This is all very true, which is another reason why I reject "don't feed the trolls" as a position. It's one thing if Igor thinks he's won, but the appearance to Igor's friends, the mushy middle, and passive observers of the conversation is quite important in terms of setting the discourse.

Sadly, twenty years ago a letter might have been considered harassment or hate speech, but in my experience, the tolerance of both of these has grown. I regularly get a hate newspaper delivered—unsolicited, naturally—to my door with terrible things about women and Jews, and advertising Nazi-style book burnings, but the authorities won't shut it down.