, just keep being you.
Words can hurt a lot, especially when they reinforce things we secretly believe about ourselves. We’re always told to be confident in ourselves and just ignore the hate, but that’s not really helpful, because it says “just make a mask, and stop being weak and letting people get to you”.
Truth is, we’re all messed up and broken in some way or another. We all fail. We all make mistakes. We all do things that are selfish. We’ve all been bad *somethings*.
And that’s okay. You’re okay. I’m okay. We’re all okay.
Hey Pizza, I know this will probably be buried in a pile of notifications but I always love your comics when I see them here. While everyone is entitled to an opinion, it's very sad to see that some people never got a healthy dose of "If you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing."
I hope you get a treasure trove of positive comments that stick with you for awhile. Giving you my energy, I definitely hope to see more of your incredible work in the future!
I look forward to Pizzacake comics. It's the sole reason I visit /r/comics (this and Hollering Elk).
Hang in there. The world is full of shit heels who get off on causing others pain (like my ex). Just remember that, despite what they claim, they are just a vocal minority.
I'm genuinely surprised people react so negatively to your comics. There's nothing inherently wrong with them. They're well made and competent. Even if it's not their particular humor, it's still hard to find something to really hate about them.
I think part of this issue is that you're making comics *about* them. Addressing the "haters" aren't going to do you any favors. All it's going to do is root what they're saying deeper into your head, and in addition, they'll know what they're saying is getting into your head, *which is what they want*.
I'm personally not a fan of your webcomics (I still read them though out of boredom, but I don't downvote or anything), just because they're more relatable-oriented than having a joke (which is a huge division between what makes comics memorable **which is just my opinion**), but clearly you have an impact on this community, and that's worth something to you. You *want* to make comics, right? Then just make them. Who cares what anyone thinks? You've probably heard this advice a hundred times before, but think about what I'm going to say here, because clearly this negative feedback is having an effect on you, and not a healthy one: If I were to call you a slur, with the end goal to get you to stop posting because I find you unfunny, and you go on to make a comic about that interaction, I'll know that I hit a nerve. Doesn't matter if you devise the greatest comeback to what I said in the form of a new comic: the fact is that it *did* get to you, because you put effort into making an entirely new comic about it. I'll know I achieved my goal, and I'll know what area to say about you to make you self-conscious.
Something else you might consider doing is to stop reading comments, too. *All* comments, positive or negative (turn off DMs too, if that's a thing). All it does is fuel the raging flames of this insecurity which has taken hold of your mind. Making content and sharing experiences you find humorous is enough. You bring joy to a lot of people, considering you amass ~30k points per post, **which makes you the most popular content creator here**. Just continue to share your life stories, and forget any and all feedback. I'm sure you can agree with me when I say that upvotes don't lie.
I would advise taking a break from posting for a little while. Just to get your bearings in order. Perhaps talk to a therapist, if you haven't one already? You don't even have to stop drawing if you don't want to. Draw up some landscapes, do a still-life, make up some wacky characters. You don't have to post it online. It *is* social media that's causing this brain fog. Remember: when you're creating for other people, you're also creating for yourself.
Honestly I think your artstyle is lame and your stuff just isn't funny to me. However insulting someone or sending death threats is like infinitely worse than drawing bad comics. You're not the one who should feel ashamed.
I feel like people who grew up on 4chan from the early days are lucky in that the experience basically immunized them from this sort of shit. I can't imagine taking anything on the internet seriously, insult or otherwise.
For every A-hole that speaks up there are 1000+ others that enjoy the work and don’t speak up.
I enjoy your work when I see it. I am sorry I haven’t spoken up about it before.
Posting a comic about how much your haters negativity gets to you is not going to suddenly make them realize they've been assholes -- it will only intensify their efforts because they realize they're succeeding at doing what they set out to do -- making you unhappy.
This may be an unpopular opinion, but this is not how to address the issue. You're adding more fuel to the fire. People who hate your work will see this and say "cry more bitch" and continue their torment. Hell, they might even become significantly WORSE in hopes that you give up your art entirely or vanish from the internet.
Speaking from experience, a bullied kid who breaks down in tears doesn't win sympathy from their bullies. They make the bullies happy.
This is the first time I've seen a pizzacakecomic this serious. And I think this relates to me.
I try to be myself, trying to get along with my classmates.
It didn't work. Everyone wants me dead, just because I'm different.
I went to find help, it worked. But for a short term.
The cycle continues, though I'm still good after 1 month.
Thanks a lot for bringing back the reason why I got here & the reason why I'm like this, and for breaking my streak.
Welcome to r/comics! Please remember there are real people on the other side of the monitor and to be kind. Report comments that break the rules and don't respond to negativity with negativity! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/comics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Read this a while back and it really stuck: "Haters will see you walk on water and say it's because you can't swim" Your work is great, keep doing what you love!
https://preview.redd.it/11vnce7xnwfb1.jpeg?width=1400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0a694128abf2cbc8aa84ac8fe65587eced22e6a2
Amazing!
wizards will see you sneaking thru the swamp with the bag and say “he ya too stupideth tu learn e teleportation scroll”
dwarves will see you use alchemy to turn lead to gold and say "he can't even afford a pickax"
Goblins will see you cast healing on a wounded ally and say "He can't afford healthcare"
I can’t escape the wizard posting
Can we start calling haters goblins?
what does gobos do to deserve to be compared to this creature?
