Signs that Hubber may not be objective

Over the years I have belonged to enough online forums and communities to know that not everyone plays fairly. I have learned that no matter how well our Mama's have instilled the value of fairness we will from time to time encounter the very same kind of belligerent and petty behavior we had hoped was left far, far behind with our High School days. It happens in the work place, in stores, in neighborhoods, in traffic, even our places of worship. But despite this newbies to forums often expect -reasonably so- that at least while online we will be spared being singled out for emotional or verbal abuse.

Alas, web world just isn't this way. It is full of trolls, flamers, spammers, hackers and the run-of-the-mill psychic vampires who delight in nothing more than in inflicting all the emotional pain they can on others. I will say, however, that percentage-wise, Hubpages has less of these undesirables than any other forum I've belonged to. OR perhaps, to say it more aptly, there is a HIGHER percentage of mature adults here than on any other forum I have belonged to. The immature and sleazy do still manage to pop up every now and then, and inevitably, try to spread their non-objective manure wherever they go.

If you are a Hubpages newbie they may be hard to recognize until you've encountered them up and personal in the most discomforting kind of ways. This is unfortunate, and so this Hub is for you: a guide from personal observation about the typical kind of Negative Nellies you'll want to avoid during your experience at Hubpages. If you do encounter these folks by chance, I recommend not engaging with them. Just ignore them to the best of reasonable ability. Because if there if there is one thing I've learned in life online it is that folks who won't post objectively will not engage objectively either.

They post a hub with no text, just a big iconic image that they know instills discomfort or intimidation in a great many people.

They put up a huge and generally non-offensive religious or spiritual image while their only written contribution is the most judgmental passage they can snag from their spiritual text of choice.

They spread the message of their political candidates of choice by hunting out unconverted Hubbers and lovingly telling them how “un-American”, “uneducated”, “ignorant”, "douche-baggy", ect. they are.

If it looks like a paid ad, reads like a paid ad and all the links lead to a product that is identical to a service advertised on the backs of the Yellow Pages, chances are they "contributed" a paid ad.

They write with a great deal of passion but avoid, just as passionately, basic rules of spelling in practically everything they write.

They lure the unwary in with topic titles like “Hottest Women of-" or "Sexy Babes of-“ to promote an entity, forum or viewpoint they just like.

They tempt the unwary in with topic titles like “Hot Chicks-“ but in reality their contribution is a mere diss on an entity or viewpoint they just don’t like.

They have developed a rep for making long-winded emotional comments but show lacking energy in contributing their own Hubs.

They are vehement in their advocacy and support of victims –but only if those victims happen to fit into their political agenda of choice.

They plead for social tolerance and open-mindedness while at the same time denouncing other Hubbers with brow-beating commentary

They often reference material at Wikipedia or other questionable "information" sites to support of their arguments, usually pages with warnings that the substance and/or quality needs editing or does not meet source site's standards.

Their Hubs include numerous links to their personal seller sites at eBay without the consideration to tell visitors in advance that these lead to their personal seller sites at eBay.

They give a lot of advice about the opposite sex –most always bitter- and defend their expertise on the subject by the number of their equally bitter divorces.

They not only select an absurd member name but identify their home turf as an absurd fictional place and/or use an absurd photo to identify themselves.

They post very questionably titled questions to the community.

They don't back away from using the “innocent women and children” truism to defend their views although the substance of their general articles bears indication that if on a sinking ship they'd be among the first to start running over women and children in the flee to the lifeboats.

They will single out an individual as their scape-goated example of a bad or illiterate Hubber.

Their sense of political humor is noticeably lop-sided.

Their only major contribution to the community is to be a sock puppet for antagonistic Hubbers.

Their major source of camaraderie in the face of disagreeing comments comes from sock puppets.

Despite their claims to having pursued a higher education, their activity makes everyone else pretty darned sure they majored in Shout Down.

They psychically channel Keith Olbermann and pick a topic title like "World's Worst-" not to describe a thing or entity but real people. I don't mean evil people either, like a dictator or murderer or even the next-door-neighbor who kicks puppies, but people as ordinary as themselves. C'mon folks, just calling others the World's Worst person is edging yourself closer and closer to that very title, don't you think?

In closing, let me say this: Individuals with no sense of objectivity tend to wait with bated breath to pounce on anyone with a countering view and subject these targets to garbage no adult needs to waste their time on.

To reiterate: if you come across one of these types my advice is that unless they are threatening you or someone else or using their Hub as a spam device, ignore them. Engaging the non-objective on their own turf or with return fire, so to speak, will only encourage them. If they repeatedly show up on your Hub with nasty comments, apply the Moderate Comments option.

A friend once told me this: opinions are like buttholes, everyone has one. But sadly, some who don't have hearts over-compensate on the butthole part.

Wishing you all a creative and productive day :)

Watch Ben Affleck in the SNL parody of Countdown With Keith Olbermann