Most heinous hoaxes on the Net

This has some good examples of what can go wrong in a free-for-all environment, as well as some other just plain bad behavior. (Although the people who believed Bonsai Kitty weren't thinking.)

We have debated the pluses and minuses of requiring real names when sending messages to third parties from the 'relative' safety of your computer whilst hiding behind a cartoon avatar and a nickname.

I think many people exhibit the same behavior as they do from the 'relative' anonymity of their vehicles. Just plain meanness and selfishness and Social Networking sites need to have things in place to prevent it to be relevant.