People being mean on the internets shocker.
Our sorry tale of internet meanies starts on the Guardian's CiF section, where 19-year-old Max Grogarty writes the first in a planned series of blogs about his fondness for skinny jeans and gap year travel plans. It's, um, not very good, and CiF readers waste no time telling him so.

In fact, CiF readers feel the article is so bad, they suspect he could only have got published if he was related to someone at the Guardian. And waddya know! Turns out that Max is the son of Paul Gogarty, who writes travel articles for the Guardian. A lot of people call nepotism. In fact, they're so outraged that Paul Grogarty's name makes it into the Wikipedia entry on nepotism.

Is it all down to Daddy that Max got his big break? Fortunately, Max's dad steps in to share his thoughts:

You may like or dislike the blog but the cruelty is shocking if quintessentially British. Obviously everyone in his family is very hurt for Max so that's a bonus. I won't be reading any more smug clever dick comments but feel free to kick me around the field a bit now - just please leave Max alone. He hasn't actually done anything wrong and you have your wish - he won't be writing any further blogs.

Hear that, CiF readers - HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME! As an extra bonus, Max's friend MarkChamberlain also pops in to tell us all that Max is a really genuine guy who shops at charity shops and everything!.

It doesn't spot there. A parody blog is posted on Blogspot. The Guardian hits back with an article about Cyber-bullies attacking young writer out of class hatred, and a response from the Travel Editor. Readers are not impressed, although there are calls to leave Max alone.

Still, several hundreds of comments aren't enough for Guardian writer Raphael Behr, who steps up to the plate with this special insight:

Imagine the scene: a man stands on a pedestal while hundreds of people take it in turns to heap scorn on him. At first, they take issue with something he has written, but then, as the crowd works itself into a frenzy, they abuse him as the embodiment of some social evil.

Perhaps you are imagining a scene from China's Cultural Revolution - a student accused of bourgeois tendencies, head bowed, harangued by classmates. Or perhaps, if you were reading the Guardian's travel site last week, you have a picture in your mind of Max Gogarty, a 19-year-old aspiring writer who posted a blog about his gap-year plans.

[...]

Max Gogarty is not the first blogger to be lynched online, although he might be the youngest. I expect I'll come in for some vitriol simply for writing about him.

It doesn't go down well. Well, what do you expect from an internet full of meanies?

ETA Courtesy of apoplexia The Guardian takes their tale of Cyber-bullying woe to BBC Breakfast