Christopher S. Penn – Marketing AI Keynote Speaker

The Blogosphere Alight

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by

Christopher S Penn
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The blogosphere’s alight tonight with the story of Kathy Sierra and the threats made against her. Most of the big blogs have it – Mr. Scoble, Mr. Arrington, Mr. Rubel, Mr. Chapman, and more. Not much else that can be said in terms of expressing outrage in and of itself – lots of other people are doing that plenty well. A few thoughts.

I’m glad the police are involved. I’d encourage anyone with any information to contact the Boulder, Colorado police.

Boulder Police Department
1805 33rd Street
Boulder, CO 80301
303-441-3300

I hope any legal professionals at the top of their game offer pro bono assistance to Kathy and help her litigate the parties responsible into oblivion. Nothing says “zip it” like a $12M lawsuit.

Want to DO something? Encourage others to learn about and develop effective tools for dealing with the threat of violence. Go read the Gift of Fear by Gavin deBecker, one of the finest books in the genre, masterfully written, then gift it to someone you know who needs to read it. There’s a sequel if you’re a parent titled Protecting the Gift, also a great read.

Offer assistance and outreach in your community. Learn and teach self protection skills. Create a neighborhood watch in your community. For every Kathy Sierra, there are millions of women whose voices are equally threatened or worse, but don’t have the readership or “A-List” status that she does to give her voice. If you’ve got a truly solid constitution and the ability to keep it together under the worst strain, volunteer at a battered women’s shelter.

Online, take a stand against incivility. Be willing to step up and call bullshit on a keyboard kommando. Most of all, learn the tools of new media and the ability to influence crowds, and help guide people toward or away from online destinations which foster hatred. We will likely never get rid of hatred or violence, but we don’t have to subsidize web sites that encourage hate with our traffic. In the end, money and influence are powerful weapons that we have at our disposal. Use them.

Comments

10 responses to “The Blogosphere Alight”

  1. Justin Kownacki Avatar
    Justin Kownacki

    As long as the internet is “anonymous,” people will believe they can play asinine games like this. I flat out guarantee none of these things would have been said to Kathy’s face, ever, no matter the incivility of the parties involved. But when you take a treehouse and then make it invisible, it frees the miscreants of the world to have a field day.

    Everything in life boils down to one decision: personal responsibility. Do you have it or don’t you?

    Reply
  2. Justin Kownacki Avatar
    Justin Kownacki

    As long as the internet is “anonymous,” people will believe they can play asinine games like this. I flat out guarantee none of these things would have been said to Kathy’s face, ever, no matter the incivility of the parties involved. But when you take a treehouse and then make it invisible, it frees the miscreants of the world to have a field day.

    Everything in life boils down to one decision: personal responsibility. Do you have it or don’t you?

    Reply
  3. Christopher S. Penn Avatar
    Christopher S. Penn

    Ze Frank’s Sports Racers found Ray in about two weeks. I wonder how long it will take for Kathy’s antagonists? When they are found, to whoever finds them, please immediately call for legal backup. It won’t initially feel as good as a punch in the junk, but in the long run it will be a lot more satisfying to see the lawsuit from hell.

    Reply
  4. Christopher S. Penn Avatar
    Christopher S. Penn

    Ze Frank’s Sports Racers found Ray in about two weeks. I wonder how long it will take for Kathy’s antagonists? When they are found, to whoever finds them, please immediately call for legal backup. It won’t initially feel as good as a punch in the junk, but in the long run it will be a lot more satisfying to see the lawsuit from hell.

    Reply
  5. Whitney Avatar
    Whitney

    we don’t yet have standard codes of behavior online that everyone agrees to- the anonimity factor lets some people unleash their inner demons on others, forgetting the person on the other end is a very real human being, or simply not caring about the real impact this has in the real world.

    This is the same reason chat rooms, forums, and even secondl life can be dangerous for some people- there is sometimes no distinction between online and offline, either. The intellectual process of reading things and communicating with others is powerful, yet do we really ever get a sense of how our words affect countless others? And what happens when we take these online relationships into the real world?

