Hello readers. Please read to the end.

I'm writing this note in response to a review I received recently. Well, review isn't the correct word. The person who wrote it was retaliating against a review I posted on a story nearly 5 years ago. I'm not sure if the sender was the author of the story or just a die hard fan as they decided not to log in and speak with me directly but rather attempt a public shaming. I highly doubt that he or she will be reading this or any of my other works in the future but I still feel I have the right to defend my name.

To start, when I wrote the review in question, and no I'm not denying it, I was 16 years old, maybe 17, and was at a point in my life where I was simply angry at the world. And while this does not excuse my behavior it also has no reflection on the person I am today. I no longer feel the need to spread any emotional miasma to those around me as a defense mechanism against the bullying I had to deal with for being an anime fan which was apparently the lowest form of nerd at my school. I have grown and learned to accept the differences between my opinions and those of others.

Secondly, I believe fan fiction should be taken seriously. Simply because we use a template for our creativity does not mean they all should be seen as jokes. The story I am currently working on has been in progress for what must be closing in on a year and it is this level of commitment and passion I hold all stories to, be they mine or not. Of course I recognize that not all fan fictions are meant to be taken literally and some are written as jokes or satires but writers must always be prepared for someone who simply doesn't get the punchline and not take it personally.

Next, I must stand firm in my opinion that 4Kids is utter garbage and would be better served to be erased from history rather than glorified or even spoken of in any fashion. 4Kids spits on that which I hold dear and so I spit on them. Not the most enlightened view, I grant, but who among us can claim they have never done the same to someone they felt wronged them?

This will be my final statement. I am not perfect. Perfection is a myth. I'm sure that there are people in the world who hate me and believe I have hurt them in some way and I am in no way proud of that but I can say with absolute certainty that I have never done what this person did. The first rule of internet etiquette is NEVER tell someone to kill themselves because you never know what someone is going through and if they will truly take your advise. If I had received this review 5 years ago instead of today, I may have. Any life lost before its time is a tragedy and whether or not you physically participated, leading that life to its end is murder. There are things in this world that are not funny in any way, shape or form and this suicide is one of them.

To those of you who did read to the end, thank you. I love you all.

Don't be haters.