You're right, of course, Patrick. For Usenet Personality, please substitute "Internet troll" -- spam and boorish behaviour are not unique (or even especial) to Usenet.

Whatever chestnut you favor to explain it -- I like the theory of the combination of anonymity and absence of body-language -- the Internet seems to bring out the shithead in a small but significant fraction of the computer-using public.

You and I can both name people who are relatively harmless in person, but who are breathtakingly unsufferable online, to say nothing of the drive-by trolls like Moo Cow, Joo Joo, That Guy, and the other hit-and-run tourettics who've graced these message boards with their directionless and pointless bile.