Love and Kudos For Kathy Sierra

Mere days after I post a Blogger Code of Ethics, Kathy Sierra posts about having to withdraw from a conference, and possibly blogging altogether, due to violent threats to her life, some with sexual overtones, from a few bloggers and commenters.

Kathy writes probably the best technical, inspirational blog in existence, Creating Passionate Users. I've been a passionate reader of hers ever since I knew it existed. Every post she writes is a treasure.

She never has a bad word to say about other people; she's not contentious or negative. Why she has been attacked with this type of vitriol is beyond me. Probably, there are simply a**holes who think that being negative, especially against good people, makes them cool.

Of the alleged attackers [Update: sorry, not attackers, but people responsible for and major contributors to the sites she named; the attacks were generally made anonymously], one has apologized. The rest are attacking again, claiming that she is besmirching them, and picking apart the words of a woman who is distraught and in fear for her life. Well done. Anyone remember what number that hits on the apology scale?

I see now that my ethics code is incomplete. I left out one thing that I thought was not necessary to address, but I guess it has to be said:

Do No Harm

I will not attack, embarrass, humiliate, or make others fear for their safety. I will certainly not do so and then accuse my victims of being overly sensitive or needing to have thicker skin.

I will firstly do no harm. Beyond this, I will endeavor to create what is good and beneficial for society, rather than hurt it or waste its time.

Yehuda