You can guarantee that sooner or later everybody who writes a blog posts something either entitled “why do I blog?” – or it crops up somewhere in a post about another subject.

I’ve read blogs where the writer says they want their thoughts on certain events accessible for their kids to read in years to come. Others use their blog as a way to offload all the daily crap that we all need to get rid of from time to time. The reasons are as varied as the blogs. For my part, I think I write this because I’m genuinely interested in how people live their lives around the world, and it only seems fair to contribute something in return. Of course we all like to receive comments, and it’s these which create an atmosphere of friendship or community. I had an email last week from somebody who used to post on tblog, but doesn’t any longer. She was talking about tblog and mentioned that it was one of the few sites which has a community feel to it, and as such appealed to many people who blog out of loneliness. At first I felt defensive when I read her words, but after I’d thought about it realised there was some truth in what she said…for some of us.

I used to post on another site, where somebody used to leave me (and a lot of other people) pointless, hurtful comments. I talked to a friend about it and she pointed out that he was perfectly within his rights to do this. By clicking “publish this post” we’re inviting anybody to read and comment on what we write, no matter what. It’s a sad fact there will always be people out there who want to abuse a system or simply get enjoyment from pissing others off.

A couple of days ago I read comments left on a blog here which epitomised the abuse of communities such as this.  To say the vile ramblings of the commenter were hateful is an understatement, but they were addressed with dignity. Nuff said.

Why am I writing this? At times like this I need to remind myself that anybody has the right to comment, whatever their views. I also hope that this might be read by somebody who finds it fun or clever to leave comments which are meant to hurt or demean, and that they may think twice. Disagree, debate but think about what you’re saying. Finally, to the person who received the filthy comments; I applaud you.