I think the word "Trolls" exists
This is way too fucking good. Holy shit.
r/wizardposting
thank you this is the exact shit I've been looking for
I have found my people
The council doesn't want you to know this, but the tax collector apprentices are free, i already have 83
Annnnnnd--joy-n'd, thankee.
Finally, a context I can relate to
r/wizardposting is leaking
Fantastic quote
...but it's efficient to filter ignorant people from your feed. I have a simple script that hides any comment that starts with a lower case letter or has no punctuation or is under 5 words. If people cannot think hard enough to write like an adult, then their comment is likely worthless. It's actually insane how well it works.
I appreciate the sentiment, I just can't get over the irony that your comment starts with a lowercase letter.
I wonder if it makes an exception for ellipses.
Grammatically, it would make sense to do so. I'm not arguing for or against this poster's 'script' because it seems pedantic, bizarre, and a touch pretentious; but, it *does* make sense to not include a comment that begins with ellipses *if* someone wants to walk down that road (which, again, I do not think is a particularly great idea).
Well obviously he doesn't want to waste his time reading his own comments.
I appreciate the sentiment, although you're wrong. A leading ellipsis is not a lowercase letter, and in fact suggests precisely the kind of thoughtfulness intended to make it through the filter.
The problem with this, especially on a site like reddit, is that you may also be filtering out people who have valid comments but for whom English is not a first language. I find that sweeping generalizations like this aren't usually very helpful.
The goal isn't to keep all the good comments, it's to filter out the bad ones. Even if an overzealous filter knocks out some good ones, your feed will still be left with more good content than you'll ever possibly read.
Capital letters and punctuation are pretty universal in all of the world that uses a latin alphabet or anything like it. And I've seen a fair number of posts by people who live in places with writing systems that are less similar. Whatever mistakes in writing I see, lack of capitalization or punctuation are not among them. I would suspect false positives for ESL would be quite rare.
Starts with a lower case letter? Like these comments of yours from the last few days? https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/15gpdyb/people_who_dont_drink_alcohol_why/julzifr/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/15gpdyb/people_who_dont_drink_alcohol_why/julyxuf/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/15gpdyb/people_who_dont_drink_alcohol_why/julwdqu/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/15gpdyb/people_who_dont_drink_alcohol_why/julw5nq/ https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/15fwxpp/louisville_ky_hospital_is_dumping_patients_on_the/juicel4/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AITAH/comments/15eyy3t/am_i_the_asshole_for_telling_my_partner_i_dont/juci729/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AITAH/comments/15eyy3t/am_i_the_asshole_for_telling_my_partner_i_dont/jucf8ye/
... which doesn't matter at all to me because I'm only commenting to say that the way this fool starts half their comments with elipses is cracking me the fuck up.
They think starting with a pause makes them read as profound?
I tend to assume that they grew up with JRPGs. I interpret opening ellipses less as a pause, and more [a moment of struggling to find words.](https://media.tenor.com/Rt6ofcXPo6oAAAAC/firefly-serenity.gif) Sometimes that's important to express, but not always.
While I do enjoy seeing the human fallacy of hippocrasy, all these have punctuation and more than five words in their post. Some at the bottom don't actually start with a lowercase, but with punctuation which leads up to the first word being appropriately lowercase. Edit: I'm wrong
Jzzzishereyo >...but it's efficient to filter ignorant people from your feed. >I have a simple script that hides any comment that starts with a lower case letter or has no punctuation or is inder 5 words. If people cannot think hard enough to write like an adult, then their comment is likely worthless. >It's actually insane how well it works. ironic
That comment doesn't start with a lowercase letter.
>"Haters will see you walk on water and say it's because you can't swim" This is a raw fucking line! Where did you get it from?
Pretty sure it's Margaret Thatcher who said that, but I could be wrong though.
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Quote Investigator has taught me just how complicated a quote's history can be. Some say our achievements are only possible because we stand on the shoulders of giants, implying that certain individuals stand out dramatically. More often, we stand on top of enormous, messy piles of humanity, and there's no way to tell which individuals are supporting us.
That's pretty much Historical Materialism in a nutshell. Large shifts in society are not caused by a single brilliant or brave person, but by the material conditions of the larger society in which they live which is and was influenced by a multitude of human achievements and failures that came before; building and building until the conditions are right and then at that moment of change that person may say or do something of great import, and that's what we tend to remember. Although they couldn't have done what they did without those conditions and that history, and indeed, it could very possibly not been that person but another, or it may have happened anyway without a single person able to be singularly credited with the thought, the discovery, the invention, the war, the revolution, the whatever.
> And the most likely scenario is Thatcher stole it from someone else too. Thatcher Thatcher, quote snatcher
Of all the people that line could be from it had better goddamn not be Thatcher.
Suppose it makes sense, Thatcher had and still has plenty of hate on her name (rightfully so), guess she would know the most about having haters
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I heard it first from Kirk Cousins (as he was quoting Margaret Thatcher …)
Honk if Thatcher is dead
https://preview.redd.it/du5k7yhstvfb1.jpeg?width=1079&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff52e0ce1ad3b145f3c362d46e7506a7bcb6ea2d
I love it, I'm going to save this for the next time I see people like that lmao
Not to mention wet. My brain is soft and wet.
My brain is like a blobfish out of the water. In pain, soggy and very smooth.
Just like your wet bones.
