What Type of Reader are You?

I always just assumed that the people that read this blog are of two types of people but I have learned there is an occasional third type thrown in on occasion.

One type are those who have an interest in prison reform. Perhaps they are ex-convicts, have family members who have walked that path or feel strongly about it for political or religious reasons.

The other type are those folks interested in true crime. These are the armchair criminologists and avid readers. They watch the Investigation Discovery channel religiously and you can find them by the truckload in Facebook groups discussing trials and cases and books about them. Most cite their reasoning as a simple curiosity. They, like me, want to know how and why normal people go rogue.

There is also that third type of person who sort of snuck up on me. Call me naive if you like, but it never occurred to me that these people existed. These types of people prefer to be cruel and nasty. Not just about the criminals but to me. I understand that people will always have their own opinions and that’s the really cool part of life and the Internet in general. I suppose it is the advent of the Internet and the ability to hide in anonymity that brings them out from under their rocks but I am always stymied as to why me? They hunt down personal info and attack me, my family and loved ones. They threaten me, my children and family.

It happens from time to time. Some troll stumbles upon my blog and shoots off an email full of venom. They are mad at people who want prison reform or who are against the death penalty or whatever. They are pissed off that I am doing something that they do not believe in. Sometimes it is through Twitter or Facebook and I can just report it and block. Done and done. Usually my assistant finds it and deletes it and I never even see it. No harm, no foul. I don’t think I could explain to a normal person how vile and sick these people are. You wouldn’t believe it.

What never, ever fails to draw the crazies out are posts about Jodi Arias and Darlie Routier. Both are their own special brand of crazy but they always want to attack ME for writing about them. That, ladies and gentleman, is a special kind of crazy. No one forces them to come here and read my opinions. Their comments, if I even see them, don’t stop me. I often wonder if these are the closet murderers. The things they say they are willing to do are just as bad and more often worse than the killers I write about.

So, I’d like to ask you, what type of reader are you? Do you come here to start shit and troll out of a boring or maybe sick mind? Or do you come to read about cases that interest you and fulfill some need for information you haven’t found elsewhere? Before you decide, let me warn you. My new assistant isn’t quite as lenient as the other one is.  She keeps records of threats and IP addresses. You just may end up being forced to answer for you keyboard ninja activities one day and this just might be the place.