Patrick Rothfuss gets a rage on

[Brian G Turner]

And sets a few things straight with fans about the pressures of being wildly successful:
Pat Rothfuss (@PatrickRothfuss) on Twitter

(I've edited the exchange to the reading order of the forums, so the oldest Tweet is first, the newest is last.)

 

[Boneman]

See? Twitter is an evil place, because it allows people to do this kind of thing anonymously (false identities) and is completely useless at policing itself. Expect Pat to drop twitter soon. Makes very interesting reading if you go back a couple of years where her's debating on his blog about being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, by using Twitter. If I get time, I'll go and search for it - he really wasn't that keen at all, and now I see why.

 

[Droflet]

Ask me again why I shun social media. A venue for 21st century cowards. Spits.

 

[biodroid]

So sad that idiots resort to these kinds of behaviour. Even if it was meant to be humorous there is nothing humorous about threatening someones life. I hope PR lays charges. It is unacceptable, keyboard warriors think they are safe because they think they can get away with it,.

 

[RightersBlock]

I've never used twitter in my life. And I dropped myspace and facebook back in 2008.

 

[MWagner]

The people who threaten him are morons. But there's also such a thing as ignoring people. If you're in communication with thousands of fans through electronic media, dozens of them will be extremely unpleasant people. I think if creators are going to use these platforms, they need to practice strong filtering to block out the unpleasant stuff. If they can't do that - if they have to read and take to heart everything communicated about them online - then they should just back away from the platform. Because nothing we can do is going to turn the 3-5 per cent or so of people who are complete toss-pots into polite and reasonable human beings.

 

[Gonk the Insane]

nothing we can do is going to turn the 3-5 per cent or so of people who are complete toss-pots

Only 3-5%?
*wanders off and looks for forum devoted to cynics*
*returns after discovering hardcore cynics are too cynical to start a forum*

 

[MWagner]

Only 3-5%?
*wanders off and looks for forum devoted to cynics*
*returns after discovering hardcore cynics are too cynical to start a forum*

Well, that's the estimated percentage of humans who are sociopaths. The number of garden variety jerks are obviously much higher.

 

[Overread]

Here's the thing though; the best way to avoid this is just to ignore it.


1) First up you've got people saying stupid stuff because that's what people say. "OMG I'm like so totally going to kill myself if I don't read the next book like now!" It's stupid, over the top and no one takes (teenagers) seriously when they say this.

2) Then you've got culture; sometimes a random group of people gets a kind of vibe or culture of its own where certain comments have a context that makes them acceptable within the group just not outside of it. However this can also back fire and a miss-managed social group can quickly become very negative and hostile.

3) Then you've got the fact that people copycat

4) Then you've got the fact that most times "all those idiots" is often only a handful with multiple accounts. They use them to further their own interests and many don't even consider it wrong to do so.



Patricks response, whilst understandable; is also the wrong response. It's taking a very negative angle and attacking at his own fanclub who might well only be being very silly about it or venting frustrations. Part of it could even be Patricks fault if he has regular news slots and doesn't give out any info; or if he's missed proposed publishing deadlines.

It's a shame and I hope he might reconsider his outburst and rephrase or remove it in light of using better social management tactics. Social media groups can be managed, but you have to manage them just right and the wrong management choices can destroy what took years to build.

 

[Culhwch]

It's a concerning trend, but that's the age we live in unfortunately. It's a combination of an unprecedented access to creators (and creators leveraging that to, you know, make more money - as is perfectly within their rights) and the development of a generation raised with a me-first attitude used to instant gratification. They're basically toddlers throwing their toys out of the pram because their mother won't buy them an ice cream. Unfortunately that worked in the past, and their mother did buy them ice cream. Of course most of these 'threats' aren't serious, but Rothfuss is right, it doesn't make them acceptable.

I don't know why these idiots just don't look for something else to read. But again that may play into the issue - they invest so heavily in the ONE TRUE THING and it becomes so much a part of their identity, it's just too hard to wait, and too devastating when it doesn't meet expectations.

The thing about faking cancer, though. Jesus, if that's true that's more messed up than the death threats and suicide threats....

 

[Fishbowl Helmet]

See? Twitter is an evil place, because it allows people to do this kind of thing anonymously (false identities) and is completely useless at policing itself. Expect Pat to drop twitter soon. Makes very interesting reading if you go back a couple of years where her's debating on his blog about being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, by using Twitter. If I get time, I'll go and search for it - he really wasn't that keen at all, and now I see why.

It's not unique to Twitter. It's not unique to Facebook. It's not unique to this platform or that. And it's not unique to online interactions. This is simply how some people choose to behave. Or how they behave without their meds. The increase of anonymity provided by the internet increases the propensity for this kind of foolishness, but the internet certainly didn't create this kind of absurdity.

 

[svalbard]

I applaud Patrick as I do Stephen Fry in his stance. Go f*** yourself and get a life was my initial thoughts on reading the tweets. One of the problems with social media is that everyone thinks that they have a right to say anything they want and that their at times offensive thoughts are humorous.Two things.

