I am sixty-nine years old, and still people never cease to amaze me.  First of all, I consider myself to be a nice, kind person with my fellow human beings.  In a word, I do make a concentrated effort to say positive things to others.  Since I have been with AuthorsDen, I have received numerous comments over the years, all relating to the works I have submitted.  In turn, never have I once received a negative word from anyone.  That is, until recently.  My sister passed away in December.  I have had a difficult time dealing with her death.  A few days ago, I wrote a poem about her.  My sister was married at the young age of fifteen.  I was only five.  So I didn't have many years at home with her.  In my poem I indicated that I wished I had talked to my sister more about the ten years she was at home with our parents before I was born, as well as the years from the time she was married until her death.  I also stated in the poem's summary that my sister died from diabetes, pulmonary hypertension, and kidney failure.  When writing my poem, I attempted to do it with all the tenderness for my sister that I could muster, because we were very close.  All my family is close.  Well, I suppose I have made a short story very long, but I received a private comment about this poem rather than the person putting it out there for everyone on AuthorsDen to see.  In essence, what this individual said was that my sister and I were not close with one another.  This individual also stated that it sounded as if my sister lived the "good life" and her siblings should have encouraged her to take better care of herself.  Not a word was mentioned about my literary ability. Neither was there a word of compassion about her passing.  Yesterday, I looked at this person's work on the Den.  They have hundreds of poems, stories, etc., with thousands and thousands of comments.  I did not come across one comment--I didn't read them all--that was negative about this individual's work.  It makes me wonder if, while they are lavishing in kindness from others, if those who made these positive comments are aware that this individual is attacking others on the Den, and doing it without reasonable cause.  Am I nitpicking?  I don't think so.  Can I stop this individual from attacking others' work?  No.  Am I wrong in posting this--what has turned into a dissertation--on my blog?  I don't really know.  Those on the Den can make that decision.  All I expect to gain from this note is for people to give thought to what they say about others' work.  As a result of my experience, my feelings were:  So your sister died.  You weren't close to her anyway.  Besides, she lived high on the hog.  It was her fault she died.  Her siblings should have done more to try and get her to take better care of herself.  Now, get on with your life, Buddy.  I'm done.  Thank you for your time, that is, if you have read all the way to the end.