The End of Blogging as We Know It?

Blogging’s always personal, even when it’s professional. Sometimes it crosses the line though.
Blogger Kathy Sierra received death threats. Robert Scoble’s wife was also a target of hate speech and he’s taking the week off from blogging. It’s one of those moments that gives everyone a minute to pause.
There’s a lot of hype about blogging, especially when you talk to the gang out in Silicon Valley. Yet it’s true how quickly you feel part of a community, build deeper connections, and get to know people. Even people like me who miss a few days here and there can get swept into it.
None of this is particularly new. People received death threats by snail mail and telephone, and on Bulletin Board Services in the early days of online communities. Yet we keep putting more of ourselves out there, so it hits harder.
I of course respect Robert’s blog going dark for a few days, and Kathy’s post was so painful I could hardly read it, let alone imagine living through it. Yet for the rest of us, we have to keep educating, connecting, sharing. You can’t entirely retreat – no good will come of that. Instead of others taking a day or more off from blogging in solidarity with Kathy, a better lesson is to use the time to take up blogging, or do it more fervently, and aim to serve as some force for good, however small or large a force that is.