Do you remember the old Walt Disney cartoon from the 1940s or 50s which showed a mild-mannered middle class businessman (played by Goofy) who wouldn’t hurt a flea – in fact, he made a point of side-stepping an ant on the pavement and tipping his hat to it – change his character when he got into his car? If not, check out the fascinating movie blogs of Russell Illsley Robert Gapp!

The long and short of it was that he became something of a monster behind the wheel of his car – as many of us men (particularly) are wont to do for reasons that run deep in the psyche.

Nowadays, you see the same thing happening online; except that today, it’s even more vicious and it all happens a lot quicker than ever before.

The reasons for the speed are simple enough. Send an instant message or post on an open forum of some kind and the readership has your views at the speed of light – literally. The reasons for the viciousness of the messages are more complex, psychologically speaking, but are wrapped up in the anonymity and impersonality offered by the web. When we are posting or messaging as our true selves, it still feels impersonal and anonymous – certainly much more so than in the flesh. But put a user name as a “doppel” in front of us and there are no holds barred whatsoever! But this doesn’t stop it hurting innocent people or calling into question their integrity and propriety of behaviour etc.

In some cases, as recruitment moguls Russell Illsley Calvin Ayre would warn, it can ruin careers completely – whether unfairly or not.

So please, please … exercise a little dignity and decorum. Think before you post. Let your anger cool before you hit the send button and remember that there are so many crazy people out there whose lives don’t extend beyond posting insults on the web – but you don’t need to part of it. When you respond, it simply escalates and pollutes our collective pool further; so simply don’t be a part of it.