>>There is another explanation - that the assumption of the gulf is false.

Could be, but people who habitually attack others in real life become isolated: initially socially and eventually in an institution.

FWIW, the opposite is true as well: recently a dysfunctional older lady was caught masquerading online as an innocent schoolgirl to ensnare schoolboys. Apparently her online persona was a real stunner and she had a whole string of boys in virtual relationships pining after her. You can sort of sympathize with somebody lonely behaving like that, but the lesson has to be that unknown online personas are no more than that. Which is all very well until one of them pursues you into real life, as one of our colleagues experienced, but that's *very* unusual in a community of peers like this.