Kathy Sierra Gets Her Blog Knocked Off
A BATTLE is raging in the blogosphere after a blogger hung up her keyboard and complained to police after receiving online death threats.
Marketing and technology blogger Kathy Sierra started getting death threats in comments on her blog about a month ago. Then people started posting messages on other blogs. Anonymous commenters have threated to slit her throat and hang her. The final straw for Sierra was seeing a photograph of herself on the blog unclebobism with panties placed mask-like over her face a la Hannibal Lecter. (The site has since been shut down.)
Announcing that she was pulling out of a speaking engagement in San Diego at the weekend because she feared for her life, Sierra wrote on her blog “I do not want to be part of a culture -the Blogosphere - where this is considered acceptable. Where the price for being a blogger is kevlar-coated skin and daughters who are tough enough to not have their “widdy biddy sensibilities offended” when they see their own mother Photoshopped into nothing more than an objectified sexual orifice, possibly suffocated as part of some sexual fetish.”
Unclebobism and another now defunct site meankids.org (where other threats were made) were set up by a group of bloggers that included Chris Locke who has since been inundated with hate mail.
Locke says he had nothing to do with the threats but he has written a response on his Rageboy blog saying that while they were in bad taste he has nothing to apologize for.
Meanwhile, the blogosphere is abuzz with charges of misogyny and sexism. Microsoft’s uber blogger Robert Scoble, who says he too has received death threats, has gone on a one-week hiatus in support of Sierra. Others are saying this is just a case of online name-calling at its worst.
Posted: 28th, March 2007 | In: Anorak In New York Comments (4) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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June 30th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
[...] Jun REMEMBER when marketing and technology blogger Kathy Sierra started getting death threats in comments on her blog? What to do about it? Korea has an idea that [...]
April 11th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
[...] Sierra’s Antanaclasis 11th Apr 07 TO recap: Kathy Sierra, internet blogger, has received vile abuse from readers. Editors of newspring organs would not [...]
March 30th, 2007 at 5:30 am
Whilst you have made mention of alleged ‘death threats’ received by Kathy Sierra, which are even now the subject of hot debate, I’m surprised you haven’t even mentioned the fact of Sierra’s treatment of Chris Locke, laying blame squarely at his feet for what has been acknowledged as the work of trolls lurking at meankids and unclebobism.
What do we have?
We have tasteless, ribald and unpleasant things being said of Kathy Sierra in those two sites and;
we have the very real besmirching of Chris Locke. The online world, and I daresay Kathy Sierra will get over this hiccup and her rosy little world will pick up more or less where it left off.
What happens to Chris Locke because of what she said - and the online world picked up like hotcakes - on her blog?
Good God, even Fox News is fairer and more balanced than this.
March 30th, 2007 at 1:16 am
No real threats were made on either site. Her own email threats or comments on her blogs are somehow juxtaposed with our “mean” site and somehow produce a complaint against both sites and the players involved. There’s much more history to the story too. Contact me if you discover how, I’d like to present as much factual data as I can.
Nonetheless, you still did a great job trying to reframe the “situation” towards an accurate location. The rest of the media & blogosphere really should be ashamed that you can show them up so well
How long before the BBC thinks to call someone?
Thanks,
Best,