Dennis Howlett writes today about the lawsuit involving Sam Sethi and Mike Arrington and Interserve, Inc., als known in our wrold as TechCrunch.  As a disclosure I remember this riff vividly as my friend and partner Tris Hussey was involved in this problem and other friends, Marc Orchant and Oliver Starr were also part of the BlogNation.com which is peripherally part of the overall story.  I am not a huge fan of what took place in that business deal and I see what happened as unfortunate to my friends.

I won’t get into the merits of the case, nor will I try to discuss the legal issues as I had plenty of the legal world after working there for 22 years.  I do want to comment on the somewhat short sightedness I see on behalf of Mike Arrington and TechCrunch as it relates to the lawsuit.  I know that Mike Arrington is giving this lawsuit less than a nuisance value and sees no merit to the claims and perhaps wants it to carry it on for more page views (which of course I am adding to albeit a small amount). I’m afraid that this is just the beginning of something that will give Mr. Sethi more fuel for his feud and make this debacle continue.

Mike has stated that he will not participate in the litigation and that they will ignore it, not planning to subject himself to the litigation process in the UK.  I think that is not a bad strategy from a legal standpoint as it carries with it somewhat of a "no harm, no foul" consequence.  California Law does not really give much weight to the UK and its judgment, be it a default judgment or otherwise. I should note that a default judgment might have  less weight than a judgment on the merits, but I digress.  From a business standpoint, I think this might be a bad move.

According to Mike his legal costs could exceed £500,000, to win the case which the experts indicated should not have been a problem.  The court would then have awarded Mike his legal costs, but that is like squeezing blood from a turnip as I assume Sethi is not in a position to pay that type of money, given what I know of the Blog Nation debacle.  The part here that is troublesome is giving life or a breath or two of life to Sam Sethi and his continued efforts to gain the upper hand and make him appear to be in a better position in his case against Mike Arrington and TechCrunch.

In addition, now Arrington must watch how he works around having this judgment against him in the UK.  I am assuming at some point it may be necessary for him to do business there or to collect from advertisers there or to get money from the UK.  I am assuming that any funds due to him or his company from that jurisdiction can be attached or to some effect, garnished to satisfy the judgment.  He has already canceled to speak at an event he told the organizers he would be a part of and who knows how many other ventures he must cancel or at least not appear for in the UK.  I am not sure the limitation on satisfying judgments in the UK, but I can assure you that Sethi will be waiting at the opportunity to get his shot in to collect if only a dollar of the judgment.  The time to put this to bed is now.  The time to finish it is here.  If not, this could drag on for some time.  As I stated above, that could be what we are looking for from someone that wants to sensationalize it.

If you are a person that is owed money as a result of the Blog Nation debacle, it might provide fruitful to see if you can attach your own judgment to funds related to the Sethi’s judgment.  Who knows it might work.  It is by far more than you will get if you are waiting for an old paycheck to clear.

Photo above via CrunchNotes*

*I wanted to point out the labeled photo on CrunchNotes is "sethiissuchadick.jpg"   Classic.

Tags: Mike Arrington, TechCrunch, Sam Sethi, Tris Hussey, Oliver Starr, Marc Orchant, Libel

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There is something to say about getting a handwritten note in the mail. It may go back to the day when I was a young boy and we actually walked a mile to get the mail and it was so rewarding just to find that you had a letter from someone.  My mother would read the letter as we walked back home.  Or it could be that it is special when someone takes the tie to sit down and labor out a thoughtful note and spend the money and time to make sure you get it.  Either way, it is an art I think that is slowly going away with new technology and how we can just update our status or send a quick typed out email with LOL typed into 6 times.

I decided I would sit down and do that this time as i had a special reason for thanking this person.  I pulled out my fourth pen amongst the crayons on the junk drawer before I finally found one that would mark a mark, and sat down with pen in hand and began to write.  Yes that type of "write".  I suddenly realized that I was way out of practice with writing.  I realized that I only write chicken scratched notes while on the phone with people, and it has bee months since I actually wrote a check. I am out of practice and not sure I can even read my own writing.

I decided I need to practice this a little more otherwise I can’t look my kids in the eye with a straight face when I scold them on their penmanship at school.  Who knows, perhaps they won’t actually have writing in schools anymore. They may have texting 101 or shorthand for mobile 101.  Sad.  Now the next problem I have is actually finding an address for someone that does include an @ symbol.