1. If you find yourself suffering from verbal diarrhoea go vomit in the toilet. Do not under any circumstances spew it across a computer screen for the world to see.

2. If you think it is offensive then it probably is. And it is most definitely not humorous.

I include myself in the above.

 

[Denise Tanaka]

Patrick needs to accept that he has reached celebrity status. He needs to delegate to his "people" tasks like this - responding to fan mail, managing his social media accounts, etc. A twitter consultant guru can tweet whatever Patrick tells him/her to tweet on the daily, but aforementioned guru would also have handled this a lot better. Ranting at a---holes only shows that they got under your skin, and they win... not you.

 

[Jaxx]

I heart Pat.

He's being honest and open in his reactions, yet socially and potentially career wise isn't socially conforming. Hes a celebrity of sorts and that has this layer of presumed understanding of the whole tinternet fandom center of attention shock attiude, social and psychological maturity and just generally "You write good behave n except our adoration however it manifests."

Fair play he's been himself, in it's exasperated ugliness its kind of endearing.

 

[Ambriel]

I'm just as desperate to read the last book as the next guy. I've read the first two probably 15 times a piece and still love them. I would never threaten my favorite author with physical violence nor would I ever pretend to have cancer or whatever else these imbeciles have done. He had every right to go off on these idiots. It doesn't matter one iota if he is a celebrity.

 

[Dave]

I'm going to disagree with some of this. I'm not going to disagree that the internet has a lot more sociopaths and "garden variety jerks" than you would meet on the street outside your house, or that being active on social media is comparable to giving out your email address to a hive of spammers, or that it is too easy for people to troll using anonymous identities. Neither do I have so much of a problem with PR's replies to them. I think that as a "celebrity" he has every right to do that. He has far more right than a "celebrity" who tells me how to vote, or who spouts their opinions on foreign policy, the environment, child care, or healthcare (even when some of them have difficulty writing a sentence.) I do accept that he may however have chosen the wrong audience to vent at, since it will be a small proportion of his Twitter followers who are the problem. It is like keeping the whole class back after school because two children were disruptive and then lecturing them all on good behavior. Worse, it is ranting at them all.

Patrick needs to accept that he has reached celebrity status. He needs to delegate to his "people" tasks like this - responding to fan mail, managing his social media accounts, etc. A twitter consultant guru can tweet whatever Patrick tells him/her to tweet on the daily, but aforementioned guru would also have handled this a lot better. Ranting at a---holes only shows that they got under your skin, and they win... not you.

Exactly so! Although no longer having direct access between PR and fans would be a loss for both parties.

What I will really disagree with is the idea that it is all broken beyond repair and the only alternative is go away and hide forever inside a dark cave. I will also disagree that he has to feel somehow responsible in any way, for not giving enough information or tender loving care to his fan base.

It's not unique to Twitter. It's not unique to Facebook. It's not unique to this platform or that. And it's not unique to online interactions. This is simply how some people choose to behave. Or how they behave without their meds. The increase of anonymity provided by the internet increases the propensity for this kind of foolishness, but the internet certainly didn't create this kind of absurdity.

Exactly! I've watched The Jeremy Kyle Show too. However, I'd say that if Twitter and Facebook are to survive they need to address this themselves. I'm not just saying that they have a responsibility, but that they have a commercial imperative. It isn't impossible to police this kind of thing, it is just very difficult, and expensive if you must employ "policemen." Some people are amazed that there is no problem here on Chronicles but they just don't see it because of the work of moderating team behind the scenes. They are volunteers. These platforms want to do it with report buttons and automated algorithms. That doesn't work because they give the trolls control of the report buttons and computers are not AIs. You need to do it with real people. Otherwise, I predict "celebrities" will leave Twitter and Facebook and they will die.

 

[Ursa major]

the best way to avoid this is just to ignore it

I'm not sure anyone should ignore death threats. Because, occasionally, someone will mean it and some of those who do may not stop at posting on (anti-) social media, all those making death threats should be reported to the police and the owners of particular medium on which they've chosen to use to make the threat.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I think I'm going to close my Twitter account this weekend. I used it only a little, and didn't like it. Still like FB a lot though...

 

[Dave]

Wow! Another 10+ years on... social media didn't do anything to fix itself, and fans are still waiting for The Doors of Stone...

Attacks on authors is not a new phenomenon at all. In the Coda at the end of The Song of Susannah (Dark Tower book 6) from 2004, Stephen King writes about exactly this, including the letter that someone was dying of cancer. In fact, I'm sure that is were Rothfuss got the idea.

And aren't GRRM's fans waiting just as long too. The only difference here, is that if you believe Wikipedia then in July 2020, Rothfuss's editor and publisher, Betsy Wollheim, got just as annoyed as some of his fans.

There are many very good reasons to leave X/Twitter and Facebook and social media completely, but social media certainly doesn't cause this, it just make it much easier to contact the authors, poisoned internet rather than by poison pen.

Having a good rant and a vent must have made him feel much better at the time but the problem of social media is that the evidence never goes away. It wasn't the best idea to have. He shouldn't have ignored the death threats though, you must take those seriously.