Vituperative responses

Some interesting thoughts on anonymous comments appearing on websites from Joshua Rozenberg writing in the Law Society Gazette:

“Write an article for publication these days and the chances are that it will attract ill-informed comments. No longer content with sending in a letter to the editor and waiting to see if it is printed, readers now demand an instant right of reply on the publisher’s website. And why do so many readers post vituperative responses that they would not dream of making to a writer in person? It must surely be because most such comments appear anonymously.”

The fact I allow these on the Legal Costs Blog seems to please and infuriate readers in equal measure. 

[Yes.  I had to reach for my dictionary too.]

 


6 thoughts on “Vituperative responses

  1. I don’t know why but that has made me smile, I always thought “silly bubble” was 2 words

  2. speaking anonymously as i always do, i find no need to be vituperative (what does that mean??) , although have noticed that many of the most demeaning remarks on the Legal Costs Blog (Simon, do I get extra credits for the plug?) come from named contributors :)

  3. Isn’t this the nature of the internet and the explanation for “flame wars” on discussion groups and boards. People are posting from behind the safety if not the anonymity of a screen and keyboard and many behave in ways they would not dream of behaving if they were actually face to face with the other people involved.

  4. no, my name actually is Anonymous; im thinking of suing everyone else on here for copyright infringement :)

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