[Photo via Wikipedia]

Tags: Handwriting, Mail, Technology, Social Media, Letters

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I always make fun of drinking from the "social media firehose." People always ask how I can possible follow nearly 8,000 people on Twitter, and read 10,000 RSS feeds a week, and on and on. I have developed the skill over time.  Being here in Hawaii is a lot like drinking from the Paradise Firehose.

Last night I was asked this question a number of times…"so what do you think so far?"

My response to that was usually a single word.  Awesome, super, crazy, beautiful, hot, an I coul dgo on and on at the number of superlatives I used to describe my experience so far here in the Hawaiian Islands.  I cannot begin to describe the breathtaking views I had last night as the sun set behind us and we had an opportunity to listen to the local culture unfold in front of us. I took a number of pictures that I will get loaded and if a picture is a 1000 words, they will all be superlatives. 

As I write this post at 4:00 a.m. in the morning, I am still seeing images and can smell the experience and even taste the things that I did last night with Chef Colin at te Rumfire.  Today we are off to another island (Kaui) and the rand Hyatt.  They have a huge benchmark to meet but somethng tells me that wont be too hard.

As a social media business aside, everyone here is Twitter crazy. Last night I explained Twitter to a large number of folks all wanted to find out how to get on and what to do when they do. It is a crazy ride we are having here and they are loving the idea of talking to everyone.  I think that if they could bring everyone here for a moment, they would.  I would just say that 140 characters is not going to do it for me.

Tags: HawaiiHTA, Social Media, Royal Hawaiian, Makana, Twitter, Kaui, Hyatt

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I have been waiting for the newest release of Firefox as I understand it will help cure my memory woes with the boat anchor*.  I was glad to read on Techeme as reported by CNet News that Firefox has now come out with its latest version in beta.  I ran right over and downloaded the latest version before even thinking of the consequences.  Consequences?  Yeah its the new beta version and all of the extensions and add-ons and even client applications are no longer operable that I had installed.

I assume that companies are scrambling to make their toolbar applications work with this latest version.  I am not sure how hard it will be to update all of those companies like Stumbleupon or others that are no longer on my extensions but I hope they move quickly.  It is funny how we become accustomed to having things work.

The problems with the boat anchor?  Well, I’m sure that those troubles will continue until we have a burial at sea, but for the most part, the memory seems to work a little better. 

*What I like to call this joke of a laptop with little to no memory I am forced to use.

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Silicon Alley Insider is discussing the fact that Fox News Corp. is trying to make a back door deal with Yahoo. In the words of my friend Dave Taylor, “so what?”  Apparently, Yahoo will do anything not to fall into the hands of Microsoft or do they actually realize this is inevitable and they are trying to make Microsoft hurt a little when they raise the stakes.

Mike Arrington goes into a little more detail about what the deal may entail as it relates to what money or assets would trade hands or at least be a part of the deal.

According to our source, the deal structure would spin off Fox Interactive Media (the primary asset is MySpace, but IGN, Scout Media, Photobucket, Fox Sports, AmericanIdol.com, Flektor, Ksolo; plus investments in Hulu, Simply Hired and Snocap are also assets of FIM) into Yahoo, along with a big cash injection from News Corp. and an unnamed private equity fund. The total investment would be valued at around $15 billion.

I’m really failing to see what the benefits are to the shareholders of Yahoo.  They after all are the decision makers here.  Besides a big dose of cash what are the shareholders really gaining as it values their stock?  MySpace may be a nice carrot, but not something Yahoo really needs.  I doubt Myspace has the momentum to pull Yahoo from its current slide.

My thought is that this is a deal that is really just going to make Microsoft really hurt when they write that check.  Yahoo wants a competing offer to make sure that Microsoft must raise its own offer.  I think that Yahoo sees the writing on the wall but is doing what they can to make sure they go out in blaze of glory.  Of course at this point with all of those 1,000 employees now looking outside Yahoo for jobs, glory is a relative term.

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Last I night I spoke at a small group that showed up for the Social Media Club - Denver, monthly meetup hosted by the great people at Me.Dium. Following the meeting, we had an intimate dinner with some of the attendees and we were speaking about some of the news of the day and of the week involving Techmeme, and Technorati and about the changes we were seeing in the realm of those companies and others.  One thing that became apparent to me as we discussed the topics, tech companies that rest on their laurels or decide that they have made it to the top are destined for disaster.

