Comments on: the blog post I hoped I’d never have to write…

By: WriglyB

WriglyB — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 07:01:37 +0000

Hack again?!

By: Wendy

Wendy — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 20:55:47 +0000

Hugh,
I have stumbled across your site completely by chance. I am not a famous journalist, writer, or really much of anything to let the truth be known. Blogging is my form of venting. Nothing more. To think that someone would make any threats of a fellow blogger, regarless of their status, is beyond me. I like to be heard, I don’t care if people disagree with my opinion, they can tell me so if they like but to make it personal? That is crossing the line.

By: steve

steve — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 17:34:57 +0000

NZ’s still safe, take a holiday…

By: Heather (a.k.a. Momo)

Heather (a.k.a. Momo) — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 03:44:07 +0000

Hugh,
I happened across your site some time ago by pure chance. I’d venture to say, I’m not *your* average reader. Despite that & the fact that I haven’t yet read the board posts you wrote about, I am all too familiar with what you wrote of.
I belong to one board, a simple board of mothers. We members are from all over the world, literally. I love discussing our similarities despite our distances & cultural differences. We are all so very much the same all over this globe.
But this wonderful thing called “the internet”, this amazing hyped-up TV & typewriter plugged in to my cable that I set in front of everyday, has a draw back. The anonymity that is needed for basic, common-sense reasons is far too easily used to do harm.
We are all humans behind our screens. Way too many people forget that (or just don’t care) and use that anonymity to do real damage to strangers & “loved ones”. I could go on about the many psychological reasons as to why but it’s harmful nonetheless. Even if readers & poters have “tough skins”, we still carry those angry words with us through out our day… even those who spew it. It’s a stain on something that could so much very good. Women & men alike from all over the world “let it all out” on the net & that’s a very sad thing to witness.
I wish your blogging friend much happiness & a better tomorrow. I truly hope that experience is not one that will truly damage her spirit & joy of speaking to many.
Take much care,
Heather

By: Darcy Moen

Darcy Moen — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 22:00:06 +0000

Perhaps we have just witnessed the release of ASSHOLE 2.0 We could have waited another 30 to 40 years for THAT upgrade.
Free speech and freedom of speech is and always will be a complicated issue. While freedom is liberating to some, it can also be offensive to others, lines of sense and sensibilities are drawn and crossed with each word wrote.
Reading comments made second and third hand is offensive enough, I cannot fathom what it must be like to be the recipient herself. More than once I have felt the need to apologize for those individuals who lack an internal moral compass and fail to notice that their words and behavior falls far outside social norms.
The net and blogosphere have no official rules. We are a self policing society where everyone is free to swing their arms as much as each and every individual wishes. That said, your right to swing your arms ends where my nose begins. Go ahead and say what you want to say, but the rest of us retain the right NOT TO READ the diatribe spewing forth. We retain the right to self censor.
Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadows of 14 year old boys with sick fantasies and mediocre photoshop skills, I will fear no evil for the delete button and on/off switch comfort me. The rest of us will lie down in green pastures of productive thought and constructive intellectual thought.

By: MyNameIsMatt

MyNameIsMatt — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 04:19:04 +0000

...This is beyond absurd. I don't know where to begin in deconstructing this. First off, it's certainly a horrible thing, and if this truly keeps Kathy away from posting, then we've lost one of the best persons and resources that the internet has to offer. The threats in themselves are terrible, and I'll leave those to the police to handle, but the veiled support of such acts by Chris Locke and anyone of prominence on the internet is mind boggling. It's one thing to disagree with and dislike Kathy, or Scoble, or Hugh, or anyone else for what they write, and then post that. However, it goes to another level when turning such disagreement into personal attacks (and an even greater level with death threats). Chris Locke's explanations are the most ego centric I could imagine. It's all about him, who is not the real victim here. He says that Kathy just committed character assassination on him, but 1) I doubt she really cared one bit about doing such a thing (she only highlighted that his own websites supported and facilitated her death threats), and 2) it's his own actions that have allowed this event, and in turn he deserves what he gets. He tries to hide behind his RageBoy name as, "you should expect such from me," which is not an excuse, and plays off this event as an attack on him. As I wrote already, it's one thing to disagree and write about it, but it's another thing to facilitate personal attacks and death threats, and then be complicit in event. This reminds me a little of the recent Chiquita banana court ruling where the company was protecting their workers by paying off designated terrorist organizations. The DA in closing remarked that supporting terrorist organizations is not an acceptable or justifiable form of business, even if it was done to protect workers. The same is true for this event. Facilitation of illegal death threats is not an acceptable method of argument, disagreement, opinion sharing, blogging, or general free speech stances. If Chris Locke and others can't see that, and apologize for their roles, then they deserve all the criticism and character assassination they bring on themselves.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 02:50:37 +0000

This is a symptom of society itself, not just the blogosphere. A lot of the feminist blogs (Like Twisty's I blame the Patriarchy) will the the first to point out that gender bias (and especially in terms of violence towards women) is endemic. You want to try and make the world safer for women? You've got a LOT of work to do. And quite frankly Shutting up and silently doing nothing is not 'work'.

