On Tuesday last week I did a talk on social media to a group of business people – despite the hot weather adding the spectacle of me literally sweating before them – it was well received.

Afterwards I was surrounded by a small group wanting to swap business cards and chat.  If I’d still been freelancing it might have been a decent money spinner.

Minutes before I had received a text message from a friend to say “column in local magazine, public speaking – you’re everywhere”.

All of which I was quite happy about until I received an email on Thursday night from a good friend alerting me to the fact that I was being publicly badmouthed online and being blamed for a recently set up New Hanoian hate site.

The fact that I was alerted to it suggests that chances are other people saw it too.  It absolutely wrongly said I was responsible for the site, it called me “a violent douchebag” and bad mouthed my wife’s business in pretty ugly terms. It was posted anonymously though I have a fair idea who it is.

Hours later the moderator deleted it.

I hate violence and have never been violent in my life.  Not once, not ever.

Any comment I’ll put my name to it. It’s been some years but I have completed journalism training and I still abide by the rules of only printing what can be “stood up”. If in doubt leave it out. No wild allegations.

It’s not the first time it’s happened. One local blogger (now left) who I, very mildly disagreed with, took to following me around the web and posting personal abuse directed at me – where I had commented. Though, again, they did this anonymously I was aware of who it was.

You are never completely anonymous online despite what people might think.

Increasingly social media allows us to find people belonging to similar niches as ourselves.  The people we “follow” or “friend” tend to have similar outlooks, political leanings, even lifestyles.  It negates debate.  However I have continued to use platforms to highlight what I think is wrong, or I disagree with or challenge those who I think are out of line. This is no moral crusade it’s just in me – I come from a family where we’d debate at the dinner table. It’s rarely personal and its never anonymous.

But this is the exception rather than the rule – for the most part  I use social media for the same reasons as others – sharing links, information, networking, news etc. If the attack had called me pompous, self-righteous, a big mouth or something similar then it might be considered, by some, as fair comment. But it didn’t, it called me violent and it involved my wife and her business.

Anyway, after this deluded personal attack, I’ve decided to take it down a notch and give social media a complete break for a while.

I’m doing a talk in June to raise money for Blue Dragon and I’ll wind all this back up before then to promote the event.  In the meantime I’m keeping off all “open” social media – ie this blog and Twitter.

So, between now and then I’ll be living, my otherwise very happy life, offline for a while. Apologies for disabling the comment box this isn’t a cry for help or support it’s just a statement.

* See this recently posted to CNN for more info on Blue Dragon.