The internet can be a strange place, full of wonder and terror. Case in point: Game of Thrones fans dissatisfied with how the show ended have focused much of their malcontent on showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss. That anger was given form in the shape of a Reddit campaign started on the popular r/freefolk subreddit on May 6, one day after “The Last of the Starks” aired, asking everyone to “Upvote this post so its the first result when you google ‘Bad writers.’”
It appears to have worked. As of this writing, the original Reddit post sits at the top of the search results, along with several other posts referencing the Reddit post. Ouch.
It’s no secret that some Game of Thrones fans were less than happy with the ending, myself among them. Is this a healthy expression of that unhappiness, or are we veering into the kind of online behavior that A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin described as “toxic”? A question for the philosophers.
For their part, Benioff and Weiss have stayed quiet about the backlash since the series bowed, but will be making an appearance later this month at the San Diego Comic-Con alongside many of the show’s cast. Should the panel take questions from the audience, we could be in for quite the interesting time. If Benioff and Weiss google themselves beforehand, they’ll at least be ready.
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