SIR - The What you said online' section (Chronicle, July 5) included a personal attack on me and my way of life, in which I was accused of serious environmental damage and of turning the water meadows into a shanty town.

My accuser was identified only as Stephen, Somerset, ex-Winchester'.

As one of the few remaining who still think of a website as a place where predatory arachnids (spiders to you, Stephen!) lurk, I wonder why it is that those using this means of communication are not required to give a full name and address, as those are supposed to be who use traditional letters or e-mail.

The Letters Page in the Chronicle has over the years provided an important forum for intelligent debate on a wide variety of local, national and global issues.

How unfortunate that nowadays space is provided for scurrilous personal comments, the authors of which are permitted to hide behind the relative anonymity of cyberspace.

To Stephen, Somerset, ex-Winchester, I say this: identify yourself in full, sir, and I may consider your insolent comments worthy of stout rebuttal; in the meantime, it is you, sir, not I, who should pipe down!

Frank Williams, The Dome, Old Morestead Road, Winchester.