Have you ever vented your anger at someone on an internet message board, or rashly updated your Facebook status with negative comments? If so, you're not alone because many otherwise perfectly rational human beings have a habit of going ballistic online.

The internet has always been a place for freedom of expression, with strong language, heated debates and personal attacks from anonymous posters ubiquitous. I've experienced online haters myself, albeit mildly. Last year, I wrote an article on digital television for a technology website, and the next day the editor phoned me up. "You might want to take a look at the comments on your article," he said. I wish I hadn't bothered. I'd made a small mistake when writing about transcoding compressed stereo signals which had ruffled some feathers in geekdom; more than 30 negative comments followed my article, the first few from someone identifying himself as "Shadow" brazenly accusing me of all sorts of things, and the rest a free-for-all between various posters. The language was far more colourful than anything I was allowed to write, that's for sure. I quietly corrected my mistake and never looked at the page again, but only after a few days mentally compiling a vengeful reply to Shadow over and over again.