Publishing on the web. Should you?

That is actually quite the important question and I feel that far too many people fail to address it (and by that I mean practically everyone). In this day and age it is far too easy to publish anything - why, I'm living proof of that! Look at me going on and on about stuff. Who am I? No one cares. This is the internet. It's like a giant playground here. And, like on any other playground, children gather here. YouTube, deviantart, fanfiction.net, hundreds upon thousands of other sites I fail to mention - those are the places where you can show off your work. And that isn't a bad thing - people should have the choice to put themselves in the public eye. But! Being able to do something shouldn't be the same thing as doing it. When deciding to publish something, people ask themselves one of two questions (or both of them!), even if it's on a subconscious level - "Do I like my work?" and/or "Do my friends like my work?". If the answer is yes, then publish you shall! Right? Well, no. No, it isn't.

It's all fine and dandy that you enjoy your work. Actually, it's more than that - it's great! It's good your friends like it too. But, honestly? That doesn't mean anything. Because of people who have zero talent and fail to realize it, the internet is clogged with unfunny, unoriginal and plain bad works.

I guess this sounds harsh. I'm not trying to tell you never to publish anything, ever. In fact, I think you should. But don't expect everyone to find it as good as you do (especially if it isn't, not that you have a real way of knowing that, but whatever). Just... listen to the people who view your stuff. Since they are your audience, the opinion that matters is theirs. Far too many people fail to realize that when 100 people hate what you do and one person enjoys it that does not, in fact, mean that you are a great artist. It means you can find a niche of people who will like your work. But you probably won't. And you will serve as yet another annoyance on the internet.

What I'm really saying is that the freedom of speech (of publishing whatever the hell you want here) that we enjoy has created a monster. A monster made of self-delusion and stupidity. Publish your work, fine, but do it with half a mind that it could be bad. Think of the audience first and of yourself second. And be prepared for negative feedback.