Twitter can often be a nasty place for somebody with my last name. I’ve been called a “kike,” a “dirty, stinky Jew,” and been given rather detailed instructions on the method I should use to burn myself in an oven. At no point have I ever blocked any of these hostiles from following me, an action people often take to protect themselves against the harassment of other users.

My view was that I never wanted to give them the satisfaction of thinking that they really got under my skin, or the pride (or attention) that comes with being a martyr.