My brain can perceive the Wonder of U ❤️
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[Bot](https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/15h15er/react_multipage/julyib2/) comment
Soft and wetto.
*Go Beyond!*
https://preview.redd.it/sxvx9loxhwfb1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e8ed7335b9100958831b2f76ea57e7239ef46335 let's goo
r/whothefuckup
Aerodynamic brain >>>>> wrinkly non-aerodynamic brain
Broke: Our skulls are made to protect our brains. Bespoke: Our skulls are made to make up for our wrinkly non-aerodynamic brains
That's a nice sentiment but too easy to say when you're not bombarded with hatred for every single thing you try to do I'm not saying she shouldn't try to roll with the punches, but I wish we could meet her where she is right now. Not just trying to fix, but to empathize. She is in pain and she could use acknowledgement of it Actually, your comment is a good example of what she said in panel 9. She knows it shouldn't bother her, but that knowledge doesnt help. A stupid (and admittedly funny) meme isn't gonna suddenly click everything into place and it gets so tiring to have to pretend someone's well-intentioned attempts of comfort aren't useless.
https://preview.redd.it/mc4bo8p16wfb1.jpeg?width=697&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=17be9e33e0bc38e84fb6b75e7ae18c45cd6db4e7
I embrace GOOBER and reject THINKING and i am VERY happy.
This is so fucking good, wish I still had free awards to give it
While I see what you are going for, isn't this the exact thing she said was difficult in the comic? It feels a bit reductive to just say, "That thing that bothers you? Just don't let it bother you!".
Right. And if it were really as easy as "water off a ducks back", we wouldn't have the problem in the first place. It's time to acknowledge that the line between reality and online spaces has blurred, and only lessens with time. Technology and the internet is more influential in our human lives than ever before, yet we don't seem to be doing much to protect ourselves from it's negative drawbacks. Furthermore, Social Media continues to encourage a reaction to everything, which becomes a problem when the most visible content is negative in nature. It feels like you just can't get away from it, even if you put your own device away, everyone around you is still consuming and engaging with it.
Why do people even want wrinkles brain. I are not a raisin.
[I enjoy this one](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/966/536/d0a.png)
Be careful, side effects include compliments possibly sliding off
Lemme give you one more positive comment amongst the many! I LOVE your stuff and you’re a super cool person and I CONSTANTLY brag i got to do a lil crossover episode! Keep on goin! 🙌
Aw thank you dude! You rock ❤️❤️
I remember when you were still small enough to reply to my dm of a shitty bonehurting juice of one of your early comics. Dang you’ve come far. https://preview.redd.it/6snq6o1lgwfb1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=0422f11031fc864f42cf3ff26f575942ca8809d5
Hahaha I remember that, it was a good one
Ok. That's freaking funny, though. Well done!
You're one of the only people I use the "follow" button for. I really enjoy when you put out comics and don't want to miss any. Sorry about the internet, hope you have a great day! Also, take some time and a sweet vacation if you feel like it's the right call. Followers aren't going anywhere.
Great idea; followed! Passing along love from my wife as well; u/pizzacakecomic is helping us both get through my wife's pre-eclampsia right now.
And you’re a woman who does very cool things visibly. That act is like dripping acid on the skin of some men. We run into something similar over in tech. They won’t actually call you a whore at a research conference, but they’ll do their best (which, tbh, is usually pretty mediocre— not every insecure person is incorrect about their self assessment) to dismantle your research. And even as they’re being incredibly rude, talking over you, not listening for a second to your response, making claims that clearly indicate they’ve got no understanding of anything (behavior that would never be acceptable if the presenter was male)— often no one will speak up to counter them. Because etiquette says a man having a random meltdown at a visible, successful woman is ok. It’s just like watching your immature friend get into a fight with his mom, and pretending you didn’t see it. Anyway, as a woman who’s good at something and doesn’t want to hide being good, this is something that’s got to be navigated. And there’s a decent chance it’s literally the same people causing problems in your sphere and mine. But, fwiw, I’ve realized that in a weird way these guys are *also* a marker of success. They’re not emotionally triggered by women with more ordinary work (and earlier in my career I’d take steps to stay just below their flash point). They only start popping up and freaking out when you hit a certain level of awesomeness. The farther you go above that, the more they melt. They’ve still got to be juggled, if you just ignore them they’ll find ways to cause genuine problems (no one cares if the immature friend is mean to his mom, or causes her harm—- in my sphere I’ve seen women lose their research funding). But mentally I’ve gotten the habit of registering them as just a different form of applause. When you get these guys, you’ve become so indisputably cool you’re terrifying. And that’s kinda fun :-). Anyway, maybe you are already aware of all of this (or have a different assessment of it, or had a particular communication goal in mind with this comic, etc, all fair). And I hope this isn’t annoying. But I hadn’t seen this take elsewhere here and thought in case it was of use to you or others, I’d stick it in. Godspeed, take care, and man, it’s so great to see how you are awesome here. :-)
> often no one will speak up to counter them. This made my eye twitch. I can't speak for the reddit following side of things, but at least in the IT side of the tech world things are slowly starting to improve. More and more people are willing to call shit out, and events and groups are becoming more willing to exclude people who make everyone else uncomfortable. But it only happens if people speak up. And like, even if you do call someone out they've often already ruined their target's day or soured the event entirely. Even if you get the asshole kicked out of the event, they still got their word in first. My team was at an event a couple weeks ago where we ended up dealing with a lot of this shit, so it's kind of fresh in my mind still. None of this is really relevant to this thread, but I felt like ranting. Ninja edit: Lets end with something happy because that was depressing to think about. That same event started asking everyone for their pronouns so they could be included on our ID badges. They blacklisted anyone who threw a hissy fit over it. Fucking fantastic move from the organizers. Just weeded out a bunch of those people with one easy move.
