Of all the comments directed at me in the comments threads at Sadly, No, the above was among the most painful, because it came from a blogger I really liked. [EDIT]: I’ve delinked from his blog, because he apologized in the comments here and via e-mail. His comment above is actually pretty funny, even though it stung, and far from the worst I received. Or, truth be told, have dished out upon occasion. [End of edit.]
Yes, I’m still reeling a bit. I had no idea a few brief comments at a blog I thought was liberal would provoke such a vitriolic, ongoing stream of name-calling and nastiness