Blog Attacks Leading to Suicides?

That is a very good point, although one may argue that like celebrities put themselves out there to get criticized by being in the public eye, that big name bloggers do the same by posting their feelings, reviews etc. on the net. If a person truly believes they may be unstable enough to handle harsh criticism, they may want to reconsider blogging on high profile websites. This is not to say that others shouldn’t watch what they say, because there certainly is a fine line between justified criticism and outright cruelty.

There is such a thing as tact. There is constructive criticism and then there is just plain mean old hurtfulness which is good for nothing. Although we can log onto the internet anonymously, behind each blog there is a real human being and all humans have feelings. I like the idea of your golden rule for blogging, Andy.

Either way, it’s hard not to get personally offended….so yes, your Golden Rule seems like a good idea!

Well, whether it is detrimental to a person’s psyche or not, slander is defined as “a malicious, false, and defamatory statement” and I wouldn’t consider it the same as criticism. In itself, it is meant to be hurtful. But you are right Brick, I think it would be hard not to get personally offended. Criticism also has to come from a respected and trusted source to be useful, not just some fly by night anonymous commenter.

I think we all need to be less of a fragile flower online. If your posting on news, gossip or commentary shouldn’t you expect this? You need to have a thick skin if you publishing your work online. We don’t seem to care at all when celebs are constantly hounded by the media and paparazzi. We say well that the life they choose and it comes with the territory. Well so does constructive or unconstructive criticism with blog authoring.

Now with that being said slander is unacceptable and something totally different than criticism. If someone is in the public eye, executives or not, then they have to expect (in this day and age0 that someone will be commenting about them online. They also have to be above fly-by-night commenter’s. Who cares just go on with your life. All we have control over is our personal statements and decisions. Live by that and you will be fine.

I saw Duncan Riley & Michael Arrington showed Paul Tilley IP address on Post, got him very angry, and hide message away three month ago. He was saying something like: Get off my f*cking IP address.

Now, I can’t find on Google. Database just vanished like ghost. Techcrunch could be play cyberbully role. First, they attacked Rivals.com, Jimmy whales Wikia, some startups, and people repulations on posts. Just be careful with techcrunch, not Valleywag.

We should definitely take care in what we say. Being respectful is just a part of life and personal morality. I am a firm believer in treating people with respect.

As to whether or not the blog posts are to blame for the suicide – it may have played a part, but the blog post was not the problem. The problems were much deeper than that.

I agree we should treat each other with respect and not launch attacks, but it takes more than something like a blog for someone to kill themselves. The blog criticism could have been the final straw and it very possibly contributed, but it’s hard to believe it’s the only cause.

He must have had another set of reasons to end his life. It couldn’t have just been the online criticism. Lots of adverse opinion about TechCrunch here, seemingly all from the same person.

i am an advocate of freedom of the press and freedom of speech. but journalists and writers should always remember these freedoms we enjoy also carries some responsibilities.