A recent Miss Manners column poses a question about responsibility for so-called “ghosting” when there may be no communication to begin with. The brief query underscores how modern social norms and online etiquette can become muddled, leaving friends unsure of who owes whom a reply.

Baltimore Sun advice columnist Eric Thomas confronts two piercing reader questions: whether it is worth the emotional cost to remain in a neighborhood shared with an attacker, and how to respond when a close friend disappears without explanation. His “Asking Eric” column lays bare the tangled calculus of safety, trauma and loyalty.