As many of you know, I’ve been bouncing around with a number of projects – but I am going to be frequenting WebProBlog a little more. Because I haven’t posted about the industry in a while, I’ve done a little catching up before writing and the big story right now, at least from the blogosphere’s perspective, is about Kathy Sierra.
Murdok’ Joe Lewis has an excellent write-up about the unfortunately ridiculous situation, as does SEOMoz’s Rebecca Kelley. As a part-time blogger and frequent message board user, all I can say is this – as we all know, the Internet allows you a certain degree of anonymity and there are morons out there who try their hardest to ruin a good thing for everyone.
In this particular case, the perpetrators went overboard with their unmoderated message board-like responses (Ever see an AintItCoolNews message board discussing a disappointing movie? They don’t call this place the cesspool of the Internet for no reason…) that took on a threatening manner and the blogosphere exploded with support for Sierra and admonishment for the cowardly behavior exhibited by the posters.
There also seems to be an idea that these acts may have had such an effect on Kathy that she may not blog again for a while – something I hope that doesn’t happen. Folks, bloggers, even the unpopular ones, are public figures and because we put ourselves on an open forum, sometimes flotsam and jetsam like the cowardly posters targeting Sierra make it through.
I can only hope Kathy stands strong and doesn’t stop sharing her knowledge with the rest of us. Ceasing to do so would only give them strength.
