There's a cartoon from The New Yorker from way back in 1993, in which a dog sitting in an office chair, with his paw on a computer keyboard, looks down at another dog on the floor and says, "on the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog."

But what does such anonimity allow? Who hasn’t dashed off the ocassional flaming e-mail or post without pausing to think of its effect?

We know that online stalking and bullying can lead to dangerous circumstances, but is the mask of the Internet making us ruder people? Mark Timney is associate professor of journalism at Keene State College, where he teaches courses on media ethics and society. He spoke with Word of Mouth about whether we as citizens have become coarser as on-line communication dominates our lives.