Okay, so most of you know that my day job is writing, editing and maintaining Nashville Is Talking. This means I get to interact with some really cool, smart, funny people day in and day out. It also means I get to interact with angry, anonymous assholes. This likely does not surprise you, if you know much about blogs at all. They can bring out the crazies.

However, because it is my job to interact with the local blogging community, and not something I do on my own time, there are a whole different set of rules for me. I cannot call someone names, despite the string of pejoratives they just hurled at me. I cannot curse at them, no matter the number of four-letter, degrading words they send my way. I cannot block people from commenting or moderate the comment submissions at all. I just have to sit back and take it.

Most times I hold my own though. I try to let the anger subside when someone goes off on me, and respond as fairly and calmly as I can. Basically, I try to act like a professional in a world full of amateurs. (And I don’t mean that snobbily. Just literally. I’m paid, they aren’t.) This means that the playgrounds aren’t exactly level.

I write this because there are a handful of regular commenters at Nashville Is Talking, with blogs of their own, who use one name or handle to be sweet and funny and thoughtful, but another name entirely when they want to be insulting or rude or disagree. I know this because Movable Type tracks IP numbers. Sometimes JEFF (a name I made up) will be FRED when he wants to be an angry asshole and next time HANK and next time JOSH. And sometimes a commenter will have an entirely seperate alter ego. For instance, STACY (another name I made up) will be STACY for all things light and entertaining and otherwise innocuous, but then be FRANK when she wants to be mean. It’s the craziest thing. An otherwise normal seeming woman with a polite little blog about her polite little life has this pseudonym that she leaves nasty comments under. Frankly, it hurts my feelings.

Anyway, my dilemma is this: Do I treat STACY and FRANK like two different people, even though I know they are not? If FRANK accuses me of lying while lying about who he is, then isn’t it okay that I come out and call them on their whole charade? Or do I need to respect their ability to be whoever they want to be online and continue pretending they are two different people, and addressing them as such? Because, honestly, it gets hard to keep up.

Any thoughts on this are appreciated. Comment will be moderated, because I can.