I recently started writing a San Francisco Giants blog for the San Jose Mercury News. During the week Giants Talk launched, I wanted to write a posting that would grab people’s attention. So I wrote a column, titled “How I learned to love Bonds again.” What better way to get the flaming started than with a blog where I publicly express affection for Barry, the most hated man in baseball?

When it went live, I anticipated flames – lots of them. Having covered the software wars between Microsoft and Sun for five years, I was used to firing up the computer, sipping my morning coffee and waking up to emails from devout Sun followers who told me that I sucked and that I was an idiot. (Ah, what fond memories!)

What ensued surprised me. Readers of the Bonds blog posted very thoughtful comments, and while a debate raged on for a week, it was mostly civil. It wasn’t until I showed the blog to a few friends that the flaming started. A few examples from IM:

Mr. Taz: “Sellout!”

The Shankster: “You’re a sucker. You watch one video six or eight times and you’re sold.”

More from the Shankster: “Lots of blogs are crap, but they can lead to a certain momentum. Yours is total crap, though. Irredeemable.”

Haha! Thanks guys! I love you, too!