The Writer's Community is Toxic

The least informed are often the loudest

In 2006, I spent a semester as a student teacher for high school seniors.

Within the first month, I had to stop telling people about it.

“Oh, you’re going to be a teacher? How exciting. Make sure you’re a good teacher though. Here’s my list of do’s and don’ts to make it fun for the kids.'“

Everyone wanted to give me stupid advice, though they’d never taught so much as a macrome lesson. These people had been students (as have we all) and thought they knew what it was to be a teacher. They didn’t. And more than one of them suggested I do illegal stuff like have “camping trips” with my students.

“Writers” and Opinions

I’ve found an even more plentiful source of bad advice in the online writer’s community. Unlike the well-meaning teaching advice I got as a college student, the uninformed, unserious tripe some “writers” dole out comes with a heaping side of judgment, gate-keeping, and even threats.

There was a kerfuffle on Twitter involving a successful cover artist threatening to blackball indi…