On message boards

First, want to thank everyone for all of the kind words, the thoughts, the FB/Twitter posts, emails, about Marnie. Julia and I are thrilled about how things have been going,and it's been exciting to see her grow in a month.

Yesterday, I went to a link on an Illinois related message board, and while I was on the site, I just did a quick search to see what people said about me. I tend to do this every six months or so, just to keep an eye on things.

For some reason, it bothered me yesterday.

There were the usual "I don't like his style" type of things that everyone in the radio/PA world gets, but then one got personal. I was called "weasely looking."

In the grand scheme of insults, that's nothing. I don't even really know what that means. And to be fair, they may in fact be correct, I look like Ron Weasley.

But it stuck with me. And I wonder where people draw the line on message boards. I have been a message board reader/poster for 10+ years myself. I've been guilty of this type of behavior as well. I've cut it down over the years, but I still read every once in a while, even though I rarely post.

But where does it go from being something to do, to wanting to hurt another person. Where/when does it become cyber bullying? (don't get me wrong, I do not feel my situation is bullying). Are personal attacks OK on an anonymous site? What would cause someone to go from "I don't like the way this person does their job" to "They're ugly and stupid too!".

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.