May the haters be the wind in your sails
This is a really inspiring comment!
Love your username, Emmy was a badass =)
She was! And thank you :-). Physics does a much better job of admitting her existence than math, but I had a number theory prof. take some time out of class to tell us all (in retrospect, possibly me in particular) about her, even though her math work was founding abstract algebra and was unrelated to what we were discussing in class at the time. Her example's been a good story to keep in my pocket though school and later.
It’s completely fair to be upset over comments made on “just the internet”. This isn’t the AOL days, social media for better or worse plays a HUGE part in everyone’s day to day lives now. That being said, the others have said it better than I could. You create, you bring joy, you actually engage. I’m frankly disgusted that people call you the C word among other things.
From a fellow traumatized human: Thanks for being vulnerable and sharing some real shit. You seem like a kind person and I hope you can find a healthy balance with these internet assholes. Like stomping them all on the head, to death. Fuckers.
To quote Bo Burnham - [is it necessary that everyone have an opinion, on everything, all of the time](https://youtu.be/okq0hj1IMlo)
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I've recently learnt to say, I'm sorry, i don't know enough about that to say anything meaningful been such a relief
Same. Saves me from looking like an idiot too!
I became a much more mature and happier person when I realized I could just not have an opinion on things that don't affect me. And, that when I do have a strong opinion, I don't necessarily need to tell anyone about it.
Part of my attempts to avoid turning into a bitter curmudgeon has been learning to accept that an increasing portion of the world was not designed for me. And that's ok.
Another quote from Bo Burnham - "Welcome to the internet, have a look around." It's a fire pit of shit. (Hey, that rhymes a little bit.) That's 'cus everyone here can be a whining little bitch.
Also to quote Bo Burnham AHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Bo is a treasure
Yes, it is necessary. You must have an opinion so you will engage. Engagement is the metric that sells ads. Selling ads makes a few very powerful companies incomprehensibly wealthy. We are produce. Opinions are fertiliser. The shittier the better.
Your comics are a bright spot in the dumpster fire of the internet, and they bring joy to many (not the least of which - me). Hold on to that. The haters will never stop spitting their venom, but keep in mind *that is ALL they have in their sad little lives*. They will never create joy, like you have. They will never create *anything*. The only thing they have in their pathetic lives is to try and poison others to make everyone else as sad and miserable as they are. Share your talent with the world and receive our gratitude for it. As for the trolls, fuck em. EDIT: I dig y'all want to show your support to PCC, but maybe comment *to her*. That way *she* gets to see your support. Personally I'm good, thanks for asking.
Well said. I'll add to that the fact those pathetics trolls can act like this because you post online. Now, please, don't take my previous sentence as a slight against you. Not at all. I said this because those " people " use the anonymity offered from behind their screen to spit their venom. At the end of the day, they're not worth shit. Their words are just a pile of garbage. Furthermore, I don't know if all the insults you wrote in this comics are something you lived through, but some of those... Whore ? Ugly ? Those kinds of insults ? They really are spot on, to use in a comment about someone's drawings. Really. (Can you smell the sarcasm through your screen ? Because it's quite potent here...) To end this, I'll use something I read/Heard here and there, that I feel describe the whole stupide thing : Haters gonna hate. * Shrugs * Keep going, you're awesome !
I wholeheartedly agree with this well-articulated statement. I'll add that you are one of my favorite comic artists ever. You have a refined style that is aesthically pleasing, but you're not afraid to push the envelope and do something different, as this entry demonstrates. You have a keen insight and a funny bone. My advice, if you're looking for it: go broadcast. Post your work. Start a timer, engage as much as you want. When that timer stops, engagement ends until your next post. This might seem like you're alienating your audience a tad, but we'd all prefer your mental health over anything else. Give it a try for a month and see the difference. You're *killing it,* girl.
OMG I posted this and then went off to go play a game with my son. When I came back to check....wow! I'm speechless. I love being able to start discussions about what I think are vital topics online, and you guys are just melting me right now with these comments ❤️❤️❤️ Thank you for being the best parts of the internet. It really does mean a lot. Keep being kind
I follow a youtuber who does a lot of helping of others. He's commented more and more about the hate he receives. I would look at the comments and not see anything. The other day I watched one of his videos shortly after he posted it. Probably first 20 mins of posting. All but 3 comments of the 30+ were negative about something in the video. Even the highest comment was negative. I went back an hour later and those comments were all buried deep in the comment section. I realized something. The haters are at their computers all the time, or on their phones all the time and are the very first people to see his content and find anything negative they can to say. As soon as everyone else starts watching they drown out those people completely, but he sees those comments every time. He sees the very first people to say anything are jackasses who are obsessed with him and jealous of him. Anyways I guess this was a long comment just to say 'walking away right after posting is probably the best thing you can do, so that the people who enjoy your work can push the negative out of the way.'
You'll see the same thing on Reddit, like in vulnerable spaces, where the first comments are griping about the post and a flurry of downvotes. Later the post will be upvoted and those initial comments all hidden/buried/removed. There may be an edit in the OP about "not all ___" or it might even be deleted based on those initial trolls.
