I am still completely in the dark about how Martin has been ‘nasty’ about other bloggers. The more I read his review the more I am of the opinion that the only people who should take offence are the staff at The Square whose menu has not been received brilliantly.

If certain bloggers want to accuse diners of ‘lying’ if they say they like snails or compare food to turds that is their prerogative. I do not think that these comments are inappropriate but from a completely objective point of view they seem more nasty than anything that Martin wrote.

The comments you two are making are completely without foundation and remind me of a lesson I taught on cyber bullying to a group of 12 year old students last year. I would like to make it very clear that I am not accusing you of cyber bullying but I would like you to consider whether you would be comfortable making these remarks to Martin’s face rather than just electronically. If the answer is no then you probably shouldn’t be posting them in a public forum.

I cannot believe the hypocrisy of Jon’s remarks. Your post is the most petty and obscene one on here and yet you still accuse others of being ‘nasty’. I’m not sure where you got your information about Martin’s relationship with his daughter but I can assure you there is plenty of evidence (on the internet and elsewhere) to document the positive role he has played throughout her entire life. I do believe you need to look up the definition of ‘libel’ and possible ‘defamation’ as well. I am glad that I do not personally know any person who would stoop so low as to bring a child into a debate like this.

Finally I would suggest that everyone is responsible for what they write in blogs, on Twitter or in comments. Surely the mature way to behave is to read through what you write before you post it and consider how you would feel if other people retweet, repost or review your comments. If you are not comfortable with this possibility then don’t post things in a forum where anyone in the world can read it!

If you want to publicise your opinions you have to accept you will get negative feedback as well as positive.

1. Bristol Eating Adventures… “not very adventurous then”
2. It’s Just Nice… “Thrilled just to be invited”, “wrote a gushing review”.

The coverage on twitter has also been exhausted.

Time to begrudgingly move on and absolutely disagree with the threats and stab in the darks on bloggers personal lifestyles – none of us know anything about what kind of people they really are.

Wbites – made a mistake. Apologised, regretted it. Can we move on?
BristolEating – didn’t eat an unappealing snail, big deal. I wouldn’t eat a snake heart in a shot of vodka – call me a baby too. Forget it.
ItsJustNice – different style of blog to what you read? Then don’t read it. Move on.

This has probably put plenty of all the above blogfans from wanting to go down the blogging path themselves – which tells me the damage has been done. Grown ups make mistakes. No matter what they do, whether for a living or for a past-time. Children are the ones that can’t move on.

Steve, do not be misled, what you wrote was libelous – your claim that Martin calls up restaurants and demands free food is false, malicious and can cause “special damage or financial loss to the claimant” since being a reviewer is what he does professionally. Here is a link that may help:
http://www.withyking.co.uk/uploads/news/857//Defamation_&-malicious_falsehoods.pdf