Tech Bloggers Step Up to a Community Challenge

I'm amazed at the reactions to Kathy Sierra's exposure of the a-holes who have been harassing and threatening her online.  If she were a hip hop blogger, she'd be ignored or ridiculed with folks discussing it privately.

But she's not a hip hop blogger, she's a tech blogger.  And though tech bloggers have a long history of ignoring racist and sexist commentary on tech websites, apparently a lot of folks feel it's time to step up.

You can check Sierra's post for the story but be sure to check the comments.  I've never seen anything like this in hip hop unless it was something like Katrina [i.e. a no-brainer, though I'm glad folks cared].

Robert Scoble is not blogging for a week in protest.  Though silence is not typically the best response, in Scoble's case, the post will remain at the top of a highly trafficked and influential blog.  Again, the comments in Scoble's blog are amazing in their support for Sierra.

I shared part of my response at Brand Destruction Research where Ron E. of brandcurve informed me of their zero violence blog graphic and campaign in response.  I can't honestly post a zero violence graphic at ProHipHop but it's a good thing to see.

If you do read the comments on Scoble's blog, you'll notice that a lot of people are talking about taking action and it sounds like Scoble's in.

I think this is going to be kind of fun.

Via Seth Godin.

Comments

[rafi]

I'm amazed at the reactions to Kathy Sierra's exposure of the a-holes who have been harassing and threatening her online. If she were a hip hop blogger, she'd be ignored or ridiculed with folks discussing it privately.

But she's not a hip hop blogger, she's a tech blogger. And though tech bloggers have a long history of ignoring racist and sexist commentary on tech websites, apparently a lot of folks feel it's time to step up.

******************

I think your claims about how this would have been different if she were a hip hop blogger are completely baseless and reveal a pessimism about the field you have chosen.

I see a bunch of hip-hop bloggers weighing in on the problems of the world very often. Tech bloggers.. not so much.

As long as you're going to insert a hypothetical scenario here, why not ask yourself how the reaction may have been different from tech bloggers if she wasn't an attractive woman / mother / great blogger with a ton of readers/fans and many influential friends.

There are no hip-hop bloggers on the A-List.

There are more tech blogs than hip-hop blogs. There's more money in tech blogs and therefore more "professional" people in tech blogs. There are more tech bloggers than hip-hop bloggers and they write for a much larger audience.

That doesn't mean you have to knock hip-hop bloggers for no apparent reason.

It's great that people are being supportive of Kathy Sierra. I myself shared her post on Oh Word as soon as I saw it in Google Reader. I'm a hip-hop blogger and I thought it would be relevant to my audience of hip-hop heads and hip-hop bloggers. You did too apparently.

If it was a female in our community going through a similar treatment, I expect you'd actually see a lot of public support.

[Clyde Smith]

Did you ever read Byron Crawford on Lynne d Johnson, the accusations of pedophilia, etc.?

It was obvious she was taking the ignore it and it will go away approach and that's her right. But if she had posted about it and said it was an issue, would she have gotten support?

I don't think so.

I know it's not exactly the same thing but I don't see a history of hip hop bloggers supporting other bloggers undergoing racist, sexist and homophobic attacks when those have occurred.

Did you read Tara Henley at XXL on what she goes through? What kind of support did she get?

I honestly can't remember and XXL's redesign makes the old blog posts hard to navigate but I don't remember much support. But maybe you wrote about it and supported her.

I just don't buy your belief that a woman would get similar support even adjusting for the amount of tech bloggers vs. hip hop bloggers, etc. I'm ultimately less impressed by the quantity than by the quality of her support.

In any case, from what I've seen over the last few years in hip hop blogging, folks just don't step up for this kind of thing.

However, I'd prefer to be wrong. Why don't you point to some examples of the kind of support I claim is lacking in the hip hop blogging "community"?

And obviously I mean when writers/bloggers attack writers/bloggers in a sexist, homophobic or racist manner, not Katrina, Hot 97, tsunami stuff, though those were exemplary efforts.

Can you do that?

[rafi]

You don't see a difference between misogynistic language / inappropriate claims and (repeated and sexualized) death threats?

Believe me there wouldn't be this outcry of tech bloggers right now if the offender(s) had merely made lewd comments to Kathy Sierra or had made mocking allegations about her sex life.

[Hashim]

I agree with Rafi's distinction between misogynistic language / inappropriate claims and (repeated and sexualized) death threats.

I don't remember any hip-hop blogger getting death threats from another blogger.

Oh, wait a minute! There was that one time...

[Clyde Smith]

Your right, there is a difference.

Maybe this is one of those tipping point things and who knows what hip hop bloggers would do.

I just don't share your positive viewpoint based upon a variety of incidents I've followed involving a wide range of people beyond BC. And I would extend my negative view to the bulk of the hip hop print media community as well.

I'm not saying these are bad people. I am saying they don't seem to support each other publically based on the majority of what I know to date.

[Kristasphere: Home of the 24-7 Brand]

Hey I blog about both, so where's that leave me?

[Clyde Smith]

I think the boxing element of the Kristasphere (or is that Kristafear when you're in the ring?) put you wherever you want!