That is nothing new. Some of the most popular websites are known for really bringing out the worst in people, but it seems to be getting worse. Let me give you an example.

A girl in the UK found a black widow, an extremely venomous spider that generally lives in North America, in a bowl of grapes that had been bought in a local store.

The story became big on Digg.com, a popular Web 2.0 site where readers can vote for (a digg) or against (bury) a story. The spider story quickly became a hit on the site, raking in more than 800 diggs in just about 24 hours.

Then the readers chimed in. Posting responses to stories is part of the reason for Digg’s popularity. Many readers commented on how creepy the story was or discussed spiders in general.

But some of the responses were just rude. Some people took to blasting the Daily Mail, which originally published the article, for not covering “real news”. The girl who found the spider was called a con-artist and accused of looking to make a quick buck.

Then there was the person who just seemed miffed that some people don’t like spiders and wrote, bad grammar and all, “I signed in to burry this article… spiders exist get over it.”

Read (more…)