Blog comments seem to follow the same pattern as message boards.  Conservatives pretty much stick to the subject.  Liberals fling hate. 

One thing I've seen lately is this pissing contest between the conservative blogs and liberal blogs about how bad each others comments are.  Both sides use the argument that neither should be held responsible for "anonymous" comments left on their respective blogs.  Well, the conservatives say that more than the liberals so because liberals are more likely to point out the hateful comments on conservative blogs and ignore the hateful comments on their own.  So conservatives have been pointing them out for them.

Two things: 

Liberals don't consider even the most hateful comments on their blogs all that bad because they agree with the sentiments expressed.  If it's true, it can't be considered hateful.  Liberals really do think that way.  There is nothing bad that can be said about George W. Bush or any Republican that any liberal will read and think "ouch, that was low".  They just don't think that way.  BDS is perfectly normal to them and is a valid perspective.  So anything goes when it comes to wishing death on anybody associated with him, or the neocons.  It's a pretty good judge of the average liberal mindset that when the mans dog died some of the Bush haters still couldn't contain their glee.  Forget Dick Chaney's blood clot and Tony Snows cancer.  When you can't even summon up a little compassion for a man when his beloved dog dies, what can you be expected to show compassion for?  Oh, right.  Those poor Muslims who deliberately targeted and attacked a school and shot little kids in the back as they ran for their lives.  They were "oppressed".

Second, blog comments really are not anonymous.  Sure we don't use our real names.  But we become known by the names we do use and they are just as important in this almost make believe world.  My name, nt250, is one I've had for years.  If anyone who used to post at the IMDb message boards happens upon this blog, they will know exactly who I am.   They won't know my real name, but they'll know me.  No, our user names matter.  We are not anonymous. 

Trolls?  Depends on the blog.  I've seen slow ones and busy ones.  Not much any blog can do about trolls. But they all remind me of the message board I spent 6 years posting at..  Those user names are not just names on a screen.  You get to know who is who, and in my experience with blogs so far, the pattern is holding.