We were mortified by the news of Kathy’s death threats. Our Campfire was flush with wtf’s and holy sh*ts. Kathy Sierra is probably the most universally liked blogger among the 37 crew. To see her subjected to this kind of vile, despicable, criminal behavior is heartbreaking.
Hopefully the guilty will be duly punished and Kathy will be back to her usual cheery, wonderful, insightful self shortly.
fallenrogue
on 28 Mar 07Here here. I was sick about this all day.
Jack
on 28 Mar 07I was totally floored when I heard about this. I’ve read a lot of Kathy’s blog and I enjoy her writing and I see absolutely no reason why telling people to be nice to their users would incite hate.
Rageboy (the co-author of the Cluetrain Manifesto that Kathy refers to several times) has his side of the story available on his blog.
The things that were written (and photoshopped) about Kathy are completely unacceptable. I really do hope that the responsible parties are found and people learn that the internet does not grant you the freedom to issue threats like this.
Scott Meade
on 28 Mar 07Same here. I hope the authors of these threats are found and locked up. Someone in the idiodic, juvenile, waste of time world of blogger bashing has turned criminal.
Lance
on 28 Mar 07I think if people are trying to stop her from blogging, this was not the way to do it. Matter of fact, I hope a lot of new people subscribe to her blog (like I just did) just to spite them. Mean people suck.
Doug Karr
on 28 Mar 07Isn’t there anything we can do to destroy these idiots? With all the techies, geeks, hackers and crackers who love Kathy, we can’t figure out a way to publicly humiliate these guys and clog every ounce of bandwidth out of their souls?
Sorry… just makes me angry. My thoughts and prayers are with Kathy. I guess that’s where our energy needs to be right now.
security
on 28 Mar 07Scoble indicates in his last blog post that he and his family was receiving them too – and was so upset by Kathy’s experience, he was going to take some time off from blogging
bashon
on 28 Mar 07Kathy Sierra’s piece is certainly an effective piece of writing, which apparently is what the ‘Blogosphere’ is all about – sometimes with pictures. Chris Locke might even agree. But it’s hardly as if this is an isolated incident, or as if it has never happened before. Contentious debate, as does trash talk, male dominated or otherwise, lends itself readily to contentious views and voices – some of which will prove more popular, if not hardier, than others in both the short and the long run. It’s clear on this occasion where the sympathy should lie, even for those with the disposition – and clearly also the inclination at this point – to write off Kathy Sierra’s response as being in any way inauthentic, or considered. Marshall McLuhan was raised in an earlier post in this blog. After some consideration, one might be forced to acknowledge that there is no new message here. In fact, rather the opposite.
Rich
on 28 Mar 07That’s low. So very low.
Skid
on 28 Mar 07I think Kathy has overreacted the whole story. And I wouldn’t be suprised if it was fully intentional. think linkbaiting, eg.
AkitaOnRails
on 28 Mar 07Here I come as a brazilian representative to speak for all latin people: threats and behavior like this are despicable and unacceptable anywhere. We, citizens of the world, totally condemn such acts and stand that plain stupid criminals like those are not welcome at our lands. I absolutely enjoy Kathy’s excelent work and I was shocked reading about this. I am very sorry for Kathy and I hope she gets back soon.
T
on 28 Mar 07My opinion has always been one of moderate means. You can dislike what someone writes or says. You can downright loathe it—but you keep your comments focused on what you have objection to. When comments, thoughts and ideas drift into personal attacks and death threats, the freedom of speech ceases to exist and the offenders should be pursued with all resources that can be brought to bear.
I’ve taken the time to read Rageboy’s rebuttal, and while I commend his stand not to censor any one person, a blog is just another public forum, no different than a person on their soapbox. Right or wrong, the comments of your readers become permanent reflections of you and what you bring to the public collective. That’s a great responsibility but one that must be embraced by the blogosphere to help curb these kinds of behaviors in the future.
Prophetess
on 28 Mar 07Brief response to Skid: It doesn’t matter whether you (or really, anyone) thinks she overreacted. The plain fact of the matter is that she feels that she was being threatened. Other people were posting things that caused her to think that she was in danger. If it all happened face-to-face, and she could identify the person, that’s enough for a restraining order or a chat with the boys in blue.
If someone tells you they feel threatened by your actions, the sensical thing to do is back off.
Personally, I’m really angry on her behalf. No one should have to experience crap like that.
Derek Scruggs
on 28 Mar 07@Skid – Kathy is already a Technorati 100 blogger, and she did it without dramatic linkbaiting techniques. Here’s a thought: maybe she actually feels threatened?
I happen to live near Kathy and she’s on our advisory board. She called me Sunday about this and didn’t tell me she was writing a blog post about it. She was clearly very worried.
