Definition: Given a real-life anecdote of a complex ethical situation, generate a suitable title that describes the main event/root cause of the situation. Imagine that the given text is a social media post, and you have to write the title of the post, so the users can decide to read the main text or not.
Input: Summer of 2017 I started listening to Welcome to Night Vale since I traveled a lot. I loved the spooky, weird, and strange nature of it. I loved how it took the supernatural and made it seem like a mundane part of life. I loved the format, a community radio station. Since I lived in a desert town in New Mexico for a few years, I could relate to it. 

Also during that summer, maybe a couple months after I started binging WTNV, I wrote a sarcastic and witty post on my hometown’s (Florida, not New Mexico) Facebook page after some funny things happened (dude was arrested for being naked at a kid’s splash pad, a couple were caught having sex behind the McDonald’s Dumpster, and brief power outages that no one could explain). It was, in my mind, a real life episode of WTNV. The post was an absolute hit. Everyone loved it and asked for me to write weekly reviews of everything that happens in town. Its a humor bit I write every Sunday night. Mostly make fun of the weird shit that happens, or play on the repeated complaints people make on Facebook about our town. It’s still going strong even to today. I’m about 14 weeks from celebrating my 100th post, and my two year anniversary is coming up in June as well. 

Every now and then I have comments saying how much my format reminds them of Welcome to Night Vale, to which I will reply that the podcast was my initial inspiration for my work in the beginning, but I strive to make it unique, to make it mine, to make it special to my hometown. I do have all my posts saved up in a compilation. I don’t plan on actually publishing it for monetary gain, so I’m not pushing on copyright infringement with many other things (posts mention certain businesses and people). 

However, last night I got the comment that I AM infringing on copyright, and that I need to stop posting. It was one comment, one hater, which I do get every now and then. When it comes to usual haters I just ignore them. More often than not my supporters will take care of them for me. Like my Christmas special when I wrote The 12 Day of Christmas (but with things only my hometown will get). One comment said I need to move if I’m so negative about the town. Sadly, my being negative is a literal joke on all the people who post negative complaints all the freaking time. I’m just making fun of them. I love my (Florida) town. I moved away for 5 years and learned to love it again when I moved back.

But this one person has been consistently negative towards me in the last few weeks, often saying I’m not funny, annoying, and unoriginal (claiming I’m stealing Night Vale’s bit). Like I said, I don’t plan on making my weekly bit into a real thing. I do plan on writing a novelized version soon with original characters and plot, things that reference the town itself. Other than that, I strive to be original and creative, but mostly it’s just to have fun. It’s strengthened my ability as an aspiring writer, and the support I get is a total confidence boost I needed. 

Personally, I don’t see how I’m an asshole, but I just wanted to ask just in case. 

supposedly using a well-known podcast as inspiration for a pet project of mine