Don’t Be That Guy: The Keyboard Commando

I eat Green Berets for breakfast. And right now, I’m very hungry! – John Matrix

A fun little situation has evolved after one of our recent meetups. It seems someone took it upon themselves to become a keyboard commando to one of our longest standing, most frequently attending members… not to mention a person who’s become a good friend over the years.

But this jackwad newbie… whose main claim to fame is having assumed control of a group after the real leadership team let it expire on Meetup, decided to go full flamethrower and rage.

Needless to say… we have thoughts…

So, let me get this straight…you are at an event for roughly two hours, you are literally 10 feet from said person the entire time, you shook hands with this person at the event, you said literally nothing confrontational at said event, and then you wait to go home and write out something to the effect of:

You are banned from my group.

Here is why you are banned.

Here is another reason.

And another.

And another…

And if you show up to one, and I quote, “There will be problems, I promise you that.”

The reason why? Because you “wanted to be professional at the event you were at”.

And what conceivable problems could you possible provide other than not sharing the coupon code for a large coffee?

So let’s set the record straight, shall we? Your professionalism exists beyond being in-person. In this day and age of social media, screenshotting texts and simply life online, professionalism exists outward more than it ever has in our life

We see it everyday, someone on social media, who you thought was such a nice upstanding citizen, threatens to kill someone over political ideology, wants someone to kill themselves over an opinion, or simply bullies others when it’s convenient for them to do it in the comforts of their own home.

It isn’t like it was in the olden days of the Internet, you can’t hide anymore, it’s very easy to hit ctrl-[prt sc] and ctrl-v in a text or email within seconds.

So this goes out to you, Mr. Keyboard Commando, next time, just have the courage, take the person you have beef with to the side, explain the situation, and come up with a rational decision. It’s not easy to do, I can attest to that, but you also will squash it then and there and won’t become a blog post the following week.

Until next time…