When Technorati first broke on to the scene, they had a vision for what they wanted to accomplish and had determination and drive to do this in their mission and goals.  It was apparent that their leader David Sifry was driving them to this success.  Technorati soon became the only game in town and the standard by which everyone found their news and information.  Sure there was other players that tried to run with them and compete, but for some reason they rose above the challenges and made Technorati the blog search tool of choice.  Then  something happened.  They became complacent and began to take a breather and rest.  They let their tool become inaccurate and not reliable.  They stopped coming up with innovative ideas, and the ideas they did have began to seem lackluster and without reason, i.e. WTF.  Then the real signs of problems began when David Sifry stepped down and took his leadership and vision for Technorati with him.  I do believe the company is at a crossroad and with the proper talent and vision can right the ship and become the powerhouse it once was.  I predict that unless they act quickly they will become that also ran that everyone thinks back on and wonders where are they now.

We also discussed companies like LinkedIn and and how they were the ultimate professional social network, and as I discussed in the  presentation of the evening they have turned into that old gray mare.  They have been eclipsed with the likes of Facebook as they represent only 14 million users while Facebook is now over 40 million users in just three short years and gaining steam.  Actually I read recently that Facebook has overcome Myspace as the most read website of the social networks.  This again is a situation where LinkedIn perhaps sat back and basked in the glory of being on top only to be completely blown away by their competition.  I do believe LinkedIn is a valuable service and they they too can rise to their glory of before, but in a recent move the writing may be on the wall of their demise as well.  Allowing photos to be added is not the type of thing that screams “we want to compete”.  That is surely not the bold move you want to show as innovation.

Companies such as the two I discuss above are not lonely in this pattern.  Many companies reach their goal only to then have spiraled downward and begin dying on the vine that is caused by not making new goals and not continuing to innovate.  We may very well be seeing the same pattern with Skype as their CEO now has stepped down and they too have fallen short once being the leader at the turn.  Will they be eclipsed by their competition?  Will they decide to innovate and be the best in their field again and be seen as the take charge leader?  Only time will tell and if they think they can take a rest and sit back and bask in the glow of their accomplishments they too will be a memory of the old days and soon forgotten as a leader.  There is no resting for you, and its time to think about an offensive.  There is always someone out there that wants to steal your thunder, and unless you take them on, you won’t remain atop the hill for long.

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I was reading some of the Twitter entries I received from my friends when I ran across an entry from Jeremiah Owyang.  I enjoy reading his blog and he always comes up with some really cool links.  He said I should check out a new application for genealogy enthusiasts called Geni.com.  We talk so much here about how social media and social networks can help a business, we rarely speak about how it all can help a family become closer or how it can educate a person on their everyday life.

I have a huge mountain of notes about my family and my wife’s family that has been collecting dust in my office, so I decided I would give it a try.  I opened the app, and in no time I was adding names and information to our family tree.  14 hours later, I was beginning to see more John’s and Mary’s in our tree, and I may have married some that were not previously married and gave children to those that didn’t have any previous to my addition.  I looked up and I had added 579 profiles of people with birth dates, dates of death and other random information.  I discovered I had some really cool tidbits and other information that I am able to share with the rest of the family.  My wife’s tree actually goes back to the late 1600’s in Talbot County, Maryland.

Now comes the social networking part of the application.  Every time I add a profile, it gives me the ability to invite that person via email to join the network.  Now I know that most of the people I entered either are deceased or would not have a clue how to answer email, but for a number of family members, I was able to send them an invite to join in and begin their own branches of that family tree.  My Aunt was able to fill in some details and my brother’s wife was able to start her own branch and came up with a number of names herself.  This is acts like a quasi-wiki in that other family members can add information and tidbits about relatives from stories and information about our family history.

It also allows us to download pictures of family members and adds those to the profile page of every person entered.  Granted I may not have a picture of that sea Captain from Norway in 1895, but I do have a picture I can scan of my Great-Great Grandmother, that somehow made it into a copier and was sent around 15 years ago.  Technology is allowing us to share and do so much more online, and now I can share that information with family I have never met and have never before seen.  If they have an email and want to join in the family network, it will really bring us together.

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As I was watching live streaming via the Ustream.tv site of Robert Scoble, Chris Pirillo and Jeremiah Owyang, I saw a pattern of responses to the question, "Do you have a business card?"  Many of the responses were the same, "just Google my name and you will find me."  I heard this not only from the above named, but also in the background from people that were being interviewed or people introducing themselves. 

