One of the interesting things about writing for the web is that it removes some of the barriers between writers and readers. That can be both a blessing and a curse. A few weeks ago, a post I wrote for another blog sparked a slew of nasty, mean-spirited comments. True, there was one inaccuracy that my editor fixed as soon as we discovered it (one word off, people, it happens!). But commenters kept writing things like "the author, who obviously has only a rudimentary understanding of spelling and gramar [sic]... " and "this is an abominable use of the English language!"
Frankly, I think they were more offended by the controversial subject of the post than my grammar (and I had to laugh at the irony of their own grammar and spelling), but it stung nonetheless. I kept rereading the post trying to figure out what other sections they were talking about and everything seemed clear and coherent.
If it were my own blog, I would have taken action by either 1) deleting comments that were mean-spirited and didn't add anything to the conversation or 2) defending myself by inviting commenters to elaborate if I thought it would be instructive for myself and my readers. But since it was a large media company's blog, I stayed mum and let them handle it. It would have been undignified for a contributor to jump down commenters' throats. And since that blog is highly visible, it attracts lots of commenters, many of them slightly crazy.
Another time, when I wrote a personal essay on a slightly political topic for The Christian Science Monitor, I got unsolicited emails from this uber-conservative who told me I was going to hell (to be fair, I got plenty of fan mail, too, and I wrote short thank you emails to those). Every week leading up to the election he forwarded me chain emails slandering Obama and his character. I never responded, but the emails kept coming, so eventually I started using the "report spam" button!
Your turn! How have you handled reader comments? Do you ever respond? Or just leave it alone?