My First IAmA

Let’s start with what an IAmA is. Actually, no, let’s start with Reddit. Reddit, as I understand it, is a massive online forum. One type of forum you can create on Reddit is called an “IAmA” (I am a…) that allows you to share a unique aspect about yourself that people might find interesting, and they can ask you anything about that subject or about anything.

I have a little Kickstarter campaign going on right now, and a few of my backers suggested that I do an IAmA. I didn’t give it much thought–I mean, the concept of putting myself in the spotlight in that way is a little weird to me (I’m usually the person asking questions, not answering them), and perhaps a little self-centered, but there seemed to be interest in it, so I did it.

I wish I had some big story about how it was, but…well, you can see it here. It was fun and interesting, but nothing controversial happened. There wasn’t an outpouring of interest, just a steady trickle that continues now many hours after it began.

I think the best comment came from someone named SuperAngryGuy who asked me if I preferred Mary Ann or Ginger on Gilligan’s Island. I said Ginger, and he said, “I’ve always been a Mary Ann guy. She helped me through puberty in her own special way.” It made me laugh out loud.

The one odd thing about the experience is Reddit’s system of upvoting and downvoting. It’s their way of bringing interesting topics to the service and pushing the uninteresting or inflammatory topics down. As of this writing, I have 125 upvotes. But I also have 62 downvotes. Uh…why? It’s not like I posted a controversial topic, nor is it inherently uninteresting. It’s a topic that some people will find interesting.

My conclusion: The internet is weird sometimes.