A quick look at the names Googled indeed showed that "Chris" was the number one search result for Chris Pirillo, "Robert" showed that he too was the number one search result, and finally "Jeremiah" was not number one but was ranked on the first page of results.

How is this possible?  It is a matter of the power of SEO and the power of how search works.  The power of blogging has made them Google celebrities.  These are not uncommon names, and in fact are pretty benign as I’m sure each of you know a Chris or a Robert.  I myself checked my own name "Jim" and of course my campaign to be first on Google came up very short.  Then I Googled my full name "Jim Turner", and lo and behold, I’m on page one here at One By One Media.  I have not been blogging nearly as long as the bloggers I name above, but I’m well on my way to capturing the new way of passing out business cards.  How about you?  Do you rank high in your search engine of choice?

Tags: Ustream.tv, Robert Scoble, Chris Pirillo, Jeremiah Owyang, Business Cards, Google, Search Engines, Findability,  One By One Media

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I was on a conference call with Eric Rice last night and reading feeds, and listening to Chris Pirillo’s live streaming and refreshing my Twitter page.  As you can tell, my media consumption is evolving into something that would make Orwell happy about “Big Brother”.  I have given “multitasking” a new definition, and my ADD has been fed like that flower in Little Shop Of Horrors.

Earlier in the day, I was meeting with my bookkeeper to go over the books for the last month and preparing for the next month, and I was listening to Jeremiah Owyang’s live feed through Ustream.tv, chatting with Robert Scoble, Jeremiah and others on the IRC chatroom under the stream, while talking on the phone with my mother, reading RSS feeds, chatting via Skype with my partner Tris about client issues, and emailing with my accountant as to how I would have to drive an hour North to sign my business tax return to get it on the mail.  The television I just had to have when we bought our new home, was sitting silent and cold in the other room.  I had a new mistress now and had traded her in for a new model.  Again, to some in my industry, this is another day at the office, yet for others, this is the equivalent of information overload that would cause a stroke in most normal humans.

My consumption of the media is changing as fast as the technology that drives it.  I am watching, reading, hearing, and providing news in ways that 10 years ago that would have never crossed my mind.  I had watched a white Bronco on 3 different channels in an airport, had watched Bernie Shaw describe the events that unfolded in the Gulf War, and other media hyped news events, but nothing like this.  I wonder as I sit and gather information about the shootings at Virginia Tech, how I will see the news in another 10 years.  The evolution of my media consumption might even have a new look in 6 months.

Tags: Eric Rice, RSS, Chris Pirillo, Twitter, George Orwell, ADD, Jeremiah Owyang, Ustream.tv, Robert Scoble, IRC, Skype, television, Voip, Chat, MSM, Media

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This is very cool.  My partner Tris is live blogging this conference for the fine folks at Blog World Expo.  While I’m watching and keeping up with the event sessions as live blogged by Rick and Tris, I am able to watch it live streamed via Jeremiah Owyang’s Ustream.tv page.  In addition, I was able to talk to Rick Calvert the CEO of the Blog World Expo via a Skype chat.  I suppose if we wanted, he could actually have me on a Skype call and I could even participate and ask questions of the panel or of a speaker in a session.  Go over and watch the session.

Tags: Live Blogging, Blog World Expo, Tris Hussey, Rick Calvert, Jeremiah Owyang, Ustream.tv, Web 2.0 Conference, W2E, Skype

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As I sat looking at Twitter last night and reading through my RSS feed reader, I saw that Chris Pirillo was streaming a live broadcast on Ustream.tv.  As he was getting things set up for his live show, Robert Scoble sent out a message that Mexico City had an earthquake.  Immediately Chris saw the message typed in by Robert Scoble. At the time, Chris had about 20 viewers on his live streaming show.  He asked them if anyone knew of someone in Mexico City or if anyone was near there.  Chris set up a telephone conference using a free application, and we all began to discuss the situation.  A viewer came on named Eduardo, a resident of Mexico City and he used the phone conference and eventually Skype, to communicate with everyone about the happenings as they unfolded. 

There were four technological applications in play during the impromptu session.  It was very surreal, like being on the set of CNN but we were all participating in the news as it unfolded.  I was able to ask questions of Eduardo, and everyone in the group was able to not only here my participation but the responses as well.  It reminded me somewhat of what it was like to watch the first Iraq war when the reporters on the ground were reporting in real time, but in this case I was able to actually participate, ask questions, and comment on what was happening.

