Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Norris Hall on Virginia Tech's campus.

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Even after death, Seung-Hui Cho remains a target of people across the World Wide Web.

Messages and sites range from bully pulpits vilifying Cho to bizarre creations that tread the line between discussing and glorifying him.

Cho is arguably the first mass murderer in the age of Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. Cho may or may not have appreciated the power of the new media, but it is not lost on others who use the Internet to spread their words far and wide. Sites such as Blogger and Facebook make it simple to do that.

Thus no longer are public voices limited to those with printing presses or broadcast towers. Today's come from the men and women on the streets.

Many of them have lashed out against Cho on their blogs, but others have created sites specifically for that purpose, such as one on Blogspot that has a name that can't be printed in a family newspaper.

Another, called "Talking to Seung hui Cho," asks, "[S]uppose you had met Seung-Hui Cho the day before the massacre and he (uncharacteristically) started ranting to you about his hatreds and his anger at the world. What would you have done?"

"What you see online is a reflection of what exists," said Micah Sifry, executive editor of Personal Democracy Forum, which covers technology and politics. "It's not like the Internet made these things. It's a reflection of what's out there."

What's out there is more than simple hatred or philosophical musings. Some bloggers are using Cho's name as a badge of sorts -- the modern equivalent of naming a guard dog Adolf.

MySpace pages of users calling themselves "Cho Seung-hui" and "Ishmael Ax" have cropped up (the latter referring to "Ismail Ax," which Cho had written on his arm), often to the dismay of those who consider it glorifying him.

Others seem to want to do just that. "Cho was a Spartan" shouts one MySpace page, apparently made by a 17-year-old named "Ike." It refers to the killer as "Cho, the Great." There's no way to tell Ike's true intention.

Others have turned to video to air their feelings. Benjamin Ligeri of Rehoboth, Mass., for example, posted one on MySpace page, "RAP DISS to President Steger & Shooter," a clunky rap song that blasts the university's response.

When it comes to video commentary, YouTube is a popular place to share it.

One, "Virginia Tech Killer Cho Seung-Hui not Muslim," is simply remarks by Saleem Siddiqui of Houston.

But then there are full-fledged music videos such as "Cho" from "Mike," a 27- year-old in Suwanee, Ga. It uses footage from Cho's manifesto, quotes from his plays and still images, all set to the song "Human Sacrifice," by Paris Hilton.

"I think this really echoes something we have been seeing for years on the Web," said Carl Sessions Stepp, senior editor of American Journalism Review. "Its openness and its infinity allows for a far wider range of information to go public. Most of it conventional and mainstream, some of it is brilliant, but some of it is deeply disturbing."

"Kazz Falcon," for example, created a video consisting of text superimposed on images of Cho. "I am with Cho Seung-hui and his writings," it said. "To me, he is a brilliant artist. Writing about killing someone do not make them a bad person. I basically write the same things. I can really relate to him!"

And then there are other commentaries that simply defy characterization. "SirLuchieus," put his video theory on YouTube. The title says it all: "Seung-Hui Cho Was a Mind Controlled Assassin."