I found this article interesting because it seems to indicate a boundary that some people seem to have while others don't. I don't think it's actually related t

I found this article interesting because it seems to indicate a boundary that some people seem to have while others don't. I don't think it's actually related to any particular topic of dispute. Face to face; on the phone; via e-mail and IM; you're interacting with an actual human being; an individual person you can choose to form a relationship with, or to simply not bother with any more. I think that most, if not all people do this. It's how you end up with friends, how you end up drifting away from other people. To me, at least, comments on the Internet live in a bubble. They just don't work in the same way. It's a random snippet of information that doesn't really link to a personality. To spend time thinking about 'Internet trolls', to lambast them, it's a waste of time, a complete nonsense (unless perhaps you're a moderator of a forum or similar). I think that focusing on that is likely to lead people down the wrong path. In real life, there are probably places you don't go as a (white/black/gay/lesbian/male/female/software developer/whatever). At least perhaps you don't reveal those parts of yourself (obviously, some of those are harder than the others!) Because there are people out there, that don't want you. And that's... to me, that's fine. Go to a working man's pub, park your Ferrari outside and flash the links? It's just not the done thing. edit 2: (Interestingly enough, I realised after posting this that most of the comments in the post above seem to be of this sort. They're not really directed at Leah; they read almost like a group chatting amongst themselves, like they're looking for someone else to agree...) But the Internet is that place, everywhere. All walks of life, all people. And they're going to disagree with you; you're going to disagree with them; and perhaps you can't reason it out. I think that's perfectly healthy and it's good that we have that diversity in the human experience. edit: I wanted to make clear that I do have... sympathy, for lack of a better term, with the issues here. Not that it matters ever so much, as Random Internet Commenter #3384492233 ;)