Feeding the snakes in their heads

Reading some exchanges in chat rooms and message boards over the past several years, I have sometimes felt that the internet was becoming some sort of unruly group therapy. I see extravagant responses by personalities apparently teetering on the frayed edge of personal meltdown, in response to trifling, innocuous comments. The most obsessive and prolific of these posters can, and have, emptied venues that once had lively, interesting and entertaining exchanges.

Dysfunctional personalities are feeding the internet to the snakes in their heads. Participation in the internet has grown exponentially since broad access became available in the mid-nineties. Wonders and portents of more have shaped a whole new culture, the online world. The "mutual consensual hallucination" that William Gibson named "The Matrix" in his book, Neuromancer, has become reality. Some users have grafted onto that reality their own distorted perceptions of truth and fiction.

There be monsters here, watch where you step. Use firewalls, use screen names, do not invite these strange creatures into your lives.