jack, you'd be surprised (tho most of us wouldn't) to know that a great number of the "riotous" commenters are also bloggers.

and tho blogging on your own site every day is different than commenting on someone else's site, it's not that different, not really.

i'm sure you are ignoring plukasiak's admonishing to read jukeboxgrad's dkos diary, with it's timeline of exactly what comments were posted, when, how, and what, when and how were deleted, then re-posted, then deleted again.

(i say i'm sure you're ignoring plukasiak, because i noticed he started his post with a profanity and personal attack...which is what happens when the msm ignores the facts.  we bloggers get understandably frustrated.)

i implore you, read the diary.  carefully.  among other facts, you'll see that jukeboxgrad found out that the "uncivility rate" was something along the lines of 1.7%...and that the term "personal attacks" was ill-defined, and that the "rules of conduct" that washpost.com cited as reasons for deleting the comments were hard to find and harder to link to, so other people could find it.

in other words, the washington post was continually (a) wrong in its facts (b) disengenuous in its approach and (c) condescending in its attitude.  it's no wonder people got frustrated, passionate, and at times, uncivil.

if you (the main stream press) are going to continually beat the family dog, don't be surprised when it bites you.  but if you want to engage in actual dialogue, you will find that 100% of netroots bloggers and commmenters are simply human beings, and that will run the gamut of a wide range of responses and expectations.

please deal with that fact.