anonymous internet

Back in August we wrote about yet another case involving someone trying to unmask "mean" commenters online.

In this case, it involved a consultant named Carla Franklin who was upset that some commenters on a YouTube video had referred to her as a "whore." As we noted at the time, there was some irony in the fact that in the video, Ms.

Franklin advises people: "Don't take things so seriously." And, of course, by suing, Ms.

Venom-filled anonymous internet comments are often a favorite target for politicians, writers and plenty of other folks who use them to represent everything that's wrong with the internet.

Many sites have a love-hate relationship with comments, including news sites, which often want to encourage "participation" but don't get much out of the comments, including ad revenue, since many advertisers don't want their ads alongside them.

Internet pranksters, gathered around the popular anonymous internet forum 4chan, have seemingly orchestrated an attack on Twitter, creating a number of fake accounts and pushing the hashtag #gorillapenis to the trending topics.