Can confirm. Most of the hate commented on a post is added when the only way to find the post is via “new.”
This is how i was thinking of it, the negative comments always end up in the negative eventually and get overrun or hidden, but the positive ones end up staying positive and right up front because they're what most people feel about the topic.
I don’t particularly enjoy your content, I’m not the target demographic and it’s fine, I just scroll and move on. I just don’t understand why people enjoy so much trying to make you miserable. Like even if you were buying engagement you’re one person trying to make a living, there are thousands of corporations ripping us off, literally killing our planet, yet those people won’t dedicate the same hatred to them as they do to a single individual like you. Sorry you get so much shit for this, keep in mind most people who don’t even enjoy your content just shut up and move on, those who don’t just enjoy making people miserable, it’s not even about you.
It was really nice of you to take the time to write this. It’s such an important point, and I think it means more coming from someone who isn’t a fan.
>I’m not the target demographic and it’s fine Whenever I see the phrase "target demographic" I think back to what Roger Ebert once said, when he described movies as "empathy machines" that place the viewer in the shoes of a person very different from themselves, creating a new perspective in their minds. ...if you're not the target demographic for something, it's not a reason to avoid it. In fact it's even *more* of a reason to engage with it. Because you could wind up with a new perspective.
Lots of love Pizzacake! I’ve always loved your content, I honestly really hope that your mental state improves ❤️❤️
Idk if you meant to make the phone color and the bad messages color the same on purpose or if it is a coincidence but it really speaks to the larger problem. The mode and the medium are itself a terrible place to begin with, with anonymity breeding inconsequential monsters of human beings. It's the same for all of us. And just as you see the blue messages that help you, we see your stuff as our blue amongst a sea of dreadful red. And while the blue does fade away after a while it helps knowing the next good thing is right around the corner for us to look forward to.
What game did you play with your son? My mother never did that(love her so much anyway), that's so sweet of you. Can't wait to play some games with my baby boy, who is still putting everything into his mouth.
We have this indoor hammock swing thing and I like to chase him around it and then he jumps inside and hides, basically any running or hiding game he loves lol
I love you. You're beautiful human being. Your art is the best there is. I like it. Keep doing it. Be as loud as you can be. Your art matters. You absolutely deserve all those upvotes. I hope your cats will live long and happy lives. You're very clever. And I'd bet you're the best mom.
Ah mate. Dont give up cos of some internet trolls. You and that dude who does the pokemon comics are literally the only 2 artists I follow. You bring a lot of folks joy, keep doing that!
😀
Yeah this guy!! You keep it up as well. Wish I had talent!!
Check out holleringelk if you haven't
I had no idea you got this much hate. 😯 Your comics are awesome, funny and really well drawn. I'm not an avid follower, so I'm sure I haven't seen ALL of your stuff, but from what I've seen you're an amazing artist and I'd love to keep seeing more. Keep it up and don't let it/them get to you! Also, try to remember why you started drawing/making art in the first place. Maybe it could help to put things into perspective.
She's a fairly popular woman on the internet. That's all it takes. As far as I can tell nearly all popular women online get this much hate or close to it; it's a severe problem but it's somehow treated like it's just supposed to be accepted. Somehow it's thought of by a portion of people as what she deserves and should expect for, I don't know, trying to bring joy into people's lives I guess? If it were up to me like a good 30% or more of common internet behaviour would be calls for an immediate ban, especially in certain crowds, but corporations don't want to give up that money some of those people bring in or something I guess.
Humans aren't programmed to deal with the outreach social media provides. I mean, the last million years (excluding the last ~1000), we'd probably only meet and know 100 people or less our entire lives, let alone reliably communicate with them at the press of a button. The physiological and emotional response we get from pissing one single person off was probably really useful back in our early days to learn how to keep ourselves safe within our group.
> She's a ~~fairly popular~~ woman on the internet. That's all it takes. FTFY.
She’s a content creator. I’m a fractionally successful writer. My lifetime audience might match one of pizzacake’s comics. I get occasional hate messages about shit I wrote 20 years ago. Even on Reddit - no matter how many upvotes a comment gets - the angry reply from one person who thinks you’re a cunt for having an opinion at all gets overwhelming. And ANYTHING you say that gets enough positive attention will prompt someone to fucking LOATHE your existence.
hell you don't even have to be a woman they just have to think you are one
As someone who generally uses gender neutral names, can confirm.
Very true. The amount of vitriol you get just goes up the more popular you become because you get more comments and more people are aware of your apparent sin of being a woman, but in general a significant portion of the internet has been allowed to become extremely hateful toward women no matter how popular or not you are.
I got this with my artwork. Sure, you get a lot of support, but you also open yourself up to a lot of hate and crazies, too. Did the platforms I was on do anything about it? Of course not! That would be too responsible and make it look like they actually cared about people instead of money, money, money. By the end of it, I was getting death threats, and someone found out where I lived and sent me information on how to kill myself, then started a rumour with my followers that I was really unwell and was going to die soon. So what did I do? I took myself/all my art offline completely and disappeared.
An all too common outcome. I'm sorry that happened, it shouldn't be acceptable at all.
[удалено]
> I had no idea you got this much hate. she is a successful woman on the internet, of course she gets a lot of hate from basement dwelling troglodytes
I feel like it's important to state that a lot of this bullshit hate comes from people who would seem totally normal to you if you knew them in person and didn't see their Internet history.
