Blogging for me has been 99% fun one with just the odd nutter 
and one cyber bully. For Kathy Sierra, a respected American blogger, it has turned into the most horrific nightmare after she was issued with in a series of death threats which have forced her to stop writing.
The threats resulted in a picture of her next to a noose, you can read Kathy’s nightmare story here, and her post had a staggering 1084 comments at the time of writing, such is the shockwaves this has caused. She is now a prisoner in a home, remaining behind locked doors.
Kathy’s blog is not controversial, she is a tech writer and focuses on social media, I cannot imagine why she has been singled out for this horrific abuse. She believes it is because she is a woman. Other bloggers have temporarily suspended their blogs in a show of support, including ace blogger Robert Scoble.
It is unclear who the authors of the threats are. but Kathy is particularly disturbed that some of them were hosted on blogs that are authored by or owned by a group that includes some prominent bloggers. If that is the case, is it not possible to track down the source of the links? We must surely have the technical resources and expertise to locate these faceless cowards.
Kathy is obviously deeply shocked and needs to take a break. I hope she won’t give up blogging because of a few anonymous bullies, that their identifies will be discovered and they will be named and shamed and prosecuted - and, even worst, reviled in blogosphere. We need a successful prosecution here to act as a warning to other cyber bullies, we need to make an example of them so they know they can’t get away with it.