I would say there's no obligation, but what is the point of writing otherwise? I've had a couple of times where the resulting dialogue has changed my mind at le

I would say there's no obligation, but what is the point of writing otherwise? I've had a couple of times where the resulting dialogue has changed my mind at least partially. For me personally, writing is more an exercise in clarifying and detailing my thought process, so I consider the dialogue one of the most valuable aspects of writing publicly, and well worth deleting a few "you're a douchebag" posts every week. I think that's why Disqus has seen such success, it significantly improves the resulting dialogue. I probably have thicker skin than most though. A lot of writers have low self-esteem, so might actually be damaged by the insults. I just feel bad for the person who writes a 500 word essay about why I'm an asshole in my comment section, partially because I know he (and it's always a he) must be an extremely unhappy person for that to seem like a valid use of his time, and partially because he spent a half hour writing something that I deleted with one click.