Patrick S. Tomlinson

About

Patrick S. Tomlinson is a comedian, writer and internet lolcow that has garnered significant attention on Twitter and Reddit for his different political hot takes. Politically active online for years, Tomlinson is perceived in lolcow circles, such as Kiwi Farms, as being an internet tough guy and reply guy. Additionally, Tomlinson is often called out online for his sci-fi book series Children of a Dead Earth, as well as his purportedly strained relationship with his daughter, which different communities believe was wholly abandoned by him.

Online History

Online, early bits of Patrick Tomlinson's history can be found, with some of the earliest footage depicting him performing at GenCon on August 17th, 2013, posted by his own YouTube channel.^[1] In the footage, Patrick can be seen attempting to do a nerd-inspired stand-up comedy routine, with the video gaining over 1,200 views in 11 years and giving people an early taste of his humor (shown below).

Throughout the years, Patrick Tomlinson would become known online for his various political hot takes, often attacking Donald Trump and those politically affiliated with him, as well as for posting about his divorce and his many science-fiction books — a series called Children of a Dead Earth.^[5] On Tomlinson's personal website,^[6] his bio reads:

Patrick S. Tomlinson lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with his wife, a menagerie of houseplants in varying levels of health, a Mustang and a Triumph motorcycle bought specifically to embarrass and infuriate Harley riders. Patrick’s books swing wildly from hard scrabble murder mysteries to mil-spec to the completely ridiculous, but always wrapped in colorful sci-fi trappings. When not writing sci-fi and fantasy novels and short stories, Patrick is busy developing his other passion: writing and performing stand-up comedy in the Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago scenes. When not doing either of those things, he can occasionally be found starting enormous fights on Twitter. Follow him @stealthygeek, if you dare.

These two passions of his collided in late 2017, when Patrick started to post about Ben Shapiro online, causing backlash among some and gaining him notoriety. On October 16th, 2017, the YouTube channel Irish Pete's Variety^[2] posted a video of Ben Shapiro and Patrick Tomlinson's social media feud, titled "Ben Shapiro Decisively REFUTES Sci Fi Author Patrick Tomlinson's Argument," on the premise of Tomlinson being a political activist and sci-fi author. The video (shown below) received over 2,600 views and 60 likes in six years.

In 2018, he made a post on X^[3] / Twitter about Norm MacDonald, which inspired a lot of hate from fans of the comedian, especially those on the Opie and Anthony Show's subreddit /r/opieandanthony (example tweets shown below).^[7][4]

DMCA Takedowns / Censorship

Common among many lolcows, Patrick Tomlinson went through a period in which he attempted to scrub any data about himself that he did not authorize from the internet. This led to posts being made about the Opie and Anthony subreddit, which, upon the /r/OpieAndFriends and /r/opieandanthony subreddits being banned, he took credit for due to his use of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which he tweeted^[3] about in 2019 (shown below).

On June 13th, 2021, a post titled "What’s up with Patrick S Tomlinson getting hate on Reddit?" was made to the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[7] subreddit, with the top answer from Redditor zealot416 stating:

Answer: I don't remember the exact reasons why but trolls started making fun of him on r/opieandanthony years ago. Then Patrick started responding to the trolls, both on Twitter and on Reddit, so the trolls smelt blood in the water and kept making fun of him. Which he kept responding to, ultimately leading to the banning of r/opieandanthony. This is where my knowledge of the story ends. But looking at some of the names on r/Idiots and Patrick's post history, it looks like both sides are still at it all these years later jumping from subreddit to subreddit as they get shut down.

Kiwi Farms Thread, Allegations of Doxxing and Swatting

On January 20th, 2020, a thread was started on Kiwi Farms^[8] for Patrick Tomlinson, detailing various events and aspects of his presence as a lolcow online. As of March 27th, 2024, the thread has over 2,800 pages total. Tomlinson also has an entry on Encyclopedia Dramatica.^[9]

The introduction on Tomlinson's Kiwi Farms page reads:

Patrick Tomlinson is an insurance-salesman-turned-sci-fi-author who has been embroiled in Internet drama for years, even briefly attracting the attention of Mister Metokur (L), Porsalin (L), and Kiwi Farms users (L). Mr. Tomlinson has gained many supporters and enemies fighting, blocking, and threatening legal action across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube, and GoodReads.

On October 6th, 2022, The Daily Beast^[10] published an article, titled "Internet Trolls Have Tormented This Sci-Fi Writer for Years--and He Can’t Stop Them," which detailed the alleged "yearslong mass harassment campaign, including 'swatting' attempts and death threats" he's reportedly faced online.

Various YouTubers have also covered Patrick Tomlinson's experiences with Kiwi Farms and being a lolcow over the years. For example, YouTuber Jon Del Arroz uploaded a video on December 21st, 2021, receiving over 3,800 views and 180 likes in roughly two years (seen below, left). On March 9th, 2024, YouTuber SmokeyMcC uploaded another video discussing Tomlinson, receiving over 87,400 views and 3,600 likes in 18 days (seen below, right).

Examples of Content

Search Interest

External References