I’ll post  more about this later, but I have a striking number of e-mails — nearly 100 in just a few minutes – overwhelming support my feeling that there ought to be no forums on bedlamfarm.com. The e-mail is very interesting, mostly because it’s apparent that people are tired of the hostility and abuse they experience and see online in forums. Very interesting, and quite a change, I think, from a few years ago.
  I love the Internet, and its possibilities, but this is one of the most toxic, secret plagues of the Net, and people throw up forums and think they are being democratic and interactive, when in fact, if they don’t take a lot of responsibility for what is posted, they are actually driving people away and shutting speech down.
  I will post more about this later. This issue is drawing more e-mail than Lenore and Brutus, which is something, and it quite passionate and unanimous. This, clearly, is not why people come to this site. It really seems as if people want a respite from so much unfiltered “discussion.” Fascinating.
  Lots of companies and sites like to boast about how accessible they are to public discussion, but it seems some of that is a pretense. Lots of viewers and users feel just the opposite, it seems.
  More later – heading out on a hospice visit.