Does the broken windows theory hold online?

I found this blog in which the author wondered whether the cyber space community was also affected by the broken windows theory....

Does the broken windows theory hold online?: "Undeleted hateful or ad hominem comments are an indication that that sort of thing is allowable behavior and encourages more of the same. Those commenters who are normally respectable participants are emboldened by the uptick in bad behavior and misbehave themselves. More likely, they're discouraged from helping with the community moderation process of keeping their peers in line with social pressure. Or they stop visiting the site altogether."