Cyber bullying gone bad

Today I learned that one of my favorite bloggers Kathy Sierra is threatened with death threats. Yes, you did read that right - death threats. Was is the world coming to? What makes a person do that? I cannot imagine how terrible this must be to Kathy, but I am sorry to hear about it.

I have had my share of cyber-bullying - not to an extreme extend as Kathy's - but the kind where a person has deliberately attacked me and my site (not physically though). At the moment I am "attacked" by what I believe is a single person (there is a pattern). This person spams my articles with varies degree of profanity and he has tried to hack into my site - and to add spyware like code into the comments (all attempts have failed). So far, the comments from this person fills over 300 letter sized pages.

Note: My response is to simple block the IP address, which means that I currently block several anonymous services (that is mostly what the person uses). I have also added a filter that blocks any comments containing profanity and varies code bits designed to alter my back-end systems.

But, one thing is when a person is calling you names and deliberately trying to destroy your site (as in my case), another, and a much more serious problem, is when person threatens you existence (in Kathy's case). In both cases it is a line that you simply do not cross. There is no way these actions can be even remotely justified. I hope it is just a kid that doesn't know better.

In any case, Kathy is one the best writers I know, her blog "Creating Passionate Users" has been tremendous help to me. I hope that her life will soon return to normal and her attacker is caught by the police!