This is actually kind of odd. Annieproulx.com was never a really high traffic site, including their forum. I didn't really encounter much negativity there at all when I was on there last year when the movie was getting a lot more attention. They had a small problem with forum spam, but I always sensed that whoever they had running the site really wasn't too familiar with the software or how to run a forum, so it wasn't too surprising to me.
As to negative remarks and attacks, I honestly saw little of this on her site.
I think a lot of folks who start websites or blogs really don't understand the free-wheeling nature of the online world, and how easy it is to throw negative stuff around. We keep it under control here because it distracts from what the site is all about - positive momentum forward in our respective lives. And to date, I've never received any directed negative troll or trashing comments for running this community, except one guy on a radio industry forum who likes to make some side remarks in an effort to let me know he knows I run this place, as if that is supposed to shock or surprise me.
I have always let people know they shouldn't waste their energy on negative messages and other trash comments, and a lot of the bloggers who are encountering this have to understand it takes absolutely no energy for someone to trash them, and they should spend no energy on taking those comments seriously. In fact, -never- take anything personally left on a website. It's not worth it.
As to Annie, if she wants a place of her very own to do whatever she'd like, she is always welcome to join us. We have a troll patrol that is top notch, and the Righteous Right won't get far here either.
