Here at The Canberra Times, we're no strangers to the internet trolling scene. We see the occasional instance of several ''concerned Canberrans'', commenting on our website, usually about political yarns, who all just happen to share the same IP address.
Then we get the occasional flurry of angry, oh so angry, comments from ''readers'' that, coincidentally, all come from a cluster of computers, probably situated in the same office.
Could it be political? Surely not. Lobbyists, trying to influence public policy? Why, you oughtta be ashamed of yourself, with that suspicious mind of yours.
We are touched, though, by the notion that the, let's call them campaigners, might think we don't have have them sussed.
This is one of the reasons why we don't set much store by keyboard cowards, hiding behind their silly made-up names, as a barometer of public opinion. And you, dear reader, shouldn't either.
So we struggled to get our knickers in a knot the other day when Zed Seselja and his close confidants worked themselves into a state because one of their staffers was called a ''Twitter troll'' on the all-the-rage social networking site by senior ALP type Elias Hallaj.
But it must be said that Hallaj made an error of judgment when he referred to Hannah Passfield by name. And Katy Gallagher will be making one too if she doesn't have a word with her branch secretary Hallaj about his Tweeting.
The reason the Libs got so excited about the opportunity to accuse Hallaj of bullying and harassing Passfield, herself an enthusiastic Tweeter who doesn't identify herself as a staffer in her online forays, is that they've been waiting in vain for a slip in discipline from Gallagher's team for some time now.
Cooler heads might have even bided their time, perhaps sensing that a much more politically profitable slip could have been elicited from the excitable Hallaj, who crucially is not a public servant, given the right provocation.
Now, they've achieved little other than alerting Gallagher of a potential problem that needs to be nipped in the bud early in this, an election year.
In any event, both Hallaj and Passfield, by not clearly branding themselves as political types when entering into online debates, have opened themselves up to accusations of Twitter trolling - check out the definition - so it's a clear case of dear kettle, yours sincerely, pot.
All concerned beed to be careful for another reason. If there was a school for party officials and staffers - and how we wish there was - the first thing they'd teach them there is not to become the story, because it's pretty tough to fade into the background again once the excitement dies down.
Now, who wants to follow me on Twitter?
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