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Why the Trolls Will Always Win
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Andrew 'Weev' Auernheimer
Fayetteville Police/Handout
EDITORS’ NOTE: This post was first published on Kathy Sierra’s blog SeriousPony. We are republishing it here unedited and in its entirety with her introductory note at the beginning.1
[Note: I didn’t want to have to write this. But here it is. I’m not linking it to the blog, and it won’t likely stay up long, but you are welcome to contact me here if you want to put it somewhere else before I take it down. It is long and rambling and unedited and one of the few things I’ve written that I wrote mostly for myself. It is all I ever hope to have to say about it. Also? Content warning.]
This month is the 10-year anniversary of my first online threat. I thought it was a one-off, then. Just one angry guy. And it wasn’t really THAT bad. But looking back, it was the canary in the coal mine… the first hint that if I kept on this path, it would not end well. And what was that path? We’ll get to that in a minute.
Later I learned that the first threat had nothing to do with what I actually made or said in my books, blog posts, articles, and conference presentations. The real problem — as my first harasser described — was that others were beginning to pay attention to me. He wrote as if mere exposure to my work was harming his world.
KATHY SIERRA
ABOUT
Kathy Sierra is a writer, thinker, and animal lover.
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- AUTHOR: KATHY SIERRA.KATHY SIERRA
- DATE OF PUBLICATION: 10.08.14.10.08.14
- TIME OF PUBLICATION: 4:49 PM.4:49 PM
Andrew 'Weev' Auernheimer
EDITORS’ NOTE: This post was first published on Kathy Sierra’s blog SeriousPony. We are republishing it here unedited and in its entirety with her introductory note at the beginning.1
[Note: I didn’t want to have to write this. But here it is. I’m not linking it to the blog, and it won’t likely stay up long, but you are welcome to contact me here if you want to put it somewhere else before I take it down. It is long and rambling and unedited and one of the few things I’ve written that I wrote mostly for myself. It is all I ever hope to have to say about it. Also? Content warning.]
This month is the 10-year anniversary of my first online threat. I thought it was a one-off, then. Just one angry guy. And it wasn’t really THAT bad. But looking back, it was the canary in the coal mine… the first hint that if I kept on this path, it would not end well. And what was that path? We’ll get to that in a minute.
Later I learned that the first threat had nothing to do with what I actually made or said in my books, blog posts, articles, and conference presentations. The real problem — as my first harasser described — was that others were beginning to pay attention to me. He wrote as if mere exposure to my work was harming his world.
KATHY SIERRA
ABOUT
Kathy Sierra is a writer, thinker, and animal lover.
