Blog Feuds

Chris Heard and PZ Myers call attention to the petty feud going on in the blogosphere resulting in threats of legal action. I have a low opinion of all parties involved (Paul Deignan, “Bitch Ph.D.”, and Wallace Hettle -- but especially Deignan himself; see his statements cited on Myers blog), and as Chris Heard says, let’s hope we never reach this state of affairs on the biblioblogs.

Blog commenters who have volatile temperaments are best ignored. Obnoxious comments can be deleted or left unanswered. To the proud visitors who are easily slighted and take offense, sometimes (though not always) it doesn’t hurt to apologize -- even when they don’t deserve it -- because really, when you get down to it, an apology costs nothing. Of course, that’s me the public servant talking.

Deignan has certainly acquired a lot of attention out of this, which was probably his motive all along.