Iunpublished a letter to the editor on our website two months ago because it ripped into someone’s personal appearance. Even though the letter did not name the person, it clearly identified her.

This is a column about personal attacks and civility. We don’t allow personal attacks on our platforms, but that letter got past us. As soon as a reader flagged me, I took it down. The unpublishing came up in a social media feed in the past week, with some discussion about the appropriateness of removing the letter, although people who saw the letter agreed it should not have been published.

After I removed it, the writer began attacking me in emails. He went so far as to write a piece of fiction with me as the villain. I read just enough to know what it was — and deleted it.

Here’s a little sec

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