By now, you’ve all heard about the tasteless ridicule and horrible threats that Kathy Sierra has had to suffer during the last couple of days by the (now offline) site meankids.org. It’s a shame, really.
(You can see read her reaction here, and it really gave me something to chew, and a knot in my throat…)
On a more positive note, not the whole blogosphere is full of MeanKids. There’s a backlash of a positive kind right now. One great example of the good ol’ if-there’s-a-problem-just-fix-it-yourself culture of the internet is the Stop Cyberbullying website by Andy Carvin. (He just threw it together via Ning, btw.) David Weinberger already asked for a little “stop cyberbullying” badge to put on his website. Luckily, this too is the blogosphere: Social networks, mutual support, solidarity – and a good dash of do-it-yourself spirit.
Nobody should be bullied out of this space. It belongs to all of us, equally.
I really hope that Kathy will receive the positive feedback she deserves, and that this will help her get over this horrible situation. If she decided to stop blogging it would leave a big, big gap in the blogosphere, and it’d be very sad indeed.
Link (via David Weinberger)
