Pretty pictures are good. And no, you didn't make me cranky. You did give me cause for concern -- you yourself were taking it seriously enough to get pondery about your own writing. And the 'other side' of this particular thing is the underbelly of the internet.

My partner took the time to read through the very long discussion threads on Making Light, which featured the Russian hacker who created the meme getting busted wide open for the fraudulent aspects of his behaviour. He got huffy at being outed and tried to deny that he was doing anything more than having fun -- unfortunately for him, he had already posted to several hacker forums about the app he'd just finished developing, and his plans to make money off it. He ended up having his own greed screeds being quoted back at him in a very widely read public forum.

Con artists, including vanity presses, do a huge amount of damage. If you don't mind my saying this -- I know that your own life experience hasn't been terribly broad as yet, and it worried me to see you (and others) apparently shrugging it off.

I'll happily accept the hugs and return them freely in kind. No scam attached.