One of the greatest things about the Internet is its ability to connect people separated by geography and demographics. The same sort of people who might never meet in daily life, even if they lived in the same town–I’ve seen it happen–can exchange ideas and have a relationship of sorts.

By and large, people are essentially good, thus and the Internet is a positive community. More or less.

That’s a powerful concept; it’s also a lead weight poised to crush anyone who wants to fight the unruly mob of trolls who pile on controversy like ants upon a mound of sugar. When negative comments or posts appear on the Web, or what might seem like a negative post against an author, politician, or public figure, one of the worst things the target of those comments can do is engage the troll and fight them in the same medium. In other words, post back on the same site–or another one–in a nasty tone.See, in a battle of the flames, it’s not a troll who suffers. After all they want attention and validation. By snaring the target into a comment fight, the troll has already won a great victory–even if their comments are a crock of shit. Why? Because the target of the insult has now drawn 1,000 times the attention to the situation. People who were unaware of the charges, and likely did not care, now do. Bystanders begin to wonder if there might be some merit to the unflattering ink. And the more energy the target spends fighting the troll, the greater the price the target pays.

Consider the author of a very popular series of gothic styled books. For years, I was relatively neutral about her work, enjoying some books and abstaining from titles. Who she was as a person was a mystery. Mostly I figured she was pretty intelligent, well read, and liked wearing black. I certainly had no convictions about her career or her as a person.

Until several years ago when she took issue with a reader review on Amazon.com about her latest title. In a haughty tone, she tore the reviewer to the core, one who in the same post mentioned he had loved all her other books except this one, as if his opinion was equivalent to that of a madman loose in a public urinal. She challenged him to return the book to a full refund to her, even providing a street address and an email account.

So who was the one who dared dissent in a forum? A NYT reviewer in disguise? Someone from the Enquirer dogging her? No. An unknown person who didn’t like the book.

Oh, I got it. No one else is entitled to an opinion, even if they actually paid for the right to voice one. And there’s 4 billion other people like me who have nothing to do with the argument wondering what the hell the author’s problem is disparaging a customer in print.

I’ll never forget that author who revealed themselves to be a petty, trite and whiny little wussy. Personally, I’d push her down the stairs, but I wouldn’t want to dull the polish on the handrail as her head slammed into it.

And should I forget about this exchange, she need not worry.

Thanks to the unofficial Internet archives, a tiny bit of her will live on in electronic form forever.