Christopher Hawkins
on 28 Mar 07This is not a new problem, but that makes it no less despicable. Online culture has been rife with bullying for as long as I can remember. Perhaps we can do something to address it, now that it’s in front of us all in so public a way right now.
More thoughts here: Of Death Threats and Internet Cowards
George
on 28 Mar 07I guess Locke was successful in his effort to create a blog that would tarnish reputations and stick pins in industry players. He just never expected his own reputation to be on the list of casualties…
It sounds more like poetry than character assassination.
bashon
on 28 Mar 07Chris Locke’s ‘rebuttal’ is also an interesting piece – if less effective, and without any pictures. His appeal may be a little more difficult to understand, but he does a reasonable job of putting forward his case, even if from a different part of the ‘Blogosphere’ than Kathy Sierra. A brief perusal of other parts of his site would suggest that his humour may be more of the eating your cake after you’ve had it variety, rather than managing both at the same time. But whilst not everyone has been able to see the funny side in this particular incident, humour in the face of adversity can often be found to be an admirable character facet over time.
As to those ‘responsible’. It’s certainly an interesting concept. Kathy Sierra touches on this in her post with respect to the objectification at work, perhaps in the minds of those responsible. Accordingly, it’s clear then that those responsible will not be found. Which might be asking a little too much of any culture which cares about the individual liberties of its citizens, particularly the more responsible ones.
Joe
on 28 Mar 07Scary. Some people need to get a life – and some fresh air and time away from their computer screens. All the best, Kathy.
Marcelo Ruiz
on 29 Mar 07Web site makers like us should help to make the Internet less anonymous to avoid this kind of crap. For years people Internet provided people the possibility to be anonymous or invent identities. This has to stop. We should stop using nicknames, usernames, fake emails, etc to present ourselves. We should make people use their real identity. Sane adult people should not have anything to hide. I always use my real name when posting comments, why would I use a nickname??? We should push for an international ID that would allow us to comment in blogs, and participate in any other web experience. What do you think??
Oly
on 29 Mar 07“For Kathy and Maryam and anybody else I am deeply sorry. Nobody deserves this. Whatever credibility I may have had is down the toilet. For this I am profoundly saddened. I liked being who I was warts and all.”
from…
http://doc.weblogs.com/2007/03/28
Oly
on 29 Mar 07although he’s not admitting it…
“I am not who ever used my identity and my picture!! I am sick beyond words over this whole episode. Kathy Sierra may not be on my top 10 list , but nobody deserves this filthy character assaination.”
Oly
on 29 Mar 07Neither is this guy…
http://www.rageboy.com/2007/03/re-kathy-sierras-allegations.html
Oly
on 29 Mar 07Neither is this guy…
http://www.rageboy.com/2007/03/re-kathy-sierras-allegations.html
bashon
on 29 Mar 07Much of the appeal of the Internet, and perhaps the ‘Blogosphere’, appears to be in its use as a ‘social space’, albeit a different kind of social space than many have been used to in the past. Different people will use social spaces in different ways. Hopefully, we can take this as a given. The discussion here has been, presumably, in the shared use of that social space. Malice is rarely ever its own reward or social spaces of all types might be more pleasant to engage in, not to mention emptier. But until we do gain the ability to tweak the moral and physical inner workings of the Universe more to our own liking, I believe it was Campbell who spoke of shared understandings, or unification, in the sense of ‘human mutual understanding’, rather than in any pre-defined, or systematized undertaking, in respect of similar kinds of spaces. But then of course without those willing, or even eager, to take up the baton, none of us might be here.
Greg
on 29 Mar 07I’m all for trolling people on the internet as a form of entertainment, but this is waaaaay over the line.
For one, it’s amazingly screwed up in terms of meanness and misogyny. There’s more vitriol there, and for such a dumb reason (she’s a woman, is all the “justification” I see?), that I just can’t abide that kind of stupidity.
For another, it’s way past the limit of what could possibly be construed as a joke. Trolling and griefing, to me, is like racial humor. It’s only funny as long as no one knows that it’s not serious at all, and as soon as you start seriously hurting feelings or pissing people off, you’ve gone too far, let alone getting Scoble to stop blogging, or Sierra to cancel her speaking engagements.
Seriously, I’ve trolled a lot of threads, but damn this is messed up.
stef
on 01 Apr 07its probably al qaeda
MP
on 01 Apr 07Wow, I’m late to the party but I hope Kathy is safe and well and the cowards are served up a big helping of due and appropriate punishment.
I think it’s too easy to stand in ones own shoes and say Kathy over reacted.
I have a dream that people will treat each other on the net as if they were sitting across the table from each other.
This discussion is closed.