I joked last week with Erica that she is like Christine 2.0. You see, I used to blog a lot more than I do now, and my posts used to be different in nature than they are today. I’m working on getting back to that, on becoming Christine 3.0. Or Web 7.2 compliant. Take your pick. Anyways, we have talked a lot about the latest events in one circle of the blogosphere, and I find myself saying how I have seen it all before.
Sadly, there is one thing that has happened yet again, but in a very public way that has caught a lot of attention. Kathy Sierra, who writes an amazing and insightful blog on creating passionate users in addition to her books and the speaking engagements that she handles, has received death threats that have left her terrified.
The interesting thing is that “big name” bloggers, bloggers that are prominent in the tech industry, and bloggers that the media watches are both involved in this and talking about it. I’ve actually seen people in the past few days react as if this is the first time this has happened. As Min Jung so eloquently put, it is AWFUL, yes, but it is sadly NOT new.
The whole thing is disturbing to me – and by the whole thing, I am actually including Kathy’s post. It was gross, vile and disgusting what was said to her and about her. I do not blame her for cancelling her talk at eTech. I would have been bolting the doors too. However, it rubbed me the wrong way that she pointed fingers and named names without proof – or without showing us that proof. And I realize that she may have proof for every name she named, and she maybe was advised by legal counsel not to disclose it. But if that is the case, don’t name names. (edited to add: I saw Kathy’s comments on other sites, stating she does have more proof. I still think she should not have named names.)
On the internet, people are viewed as guilty until proven innocent.