We’ve all seen it happen. A seemingly peaceful online chat turns into an abusive row. Or a measured blog post spurs an avalanche of mean, nasty comments. Maybe you know one of the perpetrators: those seemingly nice people who are mean and aggressive online. Maybe you’ve been the object of an angry online post. We’ve probably all done it, to some extent, said something meaner online than we would say to someone in person, written a crueler review, hurled a worse insult than we’d say face to face, human to human. That’s because of what’s known as the online disinhibition effect.