Except, of course, I don't make threats - I don't use insults, I don't say things I wouldn't say to your face. I go anonymous because of my job considerations - I can lose my job for posting during the day - so to suggest that you find my posts similar to this Kathy Sierra nonsense would only convince me of your state of self-realization - and having blogged with you before, I'd say that's a distant and small state indeed. By the way, is LeCastor your real name? I doubt it. I've never - since my first Compuserve, days, MANY years ago, attacked someone like Kathy Sierra was attacked, though I've been threatened with death many times (and I retaliate pretty well, I'd say) - people don't like my brand of the truth - it hurts because of its painful reality - thus, we get the Europa's who freak out, or the LeCastor's level typical (and packaged) insults - he's racist/sexist/xenophobic and so on and so forth - without ever really addressing the issues - whatever, most people are intellectually weak and can only run on the surface.

Some of us go a little deeper...

Just like brightstar, you say you don't insult anyone, and then you proceed to say insulting thing. Whatever, it doesn't bug me, but it would be nice if you at least realized it.

One more thing. People who really are confident in what they say, they don't need to say things like "people don't like my brand of the truth - it hurts because of its painful reality." I don't go around proclaiming "what i say is reality" -- i present ideas, i state my opinions of how things go. I don't go around proclaiming, "oh you people hate me because i speak the truth" or "that's the way all women are, sorry to burst your bubble." When you do that, you just show your own insecurities.

A long time ago there was a site called "F*ck*d Company" that kept track of which Internet companies were about to fold during the bubble. Its message boards, mostly male-on-male, were full of violent threats almost as bad as what was posted about Sierra. Competing blogs looked down on "F*ck*d Company" because its message boards were so juvenile. There are respectable techie chat boards where the geeks are more mature and look down on the juvenile ones.

Also, a long time ago I was in a Unsenet group that was about a geeky subject and almost everyone was male. There was one notoriously deranged person in there and his name-calling and threats had sexual overtones and the targets were male.

So it isn't necessarily true that the sort of thing that happened to Sierra only happens to women. I agree with Man that Sierra probably just wasn't familiar with how much of it goes on male-on-male and that the people who post that stuff rarely follow up.

There was a case of a murder but it was male-on-male and it was about a teenage guy taking money for bogus CB radio equiment and never sending the merchandise, then bragging about it. A truck driver drove to where the teenage guy lived and killed him. But the motive was financial, mostly.

Kathy Sierra is a good-looking woman. The world is full of bitter immature people who can't handle their feelings of envy, rejection, jealousy, humiliation, etc. when their lusts are aroused for something they can't have--and to top it off, Sierra had the technical acclaim as well! How dare a person have beauty, status, AND technical prowess and acclaim! I have no doubt that she aroused someone's bitter, twisted ire because she represented a whole cocktail of things that person didn't think he (or hell, I suppose it COULD be a "she") couldn't have.

I think the person who posted that stuff could very well be dangerous, but honestly I doubt it. There's so much of that on the Internet and rarely followed up. Here's my main point (finally.) If women want a place at the table then we can't shrink from that stuff when it is directed our way. If it works, it will be used. If it makes us shrink back and not take a place at the table, it will be used. Some of it is intended as a test to see if it works. If the "C" word works, it will be used. If pictures of women with nooses next to them work, that will be used. If "I hope someone cuts your head off and does so-and-so" works, that will be used. It is very hard to laugh in the face of it, but I think it is the only way for women to take a place at the table. Proudly laughing off that stuff. Because it is intended to run us off from a place at the table. Shrinking from it won't get us a place at the table. Laughing it off (as hard as that is) will. Being too sensitive about that sort of thing will make us look weak. There are people actively testing for that sort of weakness all the time. The sickness lies with them, but we can't afford to let it work.

as is the case with most women and most work environments the expectation is that most women will not do the same work as the men under the job description. I would be loathe to admit it publicly, but I fired 3 of our female staff members for the following reasons: chronically leaving work early to pick up their goddam red-headed step child, showing up to work disheveled and/or chronically late, being rude to clients, etc. Now, their expectation was that because they were women that they had job security since they could initiate lawsuit through the EEOC etc for discrimination, sexual harassment, etc. Wrong. Also, I have not hired women who were otherwise qualified for a job due to their being obese (and I mean obese).

Jennifer, being a bitch who feels that smiling will win you points and guys sucking up to you just means as you get older it is less and less likely to happen and that you will have to either marry or take some of these men to the cleaners to finance you lifestyle as you become older and less desirable. It also means that men with wealth and means and who are confident based upon their background and achievement, such as myself, won't give 2 shits about you as we don't respond to such pandering. That does not mean that your earlier comments about Ms. Sierra are not spot on, they are. It just means don't give yourself too much credit merely for having a vagina, over 1/2 the population does, which makes you (based upon having a vagina) imminently replaceable, just as women see most men as replaceable.

Oh, to Jonathon. No, "chasing" women is an affectation of young men seeking to prove themselves. I find that success and money tend to bring them to me. As I won't be marrying I am under no illusion or delusion regarding marriage. It is highly overrated and a highly risky financial proposition. Relationships can be great, but marriage is a financial risk that only a fool would undertake without a prenuptial agreement. Currently, I am in a relationship. If the woman whom I share time with made a demand for marriage I would say simply "no". She knows better, even though I am well aware she wishes to be married. The reasons of which are very different for men and women. The ONLY reason for a man to marry is children. If you are doing it to save money, file joint tax returns, etc, you are a moron. Marriage and relationships are never about equality. One person always pays more, loves more, does more, etc. These are facts.