Mark Twain is reported to have once said that you should "never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel".

As the Internet continues to level the playing field between reporters and the subjects of their stories, Twain's quip (sometimes erroneously attributed to Bill Clinton) could probably stand some updating. It's still not smart to go after a newspaper if you think they've done you wrong, but as some reporters have learned, when the battleground is online, it can also be pretty dangerous to pick a fight with punters who purchase pixels by the pound.

A reporter at Moneyweb, a South African business news website ("South Africa's leading source for independent investment information"), recently waded into a scrap with Elan Suisse Capital - a somewhat less than transparent investment group.

[N.B. I'm not taking sides here - but there's precious little information available about Elan Suisse online. Hard to form an impression of the firm when their corporate website is so elegantly content-free, and Google can only dredge up four rather uninformative hits].

Moneyweb reporter Julius Cobbett penned an investigative piece, digging into the background of Elan Suisse, and finding very little good news with which to encourage investors.

The people behind Elan Suisse have responded by registering juliuscobbett.com, and using the site to launch an ad hominem attack on the reporter.

It's certainly an unusual approach, and not one I can ever imagine recommending to a client - but it's entertaining as hell to watch this one play out.