Napier Mayor Bill Dalton has left Facebook after receiving online abuse

Bill Dalton in the Facebook-free zone of the mayoral office in Napier. Photo / File

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton has quit Facebook and labelled some of his online critics "idiots" and "brainless".

His rebuke came in a Facebook post announcing he was quitting the social media site because of the barrage of abusive comments directed not only at him, but also other members of his family, including his wife, Shirley.

True to his word Dalton's page and the farewell post had disappeared from Facebook by mid-morning today.

Dalton conceded that having posted the message on Wednesday night his limited social-media knowledge meant he hadn't known how to deactivate his page and had to wait until he reached the office in the morning to get his personal assistant to remove it.

The final straw was when "one of the worst offenders" abused his wife after a meeting on Tuesday at which the council rejected by a single vote his motion that the word "conference" be retained in the name of Napier's seafront War Memorial complex.

He reiterated he was one of 13 at the table, and one of six who voted the same way, before a 7-6 vote in favour of the name "Napier War Memorial Centre".

Dalton said his "broad shoulders" could handle criticism that "comes with the territory" but when it descended into such personal abuse as to move his wife to tears, it was time to say enough is enough.

"The big problem is they compete with each other," Dalton said, describing the behaviour as the "brainless leading the mindless".

"It is the ultimate form of bullying.

"At the end of the day, not one of them has had the guts to come to my office, sit with me and voice their concerns.

"If they had, we might have been able to have some reasonable discussion."

The council still runs its own Facebook page, moderated by media staff, with inappropriate comments rejected regularly.

A two-term councillor when winning a six-candidate election to replace long-standing mayor Barbara Arnott in 2013, Mr Dalton was re-elected unopposed in 2016, reaffirming he would not be seeking a further term in 2019.

He said one of his "big concerns" was that Facebook hammerings could deter others considering standing for election next year.

His term had been the first in the rapid expansion of the use of Facebook, he said.

Second-term councillor Kirsten Wise, who Dalton said "is the only one to put their hand up" so far to stand for the mayoralty in 2019, was unable to be reached by Hawke's Bay Today for comment on how she handles Facebook, or would handle it if she became mayor.