Are Commenters that Predictable?

Ann Althouse a href=”http://althouse.blogspot.com/2007/02/i-hate-blogger.html”is furious at New Blogger/a–I don’t blame her. I have hesitated to switch over because as with everything else on the internet, one doesn’t know if the updated version will be better or worse. I a href=”http://althouse.blogspot.com/2007/02/if-youre-trying-to-comment.html#comments”read the comments /a to one of Professor Althouse’s posts describing her frustration and as is typical, there were a range of responses to her troubles: br /br /First, there is the em”sympathetic acknowledger” /emwho tries to soothe the Professor: “I feel bad for you, Ann. Don’t start the day out on the wrong foot. Turn that frown, upside down!” br /br /Next, comes the “Let’s roll up our sleeves and see if we can fix the problem” commenters who provide constructive advice on how to cope with this New Blogger pain in the ****: “Click no on the first “Security Information.” Click yes on the next one to go back.” br /br /And finally, a href=”http://althouse.blogspot.com/2007/02/if-youre-trying-to-comment.html”towards the end /a of the Althouse thread (about 9 comments down) thus far–we have the “emsubtle dig/em” commenter who uses passive-aggressive techniques to attempt to make the blogger feel bad and themselves feel superior: “I also wouldn’t worry about a one-day drop in traffic because you were offline or subjected to slower response time for a day or two. It sounds a bit obsessive, you know? Unbecoming.” Really, was the word “Unbecoming” really necessary here? I don’t think so.br /br /So the thread will typically desintigrate from there until we have theem “plain old aggressive commenter”/em who hostilly accuses the blogger of being a racist, sexist, Nazi, or launches an outright personal attack on the blogger and so on–all stemming from an unrelated post on a topic having absolutely nothing to do with what the aggressive commenter imagines the post to be about. But then, it is not about responding in any meaningful way to the topic at hand, but rather about how the commenter views the world and his or her place in it. Some people are sympathetic, some practical, some passive-aggressive and others just plain aggressive in their approach to the world. What type of commenter are you?a href=”http://althouse.blogspot.com/2007/02/if-youre-trying-to-comment.html”/a