Wrestling the Troll

Sam Harris confronts internet trolling, particularly in blog comment threads, in the context of his spat with PZ Myers:

Having a blog and building a large community of readers can destroy a person’s intellectual integrity—as appears to have happened in the case of PZ Myers. Many people who read his blog come away convinced that I am a racist who advocates the widespread use of torture and a nuclear first strike against the entire Muslim world. The most despicable claims about me appear in the comment thread, of course, but Myers is responsible for publishing them. And so I hold him responsible for circulating and amplifying some of the worst distortions of my views found on the Internet.

I don't have comments on this blog, but I do receive tweets and emails from readers. And I generally enjoy the feedback. But that's mostly because, I suspect, the extra effort required to respond acts as filter for the nastiness, which is generally done in haste and without thought. And the lack of an audience (emails are just between me and the reader, and most of the time so are tweets) reduces the reward for a narcissist looking to venture some snarky, snide comment. But in all seriousness, keep those responses coming.