Let’s talk about what happened to Kathy Sierra of Creating Passionate Users. She recently had a small group of people, some of whom are very well known, make some downright vulgar comments about her. Things got dangerous when they crossed the line into death threats.
Yes, really.
Before you read my post any further, read Kathy’s story (linked above). Go. Do it now. Read the comments to her post too.
As sad and disturbing as this is, we bloggers have to face three hard facts:
- We work in an internet medium that offers others the perception of anonymity coupled, in most cases, by comment pages that allow allegedly-anonymous people to write and say whatever they want.
- In a medium this connected, this mature, and this instantaneous, the same shitty elements we deal with in real life can make their presence known more forcefully and quickly than in real life. In that sense, the internet is a lens that can very quickly magnify both the good and bad regions of human behavior.
- As bloggers, we put ourselves out there for all to see. We get criticized. We get some pretty harsh comments. We get private emails, both good and bad. We get talked about and bashed and dissected on other forums. In short, we’re public, we’re easy, we’re out there. People will and do take shots. That’s why you see so many blogs fold so quickly: someone always has an axe to grind.
What happened to Sierra is what happens when a few people with questionable grasps on reality have access to a perception of anonymity and a computer. The damage they can do is vast: Sierra is a very bright and prominent blogger, and she’s on my must-read list daily. To have her question her own desire to ever post again is troubling to me, but I suspect she’ll be back.
However, let’s keep one thing in mind: what happened to Sierra isn’t too far removed from real life.
If she’s in a coffee shop and someone sees her, he can think whatever he wants. He can think horrible things. Same thing if she’s just driving to work — the guy in the next car can think just ungodly things about her all he wants. Anytime someone sees another person in real life, there’s no telling what the person is thinking or fantasizing about doing.
The difference is real life that there is (a) no public forum where they can comment on her, and, more importantly (b) no anonymity. But it doesn’t mean those people aren’t out there feeling the same sentiments as they expressed against her on meankids.org. It doesn’t mean that, somehow, the deviant assholes don’t exist. In real life, the only thing that doesn’t exist is an anonymous feedback mechanism that allows underdeveloped cowards to be underdeveloped cowards.
Anonymity has a dark side in that it gives people a perceived license to do things they otherwise wouldn’t. By the very nature of this license, the things people do aren’t pretty.
It seems that wherever you go in the tech commentary world, there are misogynist assholes — look Slashdot’s or Digg’s comments on any given day. Chances are, if Sierra were a man, he wouldn’t have heard squat — at least not to the degree Sierra did. It’s sad but probably true.
The good news out of all of this? Look at the outpouring of support for her in the comments to her blog post. Look at the big-name bloggers coming from everywhere to denounce what’s happened. Look at the strength of the meme on Techmeme.
Robert Scoble suggests “going dark” for a week on his blog as a show of solidarity for Sierra. Some other blogs agree.
I don’t. If anything it’s time to drive a stake into this admittedly shaky medium and use our network, our influence, to illuminate what’s happening here. Once we see the problem for what it really is, we can get to solving it.
Sunlight is a disinfectant, and that’s why morons like those who threatened Sierra do their stuff in the dark, damp corners of the internet. Shine the light on them and they wind up getting exposed or scurry away to even darker corners.
Regardless, their numbers and reach dwindle and the great magnifying lens of the internet medium helps allow the good overshadow the bad. But that lens has to be focused by someone, and I think it should be those who can summon such great influence with relative ease.
Take some time Kathy. Find yourself again. But do come back — don’t let a few magnified miscreants drive you from what you love.
22 responses so far ↓
the Wizard, fkap // March 28, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Excellent analysis of a very ugly situation.
I felt you said it all so well I both quoted some of your thoughts (with full attribution, of course) and linked to your article from my blog with a recommendation all my readers read your entire essay.
I’ve bookmarked your blog and I’ll stop by from time to time.
Nice job.
Joyfarm // March 28, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Good lines.
“Sunlight is a disinfectant, and that’s why morons like those who
threatened Sierra do their stuff in the dark, damp corners of the
internet. Shine the light on them and they wind up getting exposed or
scurry away to even darker corners.”