Afterward a session began discussing the event and how it was captured on this historic evening.  It was like participating in a barcamp.  A group of media and technology experts all contributed to a discussion and it was very rewarding.  We discussed how this could be a new form of reporting and a new medium for real time discussion and conferencing.  I myself participated until 4:30 a.m. when I finally ran out of adrenaline.  It will be interesting to see if something like this unfolds again, and perhaps not in a disaster situation but perhaps just the impromptu conference that allowed for participation.  Next time of course, I would ask if Chris would start the party a little earlier.  I’m whipped today.

You Tube capture of Part 1

You Tube capture of Part 2

Tags: Chris Pirillo, Twitter, Ustream.tv, Robert Scoble, Mexico City, Skype, CNN, Barcamp, YouTube

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After looking back on the time that I first was posted, my own initial reactions, the people I have spoken to and the people I have read has given me an overall perspective on this debacle. I call it a debacle because it is a classic example of the power of blogs, the power of voices and the power of people and their own thoughts all coming together with disastrous results. On one hand we have the victim who has a deep feeling of fear and anxiety resultant from the actions of others. Others had a simple and one sided account of their mission and purpose. This mission and purpose was a different idea and had nothing to do with the other, until at some point–it did. Then the two met and it became something it was not intended.

In this instance we have a group of people that are brilliant and intelligent players all in a group. This group likes to provide a separate side of the story, another possible look at the way people use words and the way people write and explain their beliefs. This began in a not so insignificant post by Tara Hunt. Resulting from that post an idea was born, "why don’t we have some fun with this, and start a new website." This is where meankids group was derived, a group of people that may be outside the mainstream of thinking, a group of people that may not agree with the popular kids and their thoughts and attitudes. "Let’s give a different side of the coin of their thoughts and let’s make it satirical", they intended. Mean Kids was then launched.

At first, the site was written and published in the mission and manner it set out to accomplish their task. They were witty, satirical, brilliant and intelligent. As in any fraternity or other sophomoric group, there became a change in the focus and mission. Suddenly the game began to be a "who could be meanest", "who could one up the person with their next post?" Someone then crossed the line. They were not satirical but actually mean.  They crossed the line in a way not intended by the site.  Nobody laughed and nobody thought it was funny.  You can almost picture the group laughing and cheering and carrying on and then this post went up, and they all stood like a deer in the headlights and all you could hear were crickets chirping.  The site was immediately taken down and the post and data destroyed.  Then Chris decided to make it work again but this time it got ugly fast and they decided to take that site down as well.  I’m not sure of the reasons for the second round, and when Chris tried to explain it I wasn’t really sure again.  I think he had a certain vision, but I’m not sure he had the right players.

I don’t condone the intent behind the posts that went bad, but I’m sure that there is call for the other side of the coin in most cases.  It’s nice to know that there are people out there with differing opinions with the mainstream, and that they are not afraid to voice those opinions.  What is not accepted is how that "other side" is published.  Calling people out for their opinions is called for, the manner is how you do it in this case was not the proper forum.  This was locker room talk that got out of hand.  It was some men trying desperately to be the cool guy and it turned out bad.  Unfortunately it also coincided with an email to Kathy Sierra, and also coincided with the comments made and then removed from her blog.  I don’t believe that one had anything to do with the other and that they are totally separate events.  Perhaps we will learn more of this when the investigation is complete.  That is, if there is ever to be a full investigation.

What have we learned?  O’Reilly has drafted his Code of Conduct. I have read many of the associated posts, and it does not appear to be popular with the mainstream opinion.  Will O’Reilly be given death threats and will they post misogynistic things about him?  Probably not.  He is not the "Cute Kitty".  The New York Times comes out today with their piece on A Call For Manners in the World of Nasty Blogs, written by Brad Stone.  It also touches on this issue.  I cannot sign on for enforcement of something that in itself will never be adopted by those that are trolls in the first place. Being nice and civil is not something we should have to write down for people to follow.  A code of conduct is not a necessary step in my opinion.

Everyone has had an opportunity to sit back and reflect on what took place and how it was good bad or indifferent.  I think the damage was apparent, and I feel that the players have all taken many lessons from this that won’t soon be forgotten.  There are some players that have yet to surface, and yet may never surface.  I do think that I have grown personally from the experience and I think I can pass that on to my, children, my clients, and bloggers that I mentor in the future.

