Kathy Sierra's blog, Creating Passionate Users, is filled with musings on software design. Not the kind of thing you'd expect to draw death threats.
But cyber-bullies posted such vicious remarks about her on the Internet that she canceled her keynote speech at a technology conference in San Diego this week, afraid to leave her home in Boulder, Colo.
"I will never be the same," she wrote, then said she had suspended her blogging.
The threats and vivid sexual taunts aimed at Sierra -- and the subsequent uproar -- exposed a creepy reality: Cyber-bullies, often emboldened by anonymity, target bloggers who write about even the most innocuous subjects.
"Certainly you need a thick skin if you're going to blog, but you shouldn't also need a bulletproof vest," said Josh Bernoff, a Forrester Research analyst who received death threats in December after suggesting that Apple Inc.'s music sales were leveling off.
Sierra, a former video game developer, speaks at conferences, co-writes the "Head First" series of books on Web design and blogs about making software more user-friendly. Her case offers another reminder of how uncivil the Internet can be.
The ordeal began four weeks ago, when someone posted this comment on her blog: "I hope someone slits your throat." The writer didn't indicate why.
A few days later, a photograph of Sierra juxtaposed with an image of a noose appeared on MeanKids.org. The caption read, "The only thing Kathy Sierra has to offer me is that noose in her neck size."
Sierra contacted the owner of the site, Frank Paynter, a technology consultant and blogger. Sierra says he apologized and told her he didn't know who posted it, then he took down the entire site.
When contacted by The Times, Paynter requested questions via e-mail, then didn't respond to them.
"MeanKids was purposeful anarchy," he explained on his blog. "I thought the people at MeanKids would create art and criticism, pointed and insulting satire, but not foster a climate of fear."
Another photo of Sierra, doctored to look as if she had underpants over her nose and mouth, popped up on a site founded by Chris Locke, coauthor of "Cluetrain Manifesto," a bestselling book about how the Internet is changing the way corporations do business.
In an interview, Locke said he didn't know who posted the photo or the misogynistic comments but said he hoped the authors would fess up.
