Please send your questions for publication to prudence@slate.com.

Dear Prudie,
My question is, in a way, about manners. The presidential campaign is getting really down and dirty. My guess is that even though people say they want a discussion of the issues, they are always happy to see the insults flying ... sort of "Let's you and him fight." What is your opinion of how both candidates will do in this "other" campaign of dissing each other?

—Tuned in to Politics

Dear Tuned,
Prudie guesses that when Bush comes to shove, he will probably sound more comfortable than when he's trying to elucidate plans and policy. The vice president, alas, will no doubt sound just as schoolmarmish when getting in his licks as when he's disgorging numbers. Prudie commends you on your good citizenship in following the presidential election and hopes, of course, we will not have to witness a down-home mud wrastle for the next several days.

—Prudie, patriotically

Dear Prudence,
To be honest, I'm not even sure this qualifies as a problem, but it sure feels like one. Back in high school I used to have this friend. To use the scale developed by another chum, he was the kind of friend you call to help you move, but not the kind of friend you call to help you move a body. I felt bad that, with time, we grew apart, but I took it as a natural process. He asked me to be his best man, which struck me as strange, but I said yes. We've spoken less than a half dozen times in the eight years since his wedding. Today I saw something that made me think of him, so I decided to look him up online and see what's happening in his life. Thanks to his unusual last name, I found his Web site very easily. Imagine my surprise at reading his thoughts of toasting his brother's marriage, in which he refers to the toast I gave at his wedding as glib and idiotic. (I was aiming for heartfelt and humorous.) Then I read a list of reasons why he didn't attend our high-school reunion and learned he was avoiding another smug remark from me.

In his defense, there are fewer than 30 people who know that I gave the toast at his wedding, and there may be more than a dozen people in our graduating class with my initials, so it's not as though I'm being slandered in cyberspace. To suddenly see him spewing venom in my direction is a bit disorienting, not to mention that my feelings are hurt. Part of me wants to tell him so, while another, perhaps wiser part tells me to leave it alone ... perhaps writing him a letter, then tearing it up. Any thoughts?

—Wounded Out of the Blue

Dear Wound,
What an interesting situation ... brought to you by the Internet. Write your letter, then tear it up. You would not change his mind by sending it, and why engage with someone who is obviously two-faced? Prudie's guess is that this slam on you has more to do with him than you. You have no way of knowing how his life has turned out, whether he envied you, or if he felt some slight, real or imagined. The best man thing is a bit of a tip-off. Whenever someone is asked to be a best man and can't figure out why, it is usually a sign the guy proffering the honor has no real friends. There is also a chance that you may have the qualities he is bloviating about—though Prudie's instinct is to doubt that. It's too bad you had to get this information, but now forget it. This is not a person who has any bearing on your life.

—Prudie, philosophically