That’s what needs to be done, and you’ve helping by writing a great
essay, but what can we do to lessen their voice on the web? Some of the
sites (that are not closed down) will surely have even more traffic.
What’s the long term answer?
pistolpete // March 28, 2007 at 5:29 pm
This is a very thoughtful and well written analysis. I don’t know the long-term answer (as Joyfarm poses), but I don’t think wickedness began (or will end) with the Internet. “There is nothing new under the sun.”
General Pattern // March 28, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Very nice post. Far of the way too emotional reactions I read the last days. What happens to Sierra is ugly indeed but I believe there’s a little too much buzz and gives the blogsphere a very bad press.
Jeff Ventura // March 28, 2007 at 6:49 pm
All: thanks for your comments. I appreciate them.
I’ve emailed this to Kathy personally, but if you’re so inclined, share the link to this story. I think that many people need to understand that this sort of thing *really* happens, and that just because something happens online doesn’t mean it’s *not* real life.
For some odd reason, people seem to think that if something happens on the internet, it’s a degree or two removed from reality.
It’s not. At all.
Thanks again, everyone.
overthinker // March 28, 2007 at 7:50 pm
What death threats? I did not see death threats. From what I saw it looked like a few juvenile males idly amusing themselves with violent jokes. If this chick is holed up in her house with the doors locked over that she seriously needs to grow a pair (metaphorically).
And, although I’m not an attorney, I do not think abstractly wishing for someone’s death constitutes a “federal crime” as she claimed (see Brandenburg v. Ohio).
This whole thing looks really overblown.
joyfarm6 // March 28, 2007 at 8:26 pm
You know Jeff, “For some odd reason, people seem to think that if something happens on the internet, it’s a degree or two removed from reality.” I think some people think of the web as a type of second life.
If someone stuck those pictures to a front door with like notes attached….
Jeff Ventura // March 28, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Joyfarm: I completely agree, and perhaps that’s why the online game “Second Life” chose that name, aside from the obvious (which relates to what the game/experience is all about).
Mea Culpa // March 28, 2007 at 10:05 pm
I liked Seth Godin’s short take on the subject…
Misogyny and anonymity
Three years ago, I posted about anonymity. I still agree with every word I wrote. Anonymity hasn’t made the web a better place. Instead, it has allowed some of the worst ideas ever to get published. (This link is unsettling). All we can do is root for Kathy and hope that the bully behind this is caught. It makes me angry.
Where do attitudes like this start? Alas, anonymous bullying is not that far from the hateful things Times critic Harry Hurt says in a review he did of Suze Orman last week. “Among the substances that need hazmat warning labels are the liquid that bronzes Suze Orman’s hair, the paste that whitens her teeth…” He goes on for paragraphs in a personal attack that has nothing whatsoever to do with the book or its value. (I wrote a letter to the editor–no luck.) Why is this okay for a blog, never mind the paper of record? I don’t think it is. And the hate won’t go away, any of it, until enough people speak up.
Isn’t it sad that misogyny is so common that there’s even a word for it?
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/03/misogyny_and_an.html
overthinker // March 28, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Anonymity hasn’t made the web a better place. Instead, it has allowed some of the worst ideas ever to get published.
And you think that is a bad thing?
joyfarm6 // March 29, 2007 at 12:52 am
Maybe the idea lies in what the Web Worker had to say, http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/03/28/why-you-may-need-an-online-persona/ maybe we should build an online persona and then only trolls would have the anonymity.
Steve P // March 29, 2007 at 6:22 pm
It’s a quandry, this anonymity thing and the rationalizations (or reasons?) given for it. I’m not quite sure from his comments how Overthinker meant “And you think that’s a bad thing?”, but he may be right IF he meant that it allows us to shine a light on what has been hidden. We tend to think well of others who “appear” “normal”. We keep telling ourselves that we are a great and wonderful society and a great and wonderful people. We are generally not aware of what goes on beneath the surface. The signs are there if you look for them but most people don’t care to look. Behaviors like this kind of throws it in our faces. The question then becomes whether we blame them ,scapegoat them (like drug users etc.) or try to understand WHY. There are a lot of things wrong in our society. (A general dishonesty is my # 1 issue.) We need to examine what’s driving these attitudes and actions before they get beyond our control.
