I debated with myself a long time on whether or not to post anything about this matter. I thought I might be feeding the trolls. But I think this needs to be addressed.

First of all, thank you all for the extraordinary support and well-wishes this year, that helped me to win the Open Web Award for Funniest Person of the Year. I’m truly touched and honored by your support, and hope that I’ll continue to earn it.

That said, the celebration is tainted a great deal for me because of a few bad eggs out there who continue to post cruel and hateful things on the blog and on the forums. I’m very, very upset right now. In fact, some of the comments lately have left me completely outraged. I’ve taken down my latest video and I don’t intend to remake it, because honestly, I’m not in the mood. I don’t feel like being funny, and you don’t want to see me in front of the camera right now. These wanton emotional attacks on hard-working, innocent people have to stop. I don’t mind if you come after me; in a way, I open myself up for it. I’d prefer if you didn’t insult me, of course, but I can take it. Where I draw the line is when you make hateful, ignorant comments against my friends, family, and loved ones. These belligerent, crude comments have caused more harm than you know. It’s not fair. It’s not warranted. There’s no call to ever say such awful things to anyone, and I’m tired of it.

And I know that I’m only addressing a scant few people out there. I have thousands and thousands of fans, almost all of whom are astoundingly generous, kind, and supportive. I know you’re good people, and I never get to thank these fans enough. It sucks that I have to stop the presses, drag the whole party down, and give these cowards the attention they don’t deserve.

I hope you’ll all pay close attention when I tell you this: this site has a bad reputation. The people I work with don’t like it when I post their videos here, because they tell me that the fans here are downright petty and childishly mean. And I don’t know what to tell them. My moderators and admins work overtime filtering out hate speech. I can understand that some of you don’t like other video producers; it’s all a matter of personal preference. But that’s no reason to use sadistic speech picking on people’s weight, looks, religion, ethnicity, or anything else. I simply can’t believe that we live in an age where people are capable of such pig ignorance and shallow hatred. These aren’t the kind of fans that I want or need. If you don’t like something about this site, fine, you can voice your disapproval. But you can do it in a rational manner without resorting to bullying, infantile insults.

I want this site to be a place for fun, and for laughs. I want people to be able to come here and feel safe and welcome. I don’t want people coming here feeling like they have to gird themselves for war with a bunch of whiny pre-adolescents who only know how to spit bile.

If you can’t learn to at least be civil, please leave. You’re not wanted here, and you’re making everyone else look bad. We’re all here to have fun. Please try to remember that.

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