I originally posted the Troll story because I thought it might interest children who are bullied as well as the bullies themselves. What you do and what is done to you as a child has a long-reaching effect, some of which are quite unpredictable.

But in February 2002, I received an email from a friend of Mark who felt things were getting out of control with so many people now reading about the Troll he inpired, and using the story of his childhood behaviour as an unfair reflection of his character as an adult.

It is important for the surfing public to realize that this story was posted on the Net long before the court case, and was not intended to kick a guy when he's down (although this was, in fact, a favourite trick of the one-time schoolboy bully).

However, I admit that I felt I owed it to that little boy I once was, running home sobbing for his mummy after being beaten and humiliated, to allow myself to enjoy a tiny frisson of schaudenfreud over the whole incident. No hard feelings between me and Mark, mind you, but if you're a little kid being bullied, maybe you'll feel better knowing that Big Billy Goat Gruff eventually came along, albeit 30 years later...

...but the time has come to completely forgive Mark H's childhood misdeeds and let this story fade away into folklore.