Letters to the Editor
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I prefer when Salon does journalism
This is yet another article about Salon's letter-writers. I realize the weekend is coming, but as someone who is truly on the fence about continuing my subscription, I really would prefer more thoughtful, investigative pieces from this site.
But regarding the piece, the Kathy Sierra situation is not remotely the same as what's gone on here, and it does a disservice to her and to Salon letter writers for Walsh to coopt it for her own agenda.
And pardon my cynicism, but I can't help but wonder if this issue isn't perpetuated merely to court controversy, increase page views, and make Salon seem edgy, (in the blog world, not the journalistic one, unfortunately). And just hours away from the end of the quarter...
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I'm not fond of the disgusting petri dish
It was a petri dish of online misogyny. We left it unmoderated as a science experiment.
My problem as a reader and a Premium subscriber is that while I like reading most of the letters, I don't want to subjected that kind of trash. I could just ignore it but my view is that as a customer that having to ignore repugnant letters is not what I'm paying for.
On the whole I like the open letters policy. However, I'd like a system where I never even see the trash. I can see three ways of doing this:
1) Salon editorial staff removes objectionable comments. Problem here is that you will be accused of abusing your authority to do so.
2) A user moderation system introduced where objectionable comments can be troll rated and users can set preferences to avoid troll rated comments. Sadly, many sites have tried variations of this (DailyKos, Slashdot, etc) and this system never works out entirely satisfactorily for my purposes.
3) A filter for Premium only subscriber comments, similar to the editor's choice filter, is introduced. Most trolls are not going to pay the $45/year for the privilege of trolling. While this might seem elitist to some, it's a trade off that I'm willing to make. Filtering to Premium only letters would be completely optional and off by default. Readers who didn't like the feature would never have to use it.
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Mo Pete, Less Meat
If Sierra were truly serious about these threats, and there was a compelling reason to take them at face value, then she should be cooperating with the authorities when it comes to her IP records, as someone else pointed out. Otherwise, she's just being a whiny "victim."
You're either for free speech or you're against it. Joseph Goebbels was for free speech that he agreed with. Joseph Stalin was for free speech that he liked.
As for the commentary that's directed at Salon's female writers, could it be that as a general group, they suck? Havrilesky and Zacharek are excellent writers and cover their beats with insightful and thoughtful commentary on the topics they choose to write about. The problem with Lamont, Dickerson and especially Traister is that their self-absorption and their solipsistic commentary isn't worth reading and is better suited for a personal blog, where it will reach an audience of about 20 people.
There is fierce competition out there for the steadily shrinking number of good journalism jobs, and I would think a gig writing for Salon would have to be considered a plum position. Not everybody who goes to J-School gets to be a White House correspondent for a major network, or serve as a beat reporter for a prestigious publication like the New York Times or Esquire. I don't see the reaction to the work of Traister or Lamont as sexist, I see it as calling it out for what it is: total crap. How would you feel if you were trying to make it in journalism, and you log into Salon to see another navel-gazing article about the effects of quitting smoking? Or an interview with a Z-list "celebrity" when the journalist clearly has an axe to grind? Was it really necessary for Salon to inform me that Rebecca Traister finds (whoever the fuck that is) to be a creepy loser? With all of the pressing problems that exist in this world and with finite journalistic resources, you're heaping this shit on us? It's embarrassing.
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Less ruminating, more prosecuting
Excellent, Joan. At the same time, I think the far more effective response of the blogosphere and sites like Salon is to devote their resources to helping track down the people who made the death threats against Kathy Sierra, and bring them to justice. These person(s) have IP addresses that can be identified. The wording they used in the threats is specific enough that, when publicized, it can encourage readers to recall similar language posted on other sites, and help lead us to identify usage patterns, and previous posts which may reveal real world details. Work with the authorities to find them. Post a reward for details leading to their arrest. And so on. This is supposed to be what Web 2.0 is good at.
In short, let's have long conversations about misogyny in the tech world after the people responsible for these threats are visited by people who carry badges and handcuffs.
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Allie, 25% of all American women have been or will be raped?
I've been looking for numbers to verify this terrifying claim, but mostly all I've found is that it's very hard to track this terrible crime and that reported rape has dropped 85% since the 70's.
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/18/AR2006061800610.html)
Anyway, I'm hoping you can provide some evidence for that statistic. Thanks.
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I doubt if what was done is prosecutable, sueable maybe, but the public exposure
would PROBABLY not be welcome, although it's hard to be sure.
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Who could these men be...
Let see: they have the same diminutive nicknames for your female writers, they spell badly, they use phrases like "it has been proven".
Those are, as you've noted, a subspecies called "freepers" from Freerepublic.com. That's why they eerily display the same habits. They share the freeper needles. And there aren't that many of them. And oh yes, they are violent and bear watching. A lot of them own guns, and don't like women at all. Just one word to illustrate: Hillary. The most evil creature to walk the earth.
I somehow doubt "Homeland" security will be knocking on their doors soon. They're too busy keeping tabs and phone taps on every anti-war protester in the country.