eli

Dear Eli,
You know I love you. I wouldn’t poke at you when we do talk if I didn’t. But I can’t understand your troll side sometimes. In person, it’s really easy to see where your limits are when making jokes, because your face just seems to turn off right away. But I know that most fans do not have the opportunity to see you in person like that. And even if they do get to see you in person, most those people have such clear images in their mind of what you’re like, they can’t  read your expressions very well.

Here’s the big problem, Eli.

You’re a troll feeder. Fangirls are strange, disgusting creatures 95% of the time, and (I think unknowingly), you encourage the craziest, most mentally unsound fans to come out when you’re playing on twitter. I can understand how it goes. You get a stupidly long list of asks and mentions on twitter. Some of them are so ridiculous, you want to reply just because it’s so bad. Problem is: those people, and the other people following you, probably can’t see the irony or the humour in what you’re posting. All they see is that, out of a thousand tweets, you pick the most embarrassing, disgusting, stupidest tweets and reply to them. And you know what fangirls are going to think?

“Oh, so he likes disgusting, stupid comments! I CAN DO THOSE!”

So now we have a bunch of pigeon fans, being absolutely disgusting and embarrassing and making countless people of sound mind cringe across the world. And they cross so many lines. I’m sure they’re crossing lines for you, because I’ve seen the line be crossed for lesser things.

Sometimes, these fans who have been following you either come to Korea, or plan to come to Korea, or do something that involves me meeting them or talking to them. For some reason, I think a lot of them believe this whole trolly personality thing is you 100%. And hell, for all I know, off stage, away from the audience, you could be a giant internet troll all of the time. All I can speak for are the times when you’re working. Watching you work is really cool, and fills me with respect, because you’re focused and determined and perform 110% when it’s time to go. And when it’s off time, you’re one of the first to talk to the audience. And I KNOW you like to talk. I’ve been told off by other fans because of that. >.> (I don’t mean to monopolize your conversation time! Sorry!) When you talk to people, you’re not that internet troll that replies to stupid tweets on twitter. You ask people how they’ve been. You’re honest when we ask how you’re doing, and tell us your knee is feeling better, or listen to us when we tell you to not work so hard that you can’t dance any more. You’re respectful and awesome.

But these international fans come in, reading your twitter, and your attempts at tumblr, and watching Pops In Seoul, and they think you’re a trolly pigeon that puts out on the first date. Instead of thinking you’re this totally cool guy who’s a lot smarter than people give him credit for that is kinda quiet at times but loves to connect to his fans if you give him a reason to connect. I see them yell things and say things and I see your face turn off, that “Oh, wow, did they just say what I think they said…?” look. It’s sad.

Now, I don’t want to pretend you’re some sweet, good natured guy. Because that’s not all you. You wouldn’t be the person you are on twitter if you were. You wouldn’t grin and oblige when a fan asks ever so nicely “Eli, where’s the gun show?” and you wouldn’t keep doing the pigeon and animal impersonations if you didn’t think they were funny (or, at least the reactions to them were.) I’ve seen you be an asshole before. I think you’re pretty decent at reading people, because the people I’ve seen you be an asshole towards? Deserved it. And probably don’t even realize it. You love trolling and have a great sense of humour and I would LOVE to go drinking with you just to see you totally relaxed without thinking of work or anything. I think you’d be awesome to hang out with. And I don’t think that of people often.

SO WHY. WHY. WHY DO YOU FEED THE TROLLS. WHY DO YOU ONLY ANSWER THE STUPID FANGIRLS. WHY DO YOU ENCOURAGE THEIR DISGUSTING, IDIOT BEHAVIOUR ONLINE, WHICH MAKES THEM CONTINUE IT OFFLINE? Perhaps you’re giving them all too much credit. For simplicity sake, assume that everyone reading your twitter in English is an idiot. And then also assume your mother, grandmother, and kindergarten teacher read your twitter. Even if you don’t answer the question, and just say “Ew” or “O__o”, you’re still giving attention to an idiot fan who is trying to push the envelope, while other sane, respectful fans just ask their nice questions and get ignored.

Personally, I just sit back and never ask questions you’ll answer, because I don’t want to be one of those fans. My friends and I will talk about your tweets, and tag you in our convo so you can see, but I’m not going to ask you what colour your underwear is, because I don’t care. I won’t say something disgusting just to get your attention, because I know I can get your attention out of being respectful just as much.

I just wish the other fans could be a bit more respectful too. Treat you like a person, instead of some character.