For those who blog....

[Fredwina]

Thought I'd pass this along
Kathy Sierra, a well known woman in the tech community, has recieved death Threats on her blog:
Warning: they are extremly explict sexual images in the links. click at your own risk

Headrush (http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2007/03/as_i_type_this_.html)
and
BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6499095.stm)
Thought I would pass this along, as I know some of us blog, and it sounds like she is encoutering some of the "issues" we have with the "other" bike forums

[mimitabby]

may I ask what sort of stuff she is blogging about to attract whackjobs like that?

I keep a guestbook on my website; and the only entries that ever hit the light of day are the ones I choose.

can a blog be set up that way?

[Fredwina]

believe or not, computer programming (Java (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_%28programming_language%29))
I've got anyonmous blogging turned off. Thankfully, I've only had one nutty post, but it was a good kind of nutty. You can set this to restrict the people that view your site, as well

[mimitabby]

wow! Java... sexy stuff i guess!!!

it takes a couple generations for morality to mature. Think about for how long people thought it was okay to drive drunk.
Now the internet is what, effectively maybe 15 years old? it will take some time before some learn how to be appropriate.

[Grog]

If I understand correctly, part of the problem comes from posts on OTHER blogs, which by the way the other blog's owners have not deleted (or not deleted swiftly anyway).

I totally feel her pain. It's terrible how efficient fear can be.

[Fredwina]

I would add here that the material in the first link Fredwina included is NOT for the young or the squeamish- the death threats detailed there are extremely violent, sexual, and very sick.
I feel terrible for that woman blogger. But I think TE'ers should be forewarned of the content in the link.

Thanks! I should had thought of that....

[susiej]

may I ask what sort of stuff she is blogging about to attract whackjobs like that?

I think Kathy's fantastic. She (and others) wrote "Head First Java" for O'Reilly publishers, who publish some of the best tech books around. It was a new approach to writing a book, trying to be fun, trying to apply cognitive theory to technical books. The book was a huge success (best seller, awards, multiple editions) and started the Head First/Head Rush line at O'Reilly.

She (and a couple others, but 95% she) writes Creating Passionate Users. She writes about making software (and other products) so attractive to the users/buyers that they become passionate about it.

She seems to have provoked a rather passionate response.

She also has a teen-age daughter. I'm guessing that's part of the reason this has freaked her out so much. She's alerted the police and cancelled her keynote at the eTech conference.

Some of this has been anonymous, violent, misogynistic comments (which she deleted) on her own blog. Others anonymous posts were on two web sites that have been taken down by the owner(s). The people behind those two web sites are fairly prominent (one is a co-author of the Cluetrain Manifesto, one is a woman who has loudly asked for/demanded more women at mainstream tech conferences). At least one is know for being a d1ck (I belive that's his own word; I ignore people like that). One site was meankids.org; both seem to have been designed for acting like junior high.

There's been some comments that Sierra has unfairly tarnished the reps of the people who ran the web sites by making these accusations. But if you act like you're in junior high and someone calls you on it, how is that unfair? Others have said this is getting coverage because Sierra is a prominent figure in the tech world. Well, duh! No one cares if Lisa Jones with 5 page hits a day gets harrassed like this.

I really like what Sierra writes. She's inspired me to learn more and try more. And I'm REALLY, REALLY, REALLY tired of people (men and women) treating misogyny and personal nastiness as keeping it real or (on ValleyWag today) just part of lively debate or part of the territory. Misogyny (or racism or whatever) isn't funny, and it isn't something to tolerate. Threats are illegal and NOT protected speech.

This was on /., digg, Valleywag and I'm sure if you google "Kathy Sierra eTech" you'll find other coverage.

Geez, my heart's racing like I just sprinted a mile uphill. Sorry for the rant.

[Fredwina]

I think Kathy's fantastic. She (and others) wrote "Head First Java" for O'Reilly publishers, who publish some of the best tech books around. It was a new approach to writing a book, trying to be fun, trying to apply cognitive theory to technical books. The book was a huge success (best seller, awards, multiple editions) and started the Head First/Head Rush line at O'Reilly.

She (and a couple others, but 95% she) writes Creating Passionate Users. She writes about making software (and other products) so attractive to the users/buyers that they become passionate about it.



I agree, she's quite a breath of fresh air in Tech writing. In My professional life, i'm quite an evangelist for her books. You have to like some who teacjes you how to use a programming language with program that prints out the lyrics to "99 Bottles of beer" and has a Talking duck narrate the memory management chapter:)
I guess some folks never leave Grade school....

[mimitabby]

she sounds really cool. Too bad she has attracted creeps.

[susiej]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/29/MNGT3OTVAO1.DTL

SFGate delved into the background of the incident, and it's as junior high as we've come to expect of the 'Net.

However, it looks like the known parties (Sierra, Locke) are resolving there personal issues, and looking into the anonymous postings. (I'm paraphrasing badly; read the article.)