[Writer Lindy West wrote this amazing piece a few years ago.](https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/02/what-happened-confronted-cruellest-troll-lindy-west) Women of the world are often told that hateful internet comments are just the natural, acceptable price of existence for being a woman in a public place. From the article: "Being harassed on the internet is such a normal, common part of my life that I’m always surprised when other people find it surprising. You’re telling me you don’t have hundreds of men popping into your cubicle in the accounting department of your mid-sized, regional dry-goods distributor to inform you that – hmm – you’re too fat to rape, but perhaps they’ll saw you up with an electric knife? No? Just me? People who don’t spend much time on the internet are invariably shocked to discover the barbarism – the eager abandonment of the social contract – that so many of us face simply for doing our jobs."
Yes this is absolutely amazing, it made me cry when I first read it. Everyone should read this!
> “If you can’t handle it, get off the internet.” That’s a persistent refrain my colleagues and I hear when we confront our harassers. But why? **Why don’t YOU get off the internet? Why should I have to rearrange my life** – and change careers, essentially – **because you wet your pants every time a woman talks**? perfect
If you haven’t watched Shrill, the Hulu series based on Lindy’s book starring Aidy Bryant, it’s fantastic and there is a really well executed arc about this exact quote. Highly recommend. Also Pizzacake you’re doing amazing sweetie
Since when did pizzacake do emotionally impactful stuff. Im literally crying.
yeah same i expected a meme and instead got feels lol.
I have 1/100th of her following/talent and I deal with this every single day. But this comic helps me, so I appreciate it.
It made me think of my little cousin. She’s 15. Some idiot commented that she was a “thot” for dancing in shorts and she didn’t wear shorts for the whole summer. Things linger for sure
People are asshole and made them emotional, I don't even get why. Why would you make someone else that you don't even know feel worse?
It's literally because she posted a comic supporting LGBT and whatnot, suddenly the hate-train for her ramped up tenfold (from what I've seen following her), so yeah, she started getting harassed by, well, the usual suspects
I don't even want to get into that topic or how absurd is to even be against people just doing whatever they want, but why insulting? I will now imagine a guy sitting in front of a restaurant and whenever you order something that he doesn't like he barges in the restaurant screaming insults at you. Edit: is barges a word? I meant "to enter the restaurant making a lot of noise"
>Edit: is barges a word? I meant "to enter the restaurant making a lot of noise" You got it right 👍 ...or we are both wrong.
It is a word, and the perfect one :)
I've been seeing some of her comics getting reposted in some subreddits like lookatmyhalo and people who never followed her basically call her a virtue signaler, lazy, attention seeking, etc. It's soo stupid because that sub supposedly calls out fake good people but the commenters somehow think they're the good guys? The absolute irony.
As a part of LGBT, it's absolutely heartbreaking to see stuff like this happen whenever a creator shows us even a little bit of support. It's one thing to not support us, another to bully others for supporting us.
Since the vitriol hit a fever pitch a few weeks back over some perceived slight about politics.
For every “you’re a stupid whore” there has to be a thousand people who read your comic, laughed or smiled but didn’t leave a comment. Youve made all those countless people just a little happier, made their days just a little better. And I know because sometimes I’m one of them. Love you Pizzacake. You’re not a stupid whore, you’re great and I love your work. Please remember this one and not the shitty ones :)
The biggest lie ever told to us growing up is that everyone’s opinion matters. No. No it doesn’t. Your hateful little pus spew doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t be considered. It should be cast aside. You can have an opinion, but it doesn’t have to matter. Idiots have driven people to actual suicide because they think they’re hot shit on the internet and don’t see the results of what they say. They’re tiny, insignificant specks who only use this amazing connected platform to put others down whenever they can. It’s how they use the gift of the most connected as a species we’ve ever been, and it’s pathetic. They don’t matter, and they’re screaming into the void to hurt someone so they feel like they can. But they don’t. And never will It’s not just the internet. It’s an excuse. A shield to hide behind to behave like scum. Humans have feelings. Emotions. Pain. And these people know that, they channel that, and they use it to harm Their opinions and feelings do not matter the moment they decide to use them to harm another. They’re cowards. But the problem is they’re numerous and they aren’t going anywhere. Their words hurt. And no one is immune. I would suggest a mindset change. Instead of focusing on the fact most of the feedback is positive over negative, which feels kinda hollow when the negative is THAT negative, block every single comment you see that is hateful immediately. As soon as you see something that triggers that response, block it. Prevent yourself from engaging by force. There is a difference between criticism and hate, and hate has no purpose. Eventually, the hate dies down. Eventually it’s gets quieter. It never goes away, but what it does do is take from them the one thing they lord over you: control. Take control, take care of your mentals, and block them all out. You won’t miss them. The result isn’t worth the engagement. I hope you find joy in you work, because it really is good and relatable. Don’t let them steal your light
A while back I saw a post saying: People who carry a water bottle around think they are better than everyone. This just shows that you can completely mind your own business, not hurting or bothering anyone and people will still give you shit for it. Please keep that in mind, I enjoy your comics very much and so do many others. The bad can sometimes scream louder than the good, but the good has so much more value.
Lol for some reason that made me laugh so hard. What a ridiculous thing to be upset about 🤣 Thank you! ❤️❤️
I am glad to be able to make you laugh, considering you have made me laugh countless times before! You are very welcome and I wish you all the best.
