Nick Cave has been answering fan questions regularly on his Red Hand Files website, through which he's covered topics including overcoming heroin addiction and fear, and paid tribute to Conway Savage and his son. For the most recent edition, Nick explains how he handles receiving negative energy in the form of mean or vile messages, in an answer to Pat of Chicago, IL.
He begins with a quote from W.H. Auden, "We must love one another or die," then discusses how, for the most part, the messages he receives (at least through Red Hand Files) are generally positive, though he does encounter the occasional "odd unkind message." He writes, "I like them and find them weirdly energising. There is nothing quite like a good death threat in the morning to get the juices flowing. They are a form of validation, really, as no one with a public platform and an opinion is doing his or her job effectively if they are not being attacked from time to time."