Variety has a story about movie directors going after anonymous commenters in blogs. Here is the main part:
"Reign Over Me" helmer Mike Binder opened fire on Hollywood Elsewhere.com on March 21 after a poster with the handle "Scooterzz" likened his film to Lifetime cable fare. He dared Scooterzz to reveal his real name, and called him a "pudhead."
But Binder isn't the only contentious director on the film blog, which is overseen by pundit Jeffrey Wells. Last December, George Hickenlooper ("Factory Girl") didn't just froth when someone suggested that he had been replaced on the film. He offered a $1,500 reward to anyone who would provide him with the accuser's identity. He, too, had a phallic-inspired profanity for the antagonist: "prick-face." (In a later post, Hickenlooper wrote that he had been informed of the foe's identity, and lamented, "I thought we were friends.")
Binder also went after a commenter in the blog Cinematical a few days ago.
You know, I'm all for these directors using the web to respond to criticisms. But when they throw a tantrum when some random person doesn't like their films, they make themselves look like idiots. You would think people who work in such a public industry would have developed a thicker skin. Apparently not.
Also, let me point out that Variety manages spin this into an anti-Internet and anti-blogs story, as if the anonymous commenters were the problem. Variety is a great source of information, but their constant anti-Internet bias is very irritant.
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