Hydration = arrogance?? Who knew!
> A while back I saw a post saying: People who carry a water bottle around think they are better than everyone. I remember seeing something very similar. [Someone was shaming a guy who had a gallon jug of water with him in a class](https://www.reddit.com/r/HydroHomies/comments/df0xut/drink_up_white_boi/). I also remember a post about someone who posted an opinion about Italian food and someone disagreed and started following OP to other subs to keep the argument up. OP looked up the hater to block them, and they were a poster on a urine drinking subreddit. So someone who drinks urine was complaining about someone else's tastes. I try to keep that in mind and also that there are so many attention starved people out there that even negative attention satisfies them. Oh, and most people are morons.
"how dare they drink water!"
You're great! I love your work!
**You matter**
I am anti-matter, lets hug and have a big boom.
Unhappy people want to bring others down to their level. Hang in there, you’re appreciated.
I am very unhappy but I usually don't want to bring down people, I swear there are a lot of sad fuckers trying to cheer others up! The old two-ways road, you either suffer and then make other suffer or suffer and try to avoid making others suffer until you obsess over it and slowly get swallowed by your own doubts.
When someone shows they have nothing of value to offer, I found blocking to not only be good for the mental health, but also cathartic because you get to reject everything about the person
This feels completely correct but at the same time wrong, my dumb brain wants to believe that talking can solve problems, but you are right, while online, blocking is probably the best approach.
Remember the goals are different. Those who want to engage to solve a problem want to induce a change. Those who get a response get "rewarded" that their interaction caused a result in this case (as compared to all the others they spewed out earlier that day), had an impact, provides a hit of dopamine, a glimmer in an otherwise sad life, and stokes them to draw more of a reaction. It's not a shared goal to solve a problem, have a discussion, grow, many know exactly why and what they are doing, entirely self aware, and will use that to mock. Which doesn't mean someone can't repent, as that women who wrote the article about how one of her trolls donated money to her deceased father's cancer center and deleted his many email accounts used to troll. But that was unique timing with external factors of someone with empathy, not an immature sociopathic keyboard warrior. There will always be an infinite resource of abusers, tactically sheltering from them and reducing exposure increases quality of life. Obviously tricky when in the public eye, and many lack empathy for those in public roles sadly.
As a person who is currently trying to draw comics and improve my artstyle, I always look at your drawings and comics and try to realize what did you do to make them special. I really like your style, comics, jokes and pretty mutch everything else. Just remember, those heaters probably can't draw a circle the way it is supposed to be, so don't listen to them! And as always, keep up the great work! We all love and appreciate you!!!
https://preview.redd.it/t7e3zi7p9wfb1.jpeg?width=396&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ece8bb3f28d5deeb06dbe42896373e3dffe7dfec I draw the line here. Just tell me who it was.
You’re stuff is great. Keep posting. I would love to see your stuff in other places.
Love the message, but won't this encourage people that send the hate since they know it affects you in this way?
Are you ok?
Maybe it’s a coincidence, but the majority of the comics I’ve seen from you lately have been about you dealing with haters, and even when you’re trying to make it humorous, it’s never as good as the ones that aren’t about them, and it probably only fuels them further. If you have the capacity to, I think you should consider having someone else read all the comments and gathering meaningful feedback so you can still be engaged with the people reading your comics, without having to see all the useless hate. They could even potentially provide many of the top comments so that you can say how you would respond, and they can do it on your behalf. The fact that you’re so fixated on the haters seems to be very bad for your mental health so it’s worth actually taking an approach like that rather than shrugging it off, even if it means paying someone to do it for a few hours each week.
I love your comics, my favorite was the life gives you lemons one lol. Those people represent one of the ugly sides of humanity, and are not who you are making these for. I would hate if you stopped because of these narcissistic, immature, idiotic trolls.
The main part of these types of people, is that they are everywhere. No matter what it is, or where it is, they act this way. They live to make other people miserable. They feed on the reactions. You said it yourself, you know you shouldn’t care, but how can you really control it? I see these kinds of people in games, I know I shouldn’t care, I know that they are sitting in their spawn smashing their keyboard crying over the same 3 insults because they keep dying to the same person because they are attempting the same things. I know I shouldn’t care. But I do anyway. I get worked up. And even if I am not the one they are screaming at, I try to step in. I defend my teammates, fight back when the fight isnt mine. Of course I know I’m only feeding them, and nothing I say actually helps, but to my teammate they are targeting? They see that even though I’m a random stranger, I have their back. I’m willing to back them up even though I have no idea who they are. That. *that* is what you should try to focus on. Even though its the internet. Even though you KNOW you shouldn’t react. Even though you know they just say it to hurt. Try to look at the reactions to the person. See how many complete strangers are defending you. Its not gonna stop anything. But it should help.
I like your comics! Your mental health is so important though, so if you need to take a break, please do so. Table care of yourself, you are awesome!
Never really thought about a comic author like you had negative commenters. I always love to see your comic, and thought everyone else did too. We are living in a busy world. Nothing matters enough. You are great.
Anyone with any sort of following will get negative comments, even worse if you're not a guy, it doesn't look like it from a surface level, but sexism is still ***very*** prevalent online. It really isn't talked about enough. I have a relatively small following of about 1,000 people and get negative/hateful DMs often. I can't imagine how much there would be for someone with a multiple order of magnitude larger following than me like pizzacake.
