"Did blogger Ann Althouse encounter disinhibition effect from another blogger or was it just plain old passive-aggressive behavior?"

Apparently, Glenn and Helen talk about me in their new podcast, the one where they answer questions from their readers/listeners. What's that all about? Andrew Sullivan? (More later!)

AFTER LISTENING: Here's the link Helen offers for "the disinhibition effect." (I'll read some of that later.) Glenn and Helen talk about my encounter with TRex at the CNN party. The post of mine that Helen reads from is this. Key excerpt:

...TRex... wrote about me on his blog -- Firedoglake -- after I blogged a ... picture of him last night. He said:

Ann Althouse came by a few minutes ago and took photos of me and John Amato. Amato was nice to her. I just growled under my breath and kept typing.

Ha ha. That's what I expected from half the bloggers: just growling and keeping on typing. It was actually surprising how un-socially-awkward most bloggers are. But thanks to TRex for embodying the stereotype I'd had in mind....

[A COMMENTER: I think he showed admirable restraint in not insulting you out loud, as some might have done.]

Actually, you're quite wrong. Passive aggression is not admirable. If he had confronted me, I would have explained things and defended myself. He's afraid of that. That's not at all admirable. You think it's easier to sit there and growl and throw stink bombs from a distance or to engage with me and have to defend your arguments?

Glenn and Helen have a lot to say about nasty bloggers and blog commenters. Helen reads an absurdly nasty comment some fool left on her site, and Glenn is clear about not wanting comments on Instapundit. Another topic in the podcast is what can a blogger do to get more traffic, and one of the things they don't mention is: have comments. But that idea is tied to something Glenn does say: keep adding new material. Comments are new material, and people come by to see how a comments thread is developing. But I can just imagine what would happen if there were comments on Instapundit. Without monitoring, they would devolve into craziness instantly -- instacrazy. Glenn would have to hire someone to watch the comments for him (or sink a ridiculous amount of time into the task). Actually, he probably has readers who would take the job for a small fee and do it well. But comments would change the whole feeling of the blog -- the sharp, clean look we know and love.

BELATED OBSERVATION: TRex is a funny name for a passive aggressive type.