Tags: Kathy Sierra, Tara Hunt, Meankids.org, Chris Locke, New York Times, Blogger Code of Conduct, Tim O’Reilly

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I have been trying to determine how to continue talking about the Kathy Sierra incident without whipping a dead horse and without adding to an already overzealous echo chamber, or to provide fodder for the angry mob.  I have seen many talk about this issue, and I have seen some very good ideas and opinions and have seen some very poorly written articles that do not add anything to the conversation other than to fan flames or to hop on the bandwagon calling for prosecution or the heads of the accused.  I think that needs to be the distinction.  People are innocent until proven guilty and some adhere to that thought while others do not think that is an option.  They want to have a person to burn at the stake.  I have tried to take the information I have,  make it presentable and to allow people to be informed about the situation and be objective in the approach. I also feel that in order to prove someone guilty, you also have to know who are the accused innocents.

Since the last time I posted Part 2, we have seen CNN’s coverage of the situation, a very poor account and a unfair reporting of the entire situation.  This is nothing more than sensationalism on the part of the MSM, but at least they highlighted "Cute Kitty" for us.  We have also seen that Kathy and Chris Locke have met, and have come out with a joint statement regarding the CNN coverage.  Robert Scoble returned to his blog and has moved onward, and even Maryam Scoble has shown me that I was not wrong in my thoughts on her class and grace. Since my last post, I have had a chance to speak to Chris Locke by telephone and have had a better look into the situation from his point of view.  I have exchanged emails with Jeneane Sessum and have spoken through email to  Joey and to Frank Paynter via phone.  Where it warrants, I can add information gleaned from those conversations to fill in gaps and holes in what has not been reported for facts they were able to provide.  Anything else they may have said may be more construed about their feelings and emotions, and do not lend more or less to the discussion.

I would like to continue my objective approach as I talk about the people involved in this saga.  In Kathy’s original post, she of course names some people she felt may have been responsible for the problems.  She does not divulge any other people that might be involved, but her comments allow some to come forward.  Paul Ritchie is one such person that admits to being a player in the meankids.org blog and in the UncleBobisms.com blog.  We find on February 15, 2007, he posts about Chris Locke’s project, MeanKids.org., and about the new site UncleBobisms.com on March 20. It is interesting to note the Paul reveals that their are 7 people involved in the "new" meankids site.  He seems to know the number of people or authors, but does not tell us those involved.  He has since had his own multipart posts regarding the matter and to better understand his position I would ask you read his account. 

Joey seems to be another large player in the meankids.org site and Unclebobisms.com  He admits to being the Joey, Kathy refers to in her article and has some knowledge that I have corroborated with Chris Locke in my phone conversation.  Joey has told me that he was not an author in the meankids.org site but only left "lame comments" and read the articles there.  He did have authorship rights in the unclebobisms.com site.  The Kat referred to in the comment singled out by Ms. Sierra was in fact pointed toward Kat Herding, and the "Jane" referred to in the comment made by Joey is in fact Chris Locke himself, as his nom de plume was Jane in their exchanges.  We have all heard by now the Saturday Night Live parody at work here.  We also know that Chris Locke is an author in the Kat Herding site, and was referred to other times as Kat.  Joey explained to me more than once that between the time of his posting of comments taken out of context, and the time at which Kathy Sierra posted her article, had she or anyone else contacted him previous, he would have immediately apologized for the comment and cleared up any confusion.  He is sorry that Ms. Sierra took this comment the wrong way, and does offer his apology to her in the regard. He indicates that he did not author the post as revealed by Kathy but does admit to commenting and that his comment is also being taken out of context.  Joey was invited by email along with others to author Unclebobisms.com by Chris Locke and Frank and believes that any of the respondents were given author privileges.  He stated that on March 25, he and others received an email from Frank regarding Kathy’s issues and emailed a response but did not hear back from Frank.  Frank sent the email to all of the authors.

So all of the accused have been discussed here, but one named person is conveniently absent, Alan Herrell.  Alan provided an email to Doc Searls, and has not come forward nor has he been able to be reached by me.  Doc indicates he has tried to contact Alan without success.  I would very much like to talk with Alan as his missing piece to the puzzle I feel is a major factor.  I’m not sure if he has recovered his identity or if he is back in the saddle, but I invite him to let me update this post.  We have no idea if he is the Rev Ed (I always see this as revised edition) on the site.  I do note the blogroll indicates an Ed Hominem.

