A prominent and passionate tech blogger, Kathy Sierra, who, I admit I never heard of before, was the victim of some nasty and threatening on-line posts and comments. The threats were of the death variety, and the tone of the comments was up there (or is it down there?) with the sort of depraved dialog you would expect to read on some sicko pron site. The long and the short of it is, she has been scared shitless, cancelled speaking engagements and clearly isn't too enamoured with her on-line life, right now.

Bloggers cannot say what they like without responsibility

Although bloggers have immunity from publishing views on sensitive news already in the mainstream, they aren't immune from assaulting people with words and suggestive threats. So, Kathy Sierra isn't without options to get this mess sorted out. The law is on her side and the police are involved.

I doubt Kathy is the only one sleeping badly as a result of the pending repercussions of this escalating blog slander. I say this because a blogger who was associated with one of the offending attack sites, has quickly disassociated himself from the rest of his gang. Too little too late as the noose tightens around the necks of the perpetrators?

How should you react to threats?

It is always best to tell someone. A problem shared is a problem halved.

Where do you go from here?

I don't know what the police will do - maybe prosecute the prominent ones - but there are others who were involved by association whowill not be touched by the law, and that is where lots of Kathy's on-line friends come in handy. In an eloquent but firm way, they should make it uncomfortable for members of the blogs where the threats were hosted. Remind them that Instead of following it all, they should have said something against the bloggers. The readers were just as wrong as the writers for not reacting at the time

Blogospherical campaign against nasty bloggers

In the big picture, if enough people write how intolerant we all are to this sort of nasty on-line bullying, the less likely it is to happen again. Only a tiny minority of impressionable people get the urge to join a cruel or personal attack blog, and usually some warning shots across the bows will sends 99% of those wannabe bullies scuttling for cover. (Just like if everyone had to take responsibility for what they said to drivers from the haven of their car, the ensuing silence would be deafening!)

My parting shot from the soap box is to say that the time has come for the nasty bloggers to say farewell, and for Kathy to take heart that the nerviness will subside over time. And at some stage she will get back in the saddle, so to speak, stronger and wiser and more passionate than ever.