This whole flapdoodle with Deborah Howell and Jim Brady of the Post being scared of BBS posters and shutting down the posts is only vaguely interesting to me. I think I have personally seen a blowup like that, where obscenities and accusations fly, around 50 different times in various online communities. And that's a pretty low amount.
But three thoughts come to mind:
1) Whenever Jim Brady has indicated there are "posts that no one has seen", it reminds me of the classic online community gambit: "I am refraining from posting all the obscene emails I am getting outside the public eye." The reverse of that is: "I am getting lots of supportive emails from people, but I won't post them here." I can't think of a single situation where that kind of comment wasn't stankranky bullshit.
2) Almost all writers are thin-skinned, almost always. I'm no different. I'll bet you aren't either, if you write. The only thing new here is that writers for places like the Post, or the NY Times, aren't used to hearing directly from the people they have pissed off in these kind of amounts. Gentile letters ot the editor, or exchanges on the back pages of the NY Review of Books doesn't count.
It really (and sincerely) makes me proud to have contributed, in small ways, to the growth of the Web.
3) Personal to the Washington Post: Butch up, missy.