If it were just having to have a thick skin, I'd fully agree with you; there's always going to be someone to disagree, and some will disagree floridly. But these days there can be real consequences to your social circles and in notable cases even your employment, and opinions on what is socially acceptable shift in a hurry. What you wrote a few years ago and is still visible on your blog (and may or may not be a view you still hold) can still hurt you. And you can't claim on your blog you didn't have enough space to express a nuanced opinion.

> What you wrote a few years ago and is still visible on your blog (and may or may not be a view you still hold) can still hurt you.

This is why the web was better when everyone was operating under a pseudonym.

I operated under a much thinner one at the time. Saw the present situation arriving, somewhat, and abandoned that.

I've been physically threatened because of stuff I wrote online, have had a stalker for a couple of years and other pleasantness. Even so, for me that's worth the risk, I can see how for someone more vulnerable that sort of risk would be totally unacceptable.

You only need to look at the kind of stuff the griefers on various other websites get up to to see the extent of the menu of real-world consequences. Those things are not jokes.

So I totally see your 'real consequences' argument, and it goes way beyond just your employment, in some cases it is your life that is in the balance.

But there will always be idiots. Just like there are people using drugs and then driving vehicles I have to share the road with them. But that won't change my attitude towards driving, and neither will the existence of assholes diminish my activities online. But I totally sympathize with those people for whom lines have been crossed that cause them to censor themselves or even to tune out completely. And I'm sure I too have such lines (in fact, I can easily think of several) and if those were crossed I too would bow out.

I agree, but I have a question. Was the child comment by 'firemancoder downvoted to oblivion in order to prove the comment correct?

I have no clue what you are on about.

Turn on "showdead". I'm not able to respond directly to that response to your comment, so I responded to your comment instead. The question is a bit moot anyway. 'firemancoder is hellbanned for some reason. It just seemed that this particular comment of his was especially true. b^)

Ah I see. Thank you for clearing that up.

It's not hurt feelings on the part of the blog writer you have to worry about, it's the readers. If you post something super controversial like supporting the president, you could lose your job and any volunteer/community positions or more. There is a pitchfork mob out there just waiting.