A Brown Edge and Endon councillor appears to have stepped back from social media, prompting questions from residents and renewed debate about the abuse local councillors can face online.
Residents say Joe Porter, who represents Brown Edge and Endon on Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, is taking a break from social media and remains contactable by email for council matters.
The council's website still lists him as a serving councillor for the ward, and there is nothing to suggest he has stopped being a councillor. No reason has been given for the break.
Cllr Porter has spoken publicly before about abuse. In April, Staffordshire Police treated it as a hate incident after two men in a car followed him while he was jogging on High View Road and Hillside Avenue in Endon on Monday 20 April and shouted homophobic abuse at him. He later described the experience as frightening and unacceptable.
Whatever anyone's political views, there is a difference between challenging an elected representative over their decisions and making things personal.
Social media is an important place to hold councillors to account, but should personal abuse ever be part of it?
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