[tlrobinson]

I think for a lot of people there's a huge disconnect between internet and reality. On the internet it's often just words on a page, with no association to real people.

Also, there's so much shocking material and people joking around on the Internet sometimes it's hard to realize what's "real" and what's not. People like guy who pranked Zed Shaw a couple weeks ago certainly don't help: http://zedshaw.com/blog/2008-10-30.html

[sofal]

Having a vile, boisterous, abusive, and slanderous alter ego for your blog personality probably doesn't help too much either.

[jrockway]

Yeah, let's all be really nice and talk about how much we like flowers.

Seriously though, Zed's personality may suck, but it makes for great reading. As a blog reader, that's all I really care about.

[jimbokun]

This shows why Zed acted appropriately. It just as easily could have been someone like this kid who killed himself. Better to find yourself pranked than to not investigate and find out someone died and wondering if you could have done something to alter the outcome.

[dbrush]

The scarier issue is that for some people there really isn't a disconnect.