A Beijing court has handed down an eye-catching verdict regarding a case of reputation infringement on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. Kong Qingdong, a highly controversial professor from Peking University, received a fine of 200 yuan ($32.6), a court fee of 1000 yuan and was forced to make an official apology for cyberbullying.

Kong posted a Chinese Tang style poem, written by himself, on his Weibo account, but had it criticized by another microblogger, who was a university student. The commentator pointed out that the poem rhymed incorrectly, so it could not be a Tang-style poem.

However, this casual remark drew an unbelievably violent reaction from the author, who labeled him Gouhanjian, an extremely derogatory and insulting term that means Chinese race traitor.

Weibo, though vibrant with diverse opinions, is also rife with bullying language. About a year ago, an associate professor at a Chinese esteemed law school brawled with a journalist at a park because he was severely abused, as he claimed, by the journalist's remarks on Weibo. The news swept the country, and it was just one example of violence from the Internet transferring to reality.

The explosive development of Chinese social media has created a much freer cyber-world, which has tremendously diversified people's voices. But in the meantime, the Internet, especially some social media websites, is becoming a hotbed for personal attacks.

The interconnected nature of social media allows it to spread insults far and wide, causing humiliating or even destructive effects on individual's lives.

This uncivilized defect of social media is not only a reflection of Chinese people's lack of civic mindedness, but also an outcome of the feeble regulations from authorities. It seems that Chinese netizens are very easily infuriated and incited on social media. A tiny disagreement or a flawed rumor can trigger a colossal wave of verbal attacks and moral judgments.

Instead of fostering civilization in tune with a modern society, the Internet is spreading irrationality in Chinese society. Critical thinking, civilized communication and tolerance might be the first things that Chinese netizens should learn before they press the keyboard.

This is a particularly important responsibility for those public figures, such as Kong, who is good at stirring up nationwide attention by uttering astonishing remarks.

It is a good sign that Chinese authorities are starting to regulate the wild nature of Chinese social media. We believe the verdict of the case will be a warning for the irresponsible speakers. It's time for efforts should be taken to protect a positive environment for social media.