Slimewatch
As usual, some of the owner activists have gone off the deep end over my comments concerning foreclosure. I don't mind being disagreed with, and I welcome reasoned debate because I always learn from it. I received some good questions and criticisms from people, and thanks for that.

However, the problem once again is that there are these people who think the purpose of the internet is to make it easy for them to insult people who have the temerity to hold an opinion they don't like. Their idea of debate is just name-calling. I guess this makes them feel powerful or something, as if they had actually accomplished something for the first time in their lives.

I just don't have the time or the inclination to be engaged with these folks in any way or at any level, even to point out how wrong they are. Somebody--maybe it was Churchill--said that you should never fight in the mud with a pig because you both get dirty and the pig enjoys it.

Anyway, what kind of conversation is it where you spent an hour crafting and writing an argument with facts and inferences and conclusions, and the response is basically, "YOU ROTTEN *&(^%$()(_)(*&&^^^^%%$$!!@@#!!!"

My solution is simple. I just set up filters that automatically trash all e-mail that could possibly be from or about people who behave like that, and I don't read the message boards where they post, ever again. If group moderators won't keep things civil by weeding out the slander and profanity, then bye-bye. That's my policy.

So, the bad thing about the internet is that it has too many people who abuse it. The good thing is you can make them disappear.