    A large majority of my online friendships have some link in the real world- even if just phone conversations, or meet ups like podcamp. I feel singularly responsible to my online friends in the same way I do to my offline friends- there is little distinction for me. But I know for many others, the online world breeds a certain freedom that allows they to behave badly. The anonymous nature, the ability to pretend to be anyone you want, or to take on a role removes them from usual boundaries or morality. (If you want to see one of the most astonishing examples of this, there is a website which is an “interactive horror story” allegedly about someone who has been kidnapped and readers need to solve problems or the person kidnapped will be harmed…..I was frankly shocked and appalled.)
    Freedom brings out the best in some people and the worst in others. I’m not sure how to stop this kind of insanity. I wish I did.

    Reply
  6. Whitney Avatar
    Whitney

    we don’t yet have standard codes of behavior online that everyone agrees to- the anonimity factor lets some people unleash their inner demons on others, forgetting the person on the other end is a very real human being, or simply not caring about the real impact this has in the real world.

    This is the same reason chat rooms, forums, and even secondl life can be dangerous for some people- there is sometimes no distinction between online and offline, either. The intellectual process of reading things and communicating with others is powerful, yet do we really ever get a sense of how our words affect countless others? And what happens when we take these online relationships into the real world?

    A large majority of my online friendships have some link in the real world- even if just phone conversations, or meet ups like podcamp. I feel singularly responsible to my online friends in the same way I do to my offline friends- there is little distinction for me. But I know for many others, the online world breeds a certain freedom that allows they to behave badly. The anonymous nature, the ability to pretend to be anyone you want, or to take on a role removes them from usual boundaries or morality. (If you want to see one of the most astonishing examples of this, there is a website which is an “interactive horror story” allegedly about someone who has been kidnapped and readers need to solve problems or the person kidnapped will be harmed…..I was frankly shocked and appalled.)
    Freedom brings out the best in some people and the worst in others. I’m not sure how to stop this kind of insanity. I wish I did.

    Reply
  7. Christopher S. Penn Avatar
    Christopher S. Penn

    @Whitney: my world revolves around money, and the power it has. While it’s not the only form of power, it’s one everyone readily understands. How quickly would an ISP react if it were threatened with a lawsuit pertaining to a case like this? How quickly would a forum owner? IIRC, ISPs are not held liable in criminal cases for the actions of their users, but does that extend to civil litigation, tort, etc.?

    Reply
  8. Christopher S. Penn Avatar
    Christopher S. Penn

    @Whitney: my world revolves around money, and the power it has. While it’s not the only form of power, it’s one everyone readily understands. How quickly would an ISP react if it were threatened with a lawsuit pertaining to a case like this? How quickly would a forum owner? IIRC, ISPs are not held liable in criminal cases for the actions of their users, but does that extend to civil litigation, tort, etc.?

    Reply
  9. Jay Moonah Avatar
    Jay Moonah

    I want to first say that I wandered into a Twitter conversation yesterday about Digg not realizing that this had happened, so I want to apologize to anyone who thought I was being insensitive to this particular issue. I thought the comments being made were about the general cynical nature of many Digg posters, not this particular criminal.

    Threats of violence are obviously horrifically unacceptable, that’s why they are illegal. My fear with these kinds of things is when it is generalized so that people think this says something about blogging and bloggers, for instance. This is one stupid idiot among a lot of good people. It is not (I hope!) the beginning of a movement, or the beginning of the end of blogging or anything of the sort.

    Chris has exactly the right attitude about how to deal with this — find the moron, charge and/or sue him. The next time this happens — and sadly it will happen again — do the same thing. I believe if you’re going to have a free society which I think we all want, that’s the only way to deal with this stuff.

    Reply
  10. Jay Moonah Avatar
    Jay Moonah

    I want to first say that I wandered into a Twitter conversation yesterday about Digg not realizing that this had happened, so I want to apologize to anyone who thought I was being insensitive to this particular issue. I thought the comments being made were about the general cynical nature of many Digg posters, not this particular criminal.

    Threats of violence are obviously horrifically unacceptable, that’s why they are illegal. My fear with these kinds of things is when it is generalized so that people think this says something about blogging and bloggers, for instance. This is one stupid idiot among a lot of good people. It is not (I hope!) the beginning of a movement, or the beginning of the end of blogging or anything of the sort.

    Chris has exactly the right attitude about how to deal with this — find the moron, charge and/or sue him. The next time this happens — and sadly it will happen again — do the same thing. I believe if you’re going to have a free society which I think we all want, that’s the only way to deal with this stuff.

    Reply

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