First let me say this.  If you haven’t either told me to “Go F**k Myself” or thought of telling me to “Go F**k Myself” at some point in the last 48 hours than this post doesn’t really apply to you.  You should feel free to skip it. 

To the rest of you (who probably aren’t reading this but what the heck) I have a message.  In order to frame that message I would like to quote one of the lovely messages I’ve received over the past day.  It said…

Hey F**k w*d,

Why don’t you mind your own F**k**g busines (her mis-spell, not mine - tom).  Some of us are really upset about losing all our data and we don’t need you telling us you don’t give a c**p about it.  Why don’t you just leave us alone and not be a j**k*ss about things.

Some people actually care about other people’s suffering but clearly you don’t so why don’t you just live your d**n life already and let us live ours. 

With hopes that you go f**k yourself,

[Name Withheld]

In fairness I was the one who withheld her name.  She was brave enough to put it out there with her real e-mail address (which was valid, I checked).  So kudos to her on that.

That said here’s my message to the author and everyone else who wrote similar ones: I think you missed the point.  To save myself from having to type any more than I have to and to prove I’m not back tracking I’m going to quote from the FAQ on my “about page” to make my point…

===Begin Quote===

“Why are you so mean? I don’t think I am mean but I know where the sentiment comes from.

Here’s the thing, I can be hard on people from time to time but that’s because I actually do care. It’s easy to just say “you’re great” to a person and then go on your way but to me that’s dishonest. That’s really saying “it doesn’t matter what you do it’s of so little importance that I’m just going to tell you how great you are no matter what”

I believe what people do is important and I believe that I have an obligation to tell them when their actions don’t deliver the results that their words are intending.   So I'm not going to tell you how great you are unless you actually ARE great but I am willing to do everything in my power to help make you great.  That's the sentiment I live by.

If that makes me look mean then so be it. I’d rather look mean and be comforted by the fact that I did the right thing than look nice and be the guy who just doesn’t give a damn.  “

===End Quote===

And that is what I say to you.  Believe it or not, I am the one who “gives a f**k” about your suffering.  I am the one who is trying to make you see that you made a mistake so that you won’t do it again.  The folks who are out there telling you it’s all big, mean Microsoft’s fault for losing your data are the ones that don’t care whether this happens to you again (and if you continue to not back up your data it will in fact happen to you again)

Sure, I’ll be the first to admit to the character flaw that is sarcasm and I’ll absolutely agree that my message would get across clearer without the sarcastic title.  But that’s the world.  No one’s perfect.  That shouldn’t stop you from thinking through what I said and realizing I was trying to help you.

So in closing, and I say this with all the love in the world, but if you can’t see that I’m trying to help you than you can go f**k yourself.  But I mean that in the nicest way possible.