The Anthropomorphism of Messageboards!

You enter your favourite forum.
Below are some marks in the shape of an inviting hollow box on your screen.
You are invited to put some words in it, in any order you want, to make any point you want.
These boxes are not little people screaming at you, or flattering you, or insulting you. They are boxes of words from the internet. The words people put in them are not the same they would use to you face to face, and to merely 'be yourself' in them is to abuse the nature of the medium, and fail to exploit it at the same time.
To be assumed to be 'being yourself' is an even deeper lapse into a squalid world where the petty grievances of real life can be vented against any available target.
Turning forum posts into people, who can be attacked without provocation or redress, is a deep failure of imagination, and a huge self-indulgence.
The guidelines on most forums advise that posters should address the issue not the author.
Ultimately, that is the only regulation needed for a happy dialogue.