Roger just tipped me off to a very disturbing post over at Kathy Sierra's Creating Passionate Users. I won't go into the details, you'll have to read for yourself—but in short, Kathy has been receiving death threats combined with perverse imagery. It's not good. Not good at all.
This hits me hard because as you know, I'm a pretty big fan of how we're able to participate and connect via social media etc. I'm not naive though—I'm fully aware that with any kind of advancement comes the potential to misuse and abuse. But this just makes me sad. Is this what we have to look forward to if we're fortunate enough to attract a following or cultivate a community?
I hope not. I hope this is an isolated incident. This isn't Hollywood people. Those of us who choose to share our thoughts in this format aren't paid millions of dollars and we don't get bodyguards. In fact, most of us don't get paid to do it at all. Death threats and obscene gestures are not part of the deal.
Take a moment to read the post over at CPU. Then take a moment to show Kathy a little support regardless of how you feel about her blog etc. I'm sure some kind words will go a long way. I'm not sure what else to say. I'm just really deflated after reading about this. It makes you want to put up walls.