I have not talked with Kathy Sierra, as I feel she has been clear on her thoughts.  She is scared, does not feel safe and feels threatened.  I do not intend to heighten and already hypersensitive situation.  I would be happy to speak to Kathy about this and would also update my post if she herself provided other information.

I was able to visit each of the sites related to the meankids.org blogroll and have seen most of the posts and the cache of what I could read.  Only circumstantially we may get a feel into those others possibly involved as authors, or commenter on the site that may have been contributed.  When I spoke to Chris via phone he had said that their were "10 authors, give or take 1 or 2". I have no idea if we have a complete list of authors, but I think that some of the people that were authors that have not come forward are still available for comment.  It is clear that Frank and Chris are not going to provide any further names to be dragged into the fracas and perhaps that is better for everyone.  It does not help Kathy close the loop on her fear however,  I do not believe that the list of authors has been revealed in a complete form.  There are others that have not come forward.  I don’t feel Alice Cooper has any hand in talking bad about Kathy Sierra or anyone else, but I could be wrong.  I would invite the others on the blogroll as linked to above let us know if they were or were not authors.  Mr. Cooper feel free to call me directly.

Shelley Powers in a response to comments on her own site and post reveals that the original picture that is shown in the Kathy Sierra post is found on a Flickr site.  I’m not sure how she found that as I have not been able to keep up with all of the comments and blog posts as I was able to in the beginning.  Perhaps Shelley could shed some light on how she found that picture or who provided the information.  I have not been able to compare her information to mine but would also invite her to share what she has developed.

Part 1, and Part 2

Coming Up:  Epilogue – What is my opinion?

Tags: CNN, Kathy Sierra, Chris Locke, Robert Scoble, Maryam Scoble, Jeneane Sessum, Paul Ritchie, Joey, Shelley Powers,  Kat Herding, Meankids, Unclebobisms, Alice Cooper,  Frank Paynter

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I wanted to let everyone know that I am still researching and doing some reading on the issues and events of last week involving Kathy Sierra and the misogynistic blog posts and the threats via email.  I was contacted by Chris Locke, and we exchanged some emails, and I will be speaking to him further about some of the facts as he knows them and will provide that relevant information when it becomes available.  The joint statement of Chris Locke and Katy Sierra.

I see Robert Scoble has also returned and made his own statement about his thoughts.  Welcome back Robert and we look to you for leadership and guidance as we move forward.  I will be making my own thoughts known as I wrap up with my Saga epilogue I’ll post later.

Tags: Kathy Sierra, Chris Locke, Robert Scoble

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Before I continue with my address of my following of the Kathy Sierra incident, I wanted to alert everyone to the fact that Kathy has closed comments on her post and has provided an update of her current state.  I had an internal debate as to whether, given her comment and reasoning behind closing comments on her post, I should continue with writing this series. After much thought, I am going forward in spite of perhaps causing more stirring of the pot, because at this point it would not be fair to all involved if I discontinued.  With that in mind, I am going to move forward with my dissection that led to this saga.

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As part 1 of the saga ended, The MeanKids.org site was torn down.  The parties could all walk away and heal.  It’s obvious to all concerned that "Sierra was upset", as she demanded the site be taken down.  Chris Locke imparts that he decided to go to the next step:

With Mean Kids gone, I thought I’d have another go at it. After all, we were mostly having fun posting totally surreal stuff about nothing particularly relevant to anything or anyone.

This does not mesh with the earlier statement that Frank imparted about trying to moderate "misogynistic postings", but it does track with the fact that they all have denied making any such postings at meankids.org, or at the next site he refers to above, UncleBobism.com (not currently available for violating Wordpress TOS).  In my mind, and in my experience using Wordpress, a application I am very familiar with, only designated authors can post using the Wordpress platform, and this would be the case even if they were using a third party blogging editor application.  Misogynistic postings were made on meankids.org, and at this time we have no idea who authored them.  Sierra refers to the meankids.org postings, but indicates no over the line posts at first:

"At first, it was the usual stuff–lots of slamming of people like Tara Hunt, Hugh MacLeod, Maryam Scoble, and myself. Nothing new. No big deal. Nothing they hadn’t done on their own blogs many times before."

I have no idea what date the picture on meankids.org was posted.  A month had gone by between the February invitation to write and I don’t know the chronology or number of postings.  I do know that on March 15, a post I consider over the line was published.  I have perhaps a lower threshold than the people visiting the site or their readers and authors. Don Park at Daily Habits has a cache of the post, but I wouldn’t suggest reading it until you are ready.  Even Don had to take the quotes down for his own purpose.  This may explain more about my own distaste and  reaction of first learning of the meankids.org site.  Maryam is my friend and it cut me deep.  Meankids.org came to its resting place on March 16.

