I think, for me, it's that I don't want to end up in a nasty online confrontation. I know that I am anonymous, and the person wouldn't know anything about me, but the potential harsh words will still send me into a panic attack, and I generally like to avoid those as they are very miserable. When upset, I stay upset for weeks, sometimes months (in rare cases years) at a time, obsessing about the injustice and how I did everything to try to compromise and be fair, but some people won't be satisfied unless you get down on your knees and beg them for forgiveness (for slightly disagreeing with their POV) with tears in your eyes. Yeah. I'm not into appeasing a narcissist's need for intellectual superiority. While most people are pretty reasonable, you're going to run into the asshole every once in awhile. I understand that this cannot be avoided, but the amount of stress confrontation puts me through is enough to make me at least act like an impossible people-pleaser. It doesn't always work. Case and point: I gave a condolence to a friend of a friend once, after he did something that he regretted. I was trying to make him feel better and was soon taken by surprise and shock when I was being called all sorts of terrible names. When I refused to argue, the guy frikin' chased after me for two weeks! First, harassing my email, then my phone, then my game account. I had already began discussion with a police officer about getting him served with a restraining order but, no surprise, was too afraid to follow through with it. THAT... was stressful, and all over a genuinely kind condolence. Stuff like that makes me terrified to go out into the world. I was stronger when I was younger; strong enough to work retail for years but the older I get, the more I can't take it. -and yeah, my poor new doc has seen, first hand, the nasty panic attacks that I have almost every day (fire drill at the doc's office... yeah. loud noises, too). He's working a solution but the appointments are spaced too far apart.

I posted something, the other day, as in defense to a very insensitive comment made about an inquiry. The comment that the person made, in and of itself, let me know that they didn't really read the inquiry carefully enough, as they used a present-tense term about something that I had clearly stated was no longer an issue, or even currently applicable. I just wanted to know if anyone else knew or had experienced the same thing. In my defense, I was nice. I was fair. That is not going to stop the wave of hell headed my way. Why did I even stand up for myself? Bad me!!! Bad bad bad! I wish I had never started that thread. Virtually every other response was helpful and understanding, then another, which was incredibly inconsiderate and uninformed. I just know that it's going to lead to something ugly and it has made me consider completely removing the entire account. I don't know why I sign up for this online stuff. Granted, just as there are people on this site who struggle with too much empathy, there are also those who have too little. Who is correct? Who's to say? But we clearly cannot coexist.