Excerpts from my favorite pieces of hate mail ...

I just posted an article a Miami Herald reporter wrote about receiving hate mail as a journalist. It is dead on - the Internet revolution has given people an anonymous forum to be as vile as they want. Technology teachers at the schools I cover call it "cyber-bullying."

The story that most of these came from was a story about a family with a sick kid, and it said the oldest son had a different father and that's why he doesn't have this strange genetic disease. It was a detail the mother told me, and it was a detail that had already been reported in the media. And despite all the reader requests that I lose my job, I'm still here.

Here are my favorites, that actually caused me quite a bit of distress at the time:

"Here's a question for you: just who in the hell do you think you are???? Are you proud of yourself for reporting a story that is causing more pain and sadness to a family who has already gone through more pain in their lifetime than most??? Put yourself in their place and how would you feel if the tables were reversed??

I know that journalism is all about reporting the facts and getting the story but it should note very be done at the expense for someone else's feelings. Obviously whatever college you graduated from did not teach a class on ethics ... Either that you must have failed it.

Shame on you, you should be totally ashamed of yourself."

"There are no words strong enough to express my disgust with you personally and with the Star Tribune. I think you will pay dearly in loss of readers and subscribers. I am telling everyone I know to boycott your paper and many others are doing the same."

"I think you are going to see a black(sic) lash you did not anticipate. I may be one small voice in this community but if enough small voices are heard, they become a roar. After 35 years, I am canceling my subscription. You, your editor, and the Star trip family should be ashamed."

"Good morning, I just needed to send you an e-mail and tell you how disgusting your story was ... Don't you have any kind of heart? It's people like you that give the media a bad name ... I truly hope you get reprimanded for this and I will personally never buy your paper again and I will advise everyone I know to do the same. I really hope you feel bad about this. You truly do disgust me."

All of these were anonymous letters. You'd think they'd at least have the guts to put their names behind it.