A slightly different angle on the problem of web rage.
Most of you will experience web rage sooner or later either as a victim or a perpetrator.
It's upsetting to read verbal abuse aimed at you by anonymous writers. They have often misunderstood your good intentions or are over-reacting to a small problem. They will write things that they would never say to your face. 
I must admit I have been guilty of web rage myself.
Recently I was wrongly accused of spamming by an individual who thought he had all the facts.
I had to defend myself from a multitude of serious threats and immediate action was required.
Things can get terribly frustrating when you communicate by email, but there is no excuse for poor behaviour - anywhere.

We need to stop ourselves from making an immediate reply to a whatever is annoying us.

However the prevalence of scammers out there has created a new race of web users that I can relate to.

They are the ones like you and I who have been trying for months or even years to make an honest living on the internet and have fallen victim to one scam after another.

These people find a creeping paranoia overcoming their better judgement, tend to jump to conclusions and can no longer recognise a genuine honest business offer when they see it. Cynicism takes over and spoils the simple pleasure of reading the copy of a well meaning entrepreneur..

Newbies are often ignorant of netiquette, and can resort to rude behaviour.  They can be told once politely of the need for decorum.

After that, ignore them with a little program called "Bounce Spam". It makes their email appear to be undelivered.  Not getting a response is the best cure. After a while they get the idea and the problem will disappear. 

In most cases it's better to wait, or not answer at all.  If you answer immediately, it is often when you are too emotional and you will only escalate the argument.

If you must answer then try to throw in a little friendly humour - it does help to reduce the tension.

Web sites such as iCop and Scambusters are helping provide some justice and turning paranoid net-newbies into mature web users. Write to them if you need to let off some steam and tell them of your experience.

As someone once said, don't try to fight fire with fire - even the fire department just uses water.

**************************************************************

Dr John Flynn publishes a monthly HTML ezine called:
"The Xerostar Times" and his motto is:
"caring for creative people"
You can subscribe at: 
http://www.xerotron.com/cgi-bin/mail/mail.cgi
The free eBook "The Xerotron Story" is available at:
http://midi-ebooks.com  mailto: xerostar@iinet.net.au

***************************************************************