Just two online comments

It's been an interesting week in my online adventure. I've started leaving the occasional comment on WhaleOil's blog and, on a "religious" issue, got a rather septic response:

I suspect from his first comment that The Baron expected a different response. I kinda twisted his tail by referring to a "rational conversation", a description by the way, which I wouldn't apply to a lot of the comments on the blog. Nonetheless, it was an interesting dialogue which was more amusing than distressing.

Recently however, there was a personal comment about me on Hawke's Bay Today's site:

My initial response? Outrage! Injustice! I know, I know, I should get a thicker skin, but it's so wrong, it's not even funny: the spite in the final comment, getting their facts wrong - the offence they accuse me of, I don't write stories - and hiding behind a pseudonym, a practice for which I am having less and less respect!

The Bigger Picture:

A lot of the blogs and comments I've seen online are downright nasty.

• When do they become libelous?
• What recourse should you take?
• Is it worth it? Look at the current spat between MP Judith Collins against Trevor Mallard and Andrew Little.
• How much should blogs and comments be moderated?
• Is it feasible, given that some blogs attract hundreds of comments on any given day?
• Why do people have so much angst?

And, what else are people you meet every day thinking but not saying, except behind the anonymity of the internet?