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 01:56:24 +0000

Whoa. This is scary stuff. I do concur with Hugh’s ‘high school jock’ metaphor. Though Locke is correct in pointing out he didn’t make the threats, create the graphics, etc, I think he is…
1) overstating the notion that Kathy has painted him as a homicidal maniac/child molester, and meanwhile prattling on too much about his innocence, free speech, etc, to realize how damage he is indirectly responsible for.
2) naive in thinking that opening a blog encouraging ‘mean kids’ behavior WOULDN’T bring the unstable psychos out of the closet and into the ether. His answers about the purpose of meankids.org and unclebobism are curiously vague. What did he think would happen?

By: Michael Neel

Michael Neel — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:13:04 +0000

Wow.. just wow.
(as always) I’m 100% out of the loop and catching up after the fact, but somehow I see the day nearing where some says “They suffer from Internet Co-Dependency Blogging Disorder, or ICDB.” If you let others define you it’s never going to go well, digital or otherwise. Besides the best way to irritate the “Mean Kids” is just to ignore them.
I wonder what color ribbon ICDB awareness will be…

By: Kimber

Kimber — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 11:05:14 +0000

Joe, I didn’t go to the prom either (Yes, I was asked but I was covering graduation for a daily and a weekly and had to phone in my columns). Please don’t lump all us non-prom attendees together.
But I would meet you outside for some fist-a-cuffs. Probably kick your butt too.

By: Eric Strauss

Eric Strauss — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 07:11:21 +0000

Hugh,
The blogosphere emulates our society, right? And our society is, plainly put, pretty messed up. So we’ve got a big issue on our hands. It doesn’t matter if people have to take responsibility for their actions, they will still do bad things.
Remember what happened to Moica Seles in ’93?
Reacting to this incident, my first instinct would be to blog, blog, blog, and tackle this problem with conversation. But that does have a negative externality – it empowers the criminal. It brings their actions into the mainstream (relatively). And this stunt is easily replicated. So I would be weary of giving someone any motivation to do this again.
But please, Kathy, Hugh, Robert, everyone. – don’t stop blogging. Your words have been too valuable. We can ‘t afford to lose you on the blogosphere or in society.

By: Manola Marketblanik

Manola Marketblanik — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 06:44:40 +0000

Hugh, is this the same offending blog you thought was spam (the one I mentioned to you the other day) that was making fun of your post? It has been taken down by WordPress as I write.
I know of a case of bloggers in a very strong political NY blogging community where it wasn’t just a woman, but an entire family being threatened and insulted (even their children being sexually threatened) by some lunatic. Unfortunately the same crassness and hatred that exists in the “real” world is going to spread like the plague online because it’s harder to set boundaries. I don’t see anything wrong with setting boundaries on one’s own blog and moderating comments, but unfortunately it’s impossible to control what spreads out on the internet.
Hugh you did mention something in a cartoon about controlling the conversation and some control is always necessary to keep things from sinking.
I don’t know Kathy but I can totally understand her sense of being violated and I hope that she will not let this hinder her blogging forever. As a female blogger, I’m appaled on so many levels.
While it is true that blogging can develop a cult of personality people need to realize we are just writers and human beings like everyone else with private lives and anyone who tries to invade that is an unethical, uncompassionate scumbag.
That being said, I also don’t agree that popular or high-ranking bloggers are like your run of the mill Hollywood tabloid celebrities. You know, was Kathy clubbing in LA showing her vayjayjay to the cameras? How many A List Bloggers are currently in rehab and on the cover of People for having anorexia? Still, there is one thing in common: you can be sure that when any celebrity is threatened, the police are right on it. And in that way, a threat is a threat no matter who you are.
Argh.

By: Chris Baskind

Chris Baskind — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 06:24:57 +0000

Disgusting. Illegal. Vile.
That being said, this sort of crap has been going on in mainline media for decades. I come from a radio background, and have seen more than my share.
This incident is less about the “dark side” of blogging than its coming of age. Welcome to the mainstream, with all its glory and filth.
And here’s to the prosecution of Kathy’s tormentors.

By: MarillaAnne

MarillaAnne — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 06:09:48 +0000

The company we keep …
Birds of a feather …
There is nothing new under the sun …
Examining / cleaning my library …
Examining / cleaning my RSS feed …
You are right …
Nothing else to say …

By: Martin Edic

Martin Edic — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 03:59:58 +0000

Hugh I think your jock cheerleader metaphor for Locke is dead on– he is hiding behind free speech which ironically makes it possible for morons like him to make a living.
There is such a thing as karma and the blog world is quick to apply it.