We know that UncleBobism.com was in existence on March 19, as referenced in a post by Frank Paynter referencing a comment by Joey.  Frank again references the new UncleBobism.com site on March 20.  In that post he also refers to 2 separate links to UncleBobism posts although there is no reference as to the author of the post nor is it referenced as to the creator of the site.

On March 21, Jeneane Sessum posts for the first time about the UncleBobism site.  In her original post of that day she asks her readers:

"The web’s newest solution to twittering is, not twattering, well maybe, depending — but also UNCLEBOBISMS. Join those of us who know better but do it anyway."

There are two updates to this posting wherein Jeneane tells of her hospitalization, and that she never had the opportunity to join or logon to the UncleBobism site and she was merely referring to a post about Twitter (you knew that Twitter had to come in here somewhere). It is confusing to me the opening paragraph of her post whether this is a quotation from the referred to post or whether it is her own writing about her thoughts about Twitter.  In my own opinion given how learned I am about the female species(sarcasm), I have never ever heard a woman talk about shoving anything anywhere unless of course they were referring to me.  This is not a female quotation.  I can find no other reference on her site of either meankids.org, or UncleBobism.  I also should disclose that Jeneane is in my feedreader of blogs I read everyday, and I did click on the link in my own vanity thinking that she was somehow making fun of the BoB Awards, an award we founded here.  My ego stroke didn’t last as I found it was not a link to the awards.  Yes, we all check what is linking to our sites.

Finally with reference to Jeneane, Chris Locke adds an addendum to his post to affirmatively state:

Jeneane Sessum is being hounded over this whole affair, which is not right. I think she posted only once, but it was something trivial, if I recall correctly.

Chris Locke does not go into any further details of the authors or the parties that are authoring the site.  He does tell us in his response to questions that he had decided to give MeanKids another shot.

I am not able to glean much in the case of Alan Herrell.  As is stated on Doc Searls’ site Alan Herrell has had his site hacked and his identity stolen.  I have read and read the email and have nothing in it that tells me anything about dates, times or any other significant information. It did cause me to pause after reading it.  Alan states in his email:

How did this happen? When did this happen? shit doc, i don’t have a fucking clue. I thought i was pretty sharp. I guess not.

I paused only because I remembered that in the vile photograph of Kathy that she posted, the title of that post also did not capitalize the letter "I".  This is only circumstantial at best.

His landing page at Lemur Zone, gives us nothing that can help us.  I say that except for one fact.  Alan is a web designer by trade apparently as his tagline reads "lemurzone design – HTML with Attitude!!"  To me this is significant, not because I don’t think a web designer can be hacked, I have heard of worse stories than that from people I believe to be very brilliant web people.  Alan is a blogger.  He is vain, egotistical and narcissistic, just as I mentioned I am above, and having a tech background makes him even better at tracking and keeping tabs on everything written, linked to, or tied with his sites. Unfortunately for Alan, this occurred at a most inopportune time.  I know  there is a theory that the two things could be related, but theory in my mind cannot replace fact.

Getting back to Sierra’s post, we find that on March 24, Sierra tells us that the meankids.org site was already taken down. and that she found a different blog,  Bob’s Yer Uncle.   On that post, is the now infamous picture of Ms. Sierra, having been photoshopped to have a thong over her face.  The next two days are silent on her blog.  This silence is the last all the parties will hear for some time related to this issue.  On March 26, the Blog Storm arrived.

There are many holes and I tried not to make too many assumptions.  I would be happy to fill in holes and make the record more complete, but unfortunately, this may prove to me impossible. Most of the evidence, for lack of a better word, has been destroyed.   It will take someone far more brilliant than myself to do the technical forensics behind getting information needed to answer the unanswered.  The true mystery here is their is across the board denial of everyone to any wrongdoing.  The culprits are ghosts in the machine I suppose.

Coming Up:  The Sierra Part 3 and Epilogue:  Who Are The Real Culprits?  Where Do We Go From Here?

Tags: Kathy Sierra, Meankids.org, UncleBobism.com, Wordpress , Maryam Scoble, Tara Hunt, Hugh MacLeod, Don Park, Jeneane Sessum, Alan Herrell, BoB Awards, Chris Locke, Doc Searls

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