All politics is local. And local politics is personal, especially when it comes to posts on local Internet chat sites.

On a Mansfield online forum recently, a member of the board of selectmen was referred to as a "nut job."

Another post speculated on why a local politician was excluded from a well-known service organization and concluded it might be because of his relatives. The post went on to name the individuals and attach criminal and civil court verdicts against two of them.