Professor Chris Lawrence has unearthed a pretty out-of-this world gripe about familiarity in addressing co-bloggers across the net. From a guy named The High And Mighty And Completely Venerable Mister Tim Sandefur:

Can it really be that hard for people to understand that when you don’t know someone, it’s not proper to call him by his first name? There’s no way to point this out without sounding rude in today’s backslappingly Jacksonian ultraegalitarian world, but when I’m tired of ignoring it, and finally say something about it, all I get is a ration of crap. There’s nothing mean or uppity about the rule, folks, it’s just the rule. The rule is, if you don’t know someone, you call him Mr. Soandso, you don’t call him Jim or Bob or Bill—and if you’re publicly speaking to a third person about Mr. Soandso, you call him Mr. Soandso, even if you are on a first name basis with him.

From Chris:

I think that’s true to some extent, but in a lot of ways blogging is like a community—you get to know people in a different way (by reading their posts, rather than by interacting with them), perhaps, but I think it’s awkward to refer to someone whose blogging I read and respect (and hopefully vice versa) on a regular basis using formal pronouns and titles. Heck, there are a few bloggers I’ve never met who I consider friends (of course, there are also folks like Dean & Rosemary Esmay and Mike Hollihan and Len Cleavlin who I have met in person, though only because of blogging).

As far as I’m concerned, it’s all West Virginia* to me, Miss Manners (that would be The High And Mighty And Completely Venerable Mister Tim Sandefur, and not Chris). I for one use all sorts of “unbelievably rude nicknames” for just about anyone I come across: Doc J, Insta-Glenn, Robby T, Professor T, Miss VK… I suppose I will never be taken seriously now, since I am totally rude and immature and that completely negates any substance to my words.

Sometimes insistence on decorum really betrays a lack of substance on the complaining party’s part…

(“West Virginia reference being from the Abercrombie and Fitch shirt that says “It’s all relative in West Virginia.” More details from John Cole. So when I say “it’s all West Virginia,” I mean “it’s all relative.”)

UPDATE: I noticed that The High And Mighty And Completely Venerable Mister Tim Sandefur usually gets a ration of crap whenever he gripes about this kind of issue. Let’s see… Sometimes griping about the lack of respect one gets works against improving that situation. There, he’s got his ration of crap from me. Boo hoo.