Unpopular opinion but I fully support the use of AI for supportive content (like the image used here) or as a reference.

On Stitched Delights, I use AI to create unique writing prompts that I can use as conversation starters. I call the feature, “Let’s Discuss.” I even credit AI for creating the prompt but my response is authentic and written solely by me.

I think of it as an idea generator. I use AI for imagery to avoid copyright issues, especially on my business content. I often use it to make bullet points for an organized thought process before I write a podcast. It helps me create a start-to-finish layout that I can expand on. I’ll often use its search feature to pull up resources I personally read and vet out, so I can expand on a topic as needed with relevant information. The actual content is written by me.

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One of my biggest fears about maintaining a public presence online is those darn trolls under the internet bridge. Yesterday was a reminder of why I felt the way I felt.

I use Blaze campaigns to help promote some of my individual content posts on Stitched Delights to try and draw in more community following. Yesterday I started receiving my first trolls on an ad campaign and it made me realize a couple interesting things about myself:

1. Anonymous people being mean do not bother me as much as it used to.
2. My writing must look pretty nice to be confused as “AI Slop.”
3. Trolls will be trolls and they help boost the interactions on my content, increasing viewership (Thanks for the boost folks!).
4. Creating invective phrases using verbal imagery is fun when I need to relieve some of the stress over cruel comments.
5. I really do have more faith in myself than I once had to be less bothered by stuff like this. My mental health and self-love have grown by leaps and bounds!

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I still remember my first troll online. I used to have a blog on LiveJournal (apparently they are now Russian but, when I was a teenager, they were not). A woman found my blog through a mutual friend, we started chatting, and I thought she was absolutely a beautiful-looking individual. Behind the scenes, though, she was trolling the crap out of me.

Her face was pretty but her personality had warts.

This grown woman told a 16 or 17-year-old me that I was, “The ugliest woman she had ever seen,” and further expressed how she could not understand why I existed.

My LiveJournal often discussed my depression. I ended up attempting an unaliving of myself later. I had so much happening in my life that my teenage self could not handle it anymore. Was she a direct result? No. I simply felt alone and she fed into those feelings. They came to a head later when the people who I called a friend started making me the butt of all the jokes at school.

This was around 2001-2002. I actually suffered from depression from those early years until very recently. Now I have my depression managed but, at the time, trolls were not something I handled well, and why I always avoided sharing things publicly on the internet. People. Suck.

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What I am about to say is not exactly appropriate for the under 18 crowd, so if you are easily offended by vulgar remarks just scroll.

Either way, it is now my firm belief that those who are “big and bad” through anonymity are likely the result of, “the best part of them dribbling down their mother’s chin,” and not a valid opinion of me.

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It is quite clear to me that I have come a long way. Like any human, rude comments and remarks still hurt. However, my acceptance that some people don’t matter when it comes to my opinion of my work and myself has come a long way. I am actually quite proud of myself.