24/11/2006
The Internet has always been good for people who want to blow off steam. Its appealing combination of anonymity and instant gratification have long made it a receptacle angst and hostility, as anyone who runs a blog with a lively comment section knows. The Chinese are great fans of forums and bulletin board-style sites, which are particularly conducive to id-channeling behavior, official exhortations to "文明办网" (use the net civilly) notwithstanding. Periodically there is a fluster of official anxiety over whether it is proper for people to engage in such angry discourse online.

To which I would reply, it's better than engaging in it on the subway. But nobody is asking me. Nevertheless I was interested this morning to stumble upon a Xinhua article fretting over a complaint-driven website called "China Hate Wall" (中国恨墙).

--more at CNET Asia--