I'm hurt and confused

So, I'm a knitter, and that's pretty much the center of my universe right now. I, of course, do other things. I am actively engaged in health reform and also in creating housing for the disabled who don't need nursing homes (yet) and are socially active and engaged. I am also very involved in alternative healing and use herbs and aromatherapy extensively and have for years. I have certified in it and am pretty knowledgable, though, naturally, not perfect. Since I've also had some misfortunes over the last several years, mainly becoming homeless in late middle age and quite ill, I've lost a lot of my belongings and my early aromatherapy books being some of the things gone.
I belong to the knitting site Ravelry. On it there are sub categories for interests, and I've joined boards in herbal healing and aromatherapy. Recently I've been asked for information and recipes for cleaning and healing that have been widely well received.... by all but the board moderator. This is a woman whom I've never met and never will. My interactions on the board are always done with respect for the person to whom I am addressing my remarks and I try to be as comprehensive, but also accessible to the more inexperienced person. I have never once given anyone to take offense, and have always spent time to go back and clarify when someone has taken a particle of information and run away with it.
So.... last week the moderator jumped all over me for a remark that was correct and well stated. As in everything, there are differing schools of thought in Aromatherapy. It would appear that this woman and i are from different schools, however, she won't acknowledge that, and has increasingly be attacking each and every post I make.
I contacted her  privately and tried to come to some civil understanding, but her response has been, essentially "shove it" (though not as politely stated as that)
Now, I have to ask why? What is it about the interned that let's people feel that they can let all civility out of the conversation and attack a person who is doing a public service. Even if you disagree with some of the conclusions drawn, the disagreement can be expressed with civility rather than trying to completely tear down a person.
And it's not even as though I'm wrong. My teaching posts have been with information widely accepted in the Aromatherapy community. Hers is also, slightly  of a different school. Both of us are saying the same thing, with different words, so why does she attack me? This is a middle aged woman, but it feels like junior high.
I'm debating leaving those boards, though i hate to feel as though i've been run off by a nasty personality. I also feel I'm needed, because the information that many people have is nearly dangerous, and is certainly wasteful.
On the other hand, I'm primarily going to that site to discuss and learn about knitting or research patterns or get inspiration, not to take on small egos in a very small pond.
I am also hampered by my illness. I am bedridden much of the time, and engulfed in mental fog, too. Taking my very finite energy to do battle with a person who has openly stated to me that she intends to continue her confrontations with me doesn't make sense. And yet, the old ego gets in the way. WHY should I let this awful person (dubbed "the wicked witch" by me. A small but admittedly satisfying retaliation. I don't claim to be perfectly mature)
Well, I'm going to take a day or so to decide what to do about poison pen, maybe the universe will give me the answer... it seems I'm making ent wine with this person, though I would give it plenty of age before consuming, right now it's on the bitter side.

Ent Wines

The name for my blog came from reading an editorial about Alzheimer's in Time and saw a sentence saying that the disease "Entwines a loss of self..." and I found myself boggled by the idea that Ent wines were implicated in Alzheimer's. I didn't even know that Ents MADE wine. Tolkien says nothing about that, and what would they use? Rowan berries? I suppose that rowan wine is not an  impossible concept.
Anyway... after i returned from Middle Earth I liked the idea of Ent Wines so much I decided to use it. Since I am a passionate knitter and am constantly entwining yarn to make something spectacular (I'm ever so humble!) Ent Wines was born