It would indeed have been better if I had left "the hell" out of my comment. In fact it was a signiificantly toned down version of my instinctive reaction to the use of "dumbfucks" in relation to the surmise that the parents of a slaughtered child might have been in some way foolish. But not toned down sufficiently. I should have simply questioned why this was relevant to a discussion about the supposed actions of the police.

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I disagree with Stu's comment that being self-controlled is harder on the Internet than in other circumstances. That does not apply in the case of the kind of forum which the Mudcat provides. We have all the time in the world to calm down in even the most heated discussion. That doesn't apply in face-to-face discussion.

And yet in face-to-face discussion most people behave with far more restraint. What makes the internet different is that the person we are talking to is not going to throw their drink in our face or lash out, no matter what we say. So the matter of restraint is all down to us. Self control isn't harder on the net, but it is more necessary, in the absence of other restraints.