Me, the punchline.

I was just hitting puberty when the "Internet" became a big thing, brought to millions of American homes by AOL...

Chat Rooms where all the craze (before I found text-based roleplay) where strangers from all over the country could "communicate" back and forth in one computer window, under an array of usernames/handles/ScreenNames.

Being phonetically challenged and naive, I turned to my older sister to check my spelling before creating mine.

FlammingIce323

If I'd spent more time with a dictionary and less time playing with extreme temperatures, I might not have set myself up for such embarrassment. Alas, hallow confidence in a "cool" ScreenName I poked around several of the chatrooms until I saw one called "Ask Me Anything"

What pre-teen wouldn't jump into that chatroom?

Online Host: FlammingIce323 has entered the room

"FLAMMINGICE323 WHAT'S FLAMMING?"

"Hey u flamming ice r ya?"

"Who taught u how to spell?"

It took me a moment to adjust my eyes to bright colors, bold fonts and tiny but punctuated fonts. Sadly, it wasn't until one of them questioned my spelling that I realized they where mocking me, so I grabbed a The Dictionary.

Flaming. The word I was aiming for was "Flaming" and for some reason I thought it looked more correct with two M's.

It wasn't the only time I put myself in the line of fire like a neon sign that said "cannon fodder!" Yo-Yo-ing through emotions I didn't understand, in a family I didn't relate to, I was inspired to give into what I considered morbid humor.

Call me foolish

This time, I made sure I spelled it correctly, and this time when I entered the "Ask Me Anything" room, I was certain no one would ask such stupid questions.

Online Host: Call me foolish has entered the room

"Foolish"

"foolish!"

"FOOLISH"

"foooooooooooooooooooooooooooolish"

"foolish hahahahahah"

"how foolish r u?"

"foolish"

Before I could even answer the first and only question asked of me since I entered, there was a bomb of foolishness thrown at me-- which I missed because I was typing, a reply others missed in the debris because I hit "enter" in the middle of the explosion...

"foolish"

Call me foolish: Depends on who's asking.

"foolish"

"WHY U WANT TO B CALLED FOOLISH?"

"foolish"

"IGNORE _so-n-so_ they r just a troll scrolln"

"foolish"

While I'm trying to re-type my answer, with an answer for the second question, I notice someone else telling me to ignore the person who keeps typing "foolish" and entering it into the chatroom because they're "just a troll." As I'm hunting for this "ignore" feature (which hadn't been incorporated yet) I see the "foolish" posting continue.

"foolish"

"UR BOTH FOOLISH"

"foolish"

I don't even get a chance to reply, the seemingly endless string of "foolish" created some kind of glitch which crashed the room.

How was I supposed to know the internet came with Trolls?

--and how did a Troll type so fast? Or crash the chatroom?

|| another_proser ||

Welcome

Welcome to Prose.! Publish your work, follow writers, and engage in community challenges.

By using Prose., you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

If you used Twitter or Facebook to get into your account and now can't get in, please contact us at support@theprose.com