Personally, I’m pessimistic. I think people in general will make noise when they see obvious instances, but they will then adapt and close their eyes until things go too far to stop.
I think there is a lot of anger and violence stored up in a lot of people for a lot of reasons.
It’s waiting.
Is that just a little lump? Or is it cancer? Can it be caught in time or is it already inoperable?
I’m the “glass half empty kind of guy.”
Steve P // March 29, 2007 at 7:01 pm
And just another thought.
I thought I recalled a discussion about setting up a non-anonymous internet - or section of the internet where people could only access IF they had ensured their real identity. Kind of like the secure site usage for online commerce.
Others could continue to post on the current anonymous internet but this would allow a way for people to have open discussions as themselves and take responsibility for what the say.
Will // March 30, 2007 at 12:03 am
An indirect death threat is still a death threat. Probably a misdemeanor. Interstate->Fed Pen, baby!
If it were against a government official, it would be a Felony.
siftee at 62.37.152.243 def. qualifies. And the owners/admins of meankids on aiding/abetting/harboring for not giving up the ID of “Joey”.
ISPs give your digits to the guys in the blue uniforms. Or the lawyers in the blue suits.
The end of web anonymity begins.
shadowdragon // March 30, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Overthinker, on your first comment:
How could you say that?
JustAnger.com in the context of the Kathy Sierra incident. « notgartner // March 31, 2007 at 2:11 am
[...] Sierra incident. 31 03 2007 I first read about the personal attacks on Kathy Sierra on Graceful Flavour (one of the bloggers on MY A-List). At the time I saved the posts because I wanted to blog about [...]
Island in the Net // March 31, 2007 at 8:46 am
This is terrorism. Take precautions but keep living, thinking and doing. To quote science fiction - Fear is the mind killer. It prevents us from thinking clearly and only allows for fight or flight. This is an attack on meant to spread fear and stifle free thinking and the dissemination of ideas that others fear.
Jeff Ventura // March 31, 2007 at 11:57 am
Island: good comment about fear being the mind-killer. It most certainly is.
Martin Poulter // April 1, 2007 at 5:07 am
I’m deeply worried by comments that focus only on its negative effects, although those negative effects are amply demonstrated by this case. A lot of us got interested in the internet as a medium because of the opportunity to hear from people frightened for whatever reason to speak in their own name - cult members, people in repressive regimes and so on.
Remove anonymity and it’s easier to enforce the majority’s standards of good behaviour, which is not in every case a good thing.
Focusing on anonymity as the problem seems a red herring especially in this case where there were named individuals who should have taken responsibility for what was posted on their site.
Martin Poulter // April 1, 2007 at 5:08 am
oops: “its” = “anonymity’s”
Jeff Ventura // April 1, 2007 at 8:31 am
Martin: I don’t see the removal of anonymity to be a good thing. Our culture has already demonstrated a pathetically low tolerance to comments that might be hard to hear but nonetheless true, and people who say such things are ostracized because of them.
I am not in any way talking about what people said about Kathy, but rather other mainstream comments people have made. We’re a sensitive society and despite the rigging of free speech, we’re really not as free as we think.
Well, we are, I guess. If you want to deal with consequences.
Instead, let’s just all realize that virtual life is beginning to mirror real life and accept it. Shine the light on fools who do what they do to people like Sierra. Make *them* the outcasts. Make *them* pay. A code of conduct for bloggers is a good start.
But please…let’s do away with the idea of *enforcing* safety and limited speech by creating rules and regulations. We all know that just creates a cat and mouse game in which one side is always ahead.
The bad element will always exist, and we have to accept that. But we can minimize that without trying to rejigger the world and its rules.
Overcorrection: Blogger Code of Conduct goes too far. « Graceful Flavor // April 9, 2007 at 11:14 pm
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