"Engineers brought the world closer together...a few people are tarnishing it"

OP feels like a dunce because he is a dunce. The medium has nothing to do with it - his actions would be equally stupid if he had been replying to a letter or phone call or fax. Engineering solutions to naïveté would be nice, but they're unlikely to work without stepping all over basic rights. The big wide world is a scary place that demands a certain degree of cynicism and savvy. I feel no obligation to protect competent adults from themselves.