Christopher Locke’s Damage Control during a Blogstorm

I guess when your nickname is Rageboy, it’s hard to back away from a fight.

So we see Christopher Locke defending his reputation by refuting the implication that he was a mastermind of anything more than civil disobedience and poking at the egos of various well known bloggers.

He does a good job of expressing how offended he was that his name has been associated with anonymous death threats that were made against web developer and blogger Kathy Sierra. (See my previous post.  Stephanie Booth has a good description of a blogger lynch mob in action.)

Ever the shit disturber, he can’t just leave it at that. While a virtual mob roves the blogosphere, looking for someone to blame for the woman’s victimization, Locke serves up this:

"I did write two comments on the ‘Bob’s Yer Uncle’ site, which I am happy to repeat for the record: 1) ‘Kathy Sierra is a hopeless dipshit.’; and 2) ‘The only ‘passionate users’ I know are crack heads.’ I do not like Kathy Sierra. I like her even less after her post of Monday. If she is waiting for me to apologize for something I did or said, she is going to have a very long wait."

His point: If, in the name of protecting against bullies, a posse tries to intimidate him into false statements of contrition for something he says he didn’t do, he will not be intimidated.

It’s a brave stance. Not one that’s likely to win him friends in the current climate of reactiveness and outrage, but a brave stance nonetheless.

Locke harkens back to the early days of the online community The Well, where the mantra was "You Own Your Own Words". 

The extension of that principle is that no one should censor someone else’s words online.  (Having seen some hurtful and libellous comments left on various blogs, I don’t buy into the idea of allowing someone to spew venom and letting their karma take care of itself.)

But back to Locke’s bristling defence of his right to be crusty and unpleasant, without being tarred and feathered for what others might have done…

Kathy Sierra’s post pointed the finger at several online agents provocateurs, and the mob described by Dave Winer added more speculation and accusations. Doc Searls comments on the need to research the facts when reputations are at risk.

Locke quite rightly notes that his reputation has taken a severe hammering as a result of the controversy:

"I think her response, as it pertains to anything I personally wrote, was unjustified — but highly effective — character assassination. As a result, I’m sure I’ll be explaining for years to come that I’m not really an ax murderer and child molester. Nice work."

His reputation as an iconoclast is intact.

A more understanding response to Sierra’s emotional distress might have been more palatable to the blogosphere, but that’s not Locke’s style.

You own your own words, after all.  And he’s not going to hide behind insincere platitudes when his published words can speak for themselves.

Tags: controversy, damage, the well, blogs, lynch mob, kathy sierra, christopher locke, dave winer