DCU fan Abdullah Saleh had no idea what he was getting himself into. Frustrated with the unexpectedly negative reviews for this weekend’s Suicide Squad, which led to a dismal rating on the popular film review site Rotten Tomatoes, he created a petition on Change.org calling on the powers that be to shut the page down. He felt it was unfairly biased against DC movies, having given Man of Steel a rating of 55%, Batman v Superman 27%, and Suicide Squad 31% – all numbers that add up to “Rotten” ratings. By contrast, every single film in the MCU is “Fresh,” meaning that it has a score of 60% or better. (The vast majority are in the 80s and 90s.)

However, the fact is that Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t actually review films themselves – they simply use an algorithm to gauge the percentage of positive reviews from a variety of critics. They also allow for fan ratings and reviews, which are often more positive than those from professional critics.

So, despite the fact that his petition garnered over 17,000 signatures in less than 48 hours, the internet collectively lost its shit, unloading on the unsuspecting fan with standard keyboard warrior vitriol. Now he has decided to remove the petition. He is shocked by the responses he received, both positive and negative. He simply never expected it to become such a Big Thing.

“My aim was, if the critics were not accurate, I wanted it to be fair. I didn’t expect the hate from all the objectors,” the 22 year old Egyptian DC fan told me.

“In fact, I started this petition to gather DC fans to express our anger just for fun. I didn’t mean it to be taken so seriously. After thinking, I found the petition pointless. And the only thing it does is spreading a speech of hate and online fighting among the supporters and objectors. The movies are something to enjoy, and the hate and fighting is the opposite of enjoying.”

During its few hours of life, the petition attracted a great deal of attention. I personally saw stories from a dozen different websites in my timeline yesterday. The comments, however, were where the claws came out. As always, the anonymity of the internet emboldened the haters to fling verbal poo at those they deem unworthy. Poor Abdullah was raked over the coals, being called everything from “entitled whiner” on the mild end of the spectrum, to “basement-dwelling fantard” on the other.

So, unsurprisingly, he decided to remove the petition, which was probably wise. Rotten Tomatoes is a hugely popular site, with millions of people each week basing where their theater bucks will go on the number next to the little red tomato. It wasn’t going to be shut down, period. It wouldn’t matter if President Obama, the Pope, and Joss Whedon all signed it. It was a lost cause from the very beginning. Also, Suicide Squad looks legitimately bad, in this writer’s opinion. So the numbers aren’t exactly unfair.

However, if I may interject my personal thoughts for a moment: Yes, this petition was probably a bad idea from the word go. A, it was never going to achieve its goal, and B, the critics were simply calling a spade a spade. There was no hate involved on the professional end. But internet bullies suck out loud. The hate being flung at this poor dude for simply defending something he’s passionate about is entirely unwarranted. And the fact that a great deal of it came from people who are ostensibly adults is pretty sad.

You’ve been this guy before. We’ve all loved something that wasn’t so well received by the general public, and we know how disappointing that can be. Have a little compassion.

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