On political blogs, the invective flies. Posters respond to the latest celebrity gossip with mockery or worse. Sports fans set up Web sites with names that begin with "fire," hoping coaches, athletic directors and sportscasters lose their jobs.
And though there are any number of bloggers and commenters who attempt to keep their postings and responses on a civil level, all too often interactive Web sites descend into ad hominem attacks, insults and plain old name-calling. Indeed, there are even whole sites devoted to venting, such as justrage.com (one screed there was titled, "I don't give a flying f***, so f*** you") and mybiggestcomplaint.com.
My own blogging style, which is still evolving, is one in which I use much less profanity than I do in everyday life. I think the reason for this is twofold; first because I feel the written word carries more weight than the spoken, and second because this is an open forum and I want to be sensitive to the feelings of the readers, some of whom might be turned off by profanity.
What about you? Do you write on blogs exactly the way you speak in face to face conversation? Are you offended by frequent use of profanity? Does using strong language sometimes make it more difficult to hear the message?
