Orcmid's Lair

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Welcome to Orcmid's Lair, the playground for family connections, pastimes, and scholarly vocation -- the collected professional and recreational work of Dennis E. Hamilton Archives Atom Feed Associated Blogs Edge City Numbering Peano Praxis101 Prof. von Clueless in the Blunder Dome Recent Items When Your Team Owns the Business Marquee de Sells:... Is “Digital Identity” a Misleading Notion? The oth... John Backus: December 3, 1924 – March 17, 2007 I j... Herding OOXen Doug Mahugh was the semi-official ph... OOX-ODF: Why Have Peace When You Can Have War? In ... OOX-ODF: Taming the Guerilla Bob Sutor just linked... A World of Identity No, Internet Identity is not ... If You Knew Me, You’d Know This Read my Vis... OOX-ODF: The ECMA Response to ISO Comments I much ... Hedging the Software Biz Game: Feeling Lucky? Acco...	2007-03-28 Freedom Is Not License — Stop Cyberbullying Day: March 30, 2008 The ugly experience of Kathy Sierra has me want to take some meaningful direct action toward having the Internet being a safe and hospitable place for everyone. I’m going to participate in Andy Carvin’s Stop Cyberbullying campaign. When I first read the reports, I couldn’t find anything better to offer in comment than Ick. That's ugly and despicable. I'm sorry that you have been subjected to this kind of threat and the fear it engenders. The conduct is just too warped to comprehend. I hope that law-enforcement agencies can uncover the perpetrator(s) and put a stop to it. Damn. But there is something that I can do while looking for more actions to take on Friday, March 30, that I will continue thereafter. I participate on some discussion and help forums for people with a common interest in software technology. I realize that some of the display names and signatures of participants are not always civil and can be viewed as threatening and demeaning. So I have started requesting that people modify those. I have also made it known that I will not be providing assistance for people who employ such decorations. Finally, I let my fellow moderators know that I am going to conduct myself that way and the basis for it. This doesn’t seem like much. The first infraction that I made note of today (user display name “NipplesAndLicks”) is easily rationalized. I don’t care. It is time to tilt toward concern for impact on others when we go out in public. It is not about whether I am personally offended, or the user of the name is intending to offend or not. It’s simply about conduct. My friend and colleague Bill Anderson and I were discussing this in yesterday’s weekly buddy call. We were kicking around problems about the corruption of language (e.g., many expressions with the word “freedom” in them). What I think we need to re-assert is that freedom is not license. I have some other ideas for Friday, but I want to speak up for the idea at once. Tags: orcmid, stopcyberbullying, Kathy+Sierra, Andy+Carvin posted by orcmid at 3/28/2007 02:32:00 PM *Comments:* Post a Comment