Don Pearce wrote:

More please....?

I think that words can hurt and harm people, and that there are some
damaged and easily-harmed people around.

But that is a matter of several choices. First there is the choice of
whether or not to engage in the debate (if you can't stand the heat
get out of the kitchen).

That would indeed be the sensible thing.

These things are rarely if ever one-way deals. Other than a certain
pathological Australian, I don't think anyone who posts here would simply
be unpleasant to anyone who didn't show a propensity to give as good as he
got. Even the Aussie is so patently insane that his words are unlikely to
upset anybody.

By harm, I didn't mean being upset. And it's insane, or at least unwell,
people whose well-being is an issue I think.

Then there is the choice of whether to participate in Usenet at all.
Its nature must be clear to anyone who uses it for any length of time.
Nobody as fragile as those you are talking about is going to hang
around here.

If by 'here' you mean Internet discussions in general, I think the
evidence shows otherwise.

And of course it is good for you to get beaten up (in text, not with
sticks). It helps you to thicken your skin, which is never a bad
thing.

I think that's not the case at all.

Daniele