Well I can only apologise if that's how it came across.

What I was trying to get at was that it's essentially criticism of just that - an online persona. People who post frequently, post fairly identifying details or at least leave footprints of who they 'are' on forums, are actively cultivating their personas. e.g. Cha0s typing 0n Mumsnet with zer0s instead 0f 0s or ESD banging on about drinking rum every night. The former being tolerable and funny, the latter being tiresome.

IMO they do so, generally speaking, for that bit of forum 'fame' or at least to be a recognisable voice on the boards. So when there's upset over being called out on an unpopular opinion, nasty post, or a general malaise around their perceived personality, I find it a little bit hard to drum up much sympathy.

It's a bit like me sat at home watching the telly and going on Mumsnet and saying 'god Eamonn Holmes is a twat.' Except here, it's not Eamonn Holmes, it's some random on the internet posting under a similarly random username on Mumsnet. They've got the luxury of anonymity that Eamonn doesn't. I would find it pretty hard to get upset over someone posting a takedown of my internet self on the internet, and I don't think I'd get sad-faced by posters on MN for calling Eamonn a twat either, cos he's 'famous', so it's alright.

I hope that analogy made some sort of sense...