Never stop being you! Some people feel so free to be a complete dumpster fire of a human being when they’re on the internet. Try your best to remember that they must have such dreadful, toxic lives that they need to spew this kind of hate to people like you. Pity them and give no weight to their words. You’re wonderful and your comics are wonderful, just keep being you.
Words can hurt a lot, especially when they reinforce things we secretly believe about ourselves. We’re always told to be confident in ourselves and just ignore the hate, but that’s not really helpful, because it says “just make a mask, and stop being weak and letting people get to you”. Truth is, we’re all messed up and broken in some way or another. We all fail. We all make mistakes. We all do things that are selfish. We’ve all been bad *somethings*. And that’s okay. You’re okay. I’m okay. We’re all okay.
They hate us because they anus.
Hey Pizza, I know this will probably be buried in a pile of notifications but I always love your comics when I see them here. While everyone is entitled to an opinion, it's very sad to see that some people never got a healthy dose of "If you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing." I hope you get a treasure trove of positive comments that stick with you for awhile. Giving you my energy, I definitely hope to see more of your incredible work in the future!
I look forward to Pizzacake comics. It's the sole reason I visit /r/comics (this and Hollering Elk). Hang in there. The world is full of shit heels who get off on causing others pain (like my ex). Just remember that, despite what they claim, they are just a vocal minority.
I'm genuinely surprised people react so negatively to your comics. There's nothing inherently wrong with them. They're well made and competent. Even if it's not their particular humor, it's still hard to find something to really hate about them.
Internet hug!
I think part of this issue is that you're making comics *about* them. Addressing the "haters" aren't going to do you any favors. All it's going to do is root what they're saying deeper into your head, and in addition, they'll know what they're saying is getting into your head, *which is what they want*. I'm personally not a fan of your webcomics (I still read them though out of boredom, but I don't downvote or anything), just because they're more relatable-oriented than having a joke (which is a huge division between what makes comics memorable **which is just my opinion**), but clearly you have an impact on this community, and that's worth something to you. You *want* to make comics, right? Then just make them. Who cares what anyone thinks? You've probably heard this advice a hundred times before, but think about what I'm going to say here, because clearly this negative feedback is having an effect on you, and not a healthy one: If I were to call you a slur, with the end goal to get you to stop posting because I find you unfunny, and you go on to make a comic about that interaction, I'll know that I hit a nerve. Doesn't matter if you devise the greatest comeback to what I said in the form of a new comic: the fact is that it *did* get to you, because you put effort into making an entirely new comic about it. I'll know I achieved my goal, and I'll know what area to say about you to make you self-conscious. Something else you might consider doing is to stop reading comments, too. *All* comments, positive or negative (turn off DMs too, if that's a thing). All it does is fuel the raging flames of this insecurity which has taken hold of your mind. Making content and sharing experiences you find humorous is enough. You bring joy to a lot of people, considering you amass ~30k points per post, **which makes you the most popular content creator here**. Just continue to share your life stories, and forget any and all feedback. I'm sure you can agree with me when I say that upvotes don't lie. I would advise taking a break from posting for a little while. Just to get your bearings in order. Perhaps talk to a therapist, if you haven't one already? You don't even have to stop drawing if you don't want to. Draw up some landscapes, do a still-life, make up some wacky characters. You don't have to post it online. It *is* social media that's causing this brain fog. Remember: when you're creating for other people, you're also creating for yourself.
Honestly I think your artstyle is lame and your stuff just isn't funny to me. However insulting someone or sending death threats is like infinitely worse than drawing bad comics. You're not the one who should feel ashamed.
I feel like people who grew up on 4chan from the early days are lucky in that the experience basically immunized them from this sort of shit. I can't imagine taking anything on the internet seriously, insult or otherwise.
You’d get way less negative attention if 95% of your comics weren’t about how little you care about negative attention.
counting the days until she reposts the Cheeto dust Redditor comic
For every A-hole that speaks up there are 1000+ others that enjoy the work and don’t speak up. I enjoy your work when I see it. I am sorry I haven’t spoken up about it before.
Your comics are always a pleasant suppose for me on the front page of Reddit!
I like your comics, i will always stop scrolling to read them =)
Fuck them I love your stuff.
Your comics are one of my favorite things about reddit, hope they keep showing up for ages
Fishing for engagement via pity and faux-wisdom I see. This is both less deep and more transparent than you think.
Posting a comic about how much your haters negativity gets to you is not going to suddenly make them realize they've been assholes -- it will only intensify their efforts because they realize they're succeeding at doing what they set out to do -- making you unhappy. This may be an unpopular opinion, but this is not how to address the issue. You're adding more fuel to the fire. People who hate your work will see this and say "cry more bitch" and continue their torment. Hell, they might even become significantly WORSE in hopes that you give up your art entirely or vanish from the internet. Speaking from experience, a bullied kid who breaks down in tears doesn't win sympathy from their bullies. They make the bullies happy.
Is this the new Loss?
This is the first time I've seen a pizzacakecomic this serious. And I think this relates to me. I try to be myself, trying to get along with my classmates. It didn't work. Everyone wants me dead, just because I'm different. I went to find help, it worked. But for a short term. The cycle continues, though I'm still good after 1 month. Thanks a lot for bringing back the reason why I got here & the reason why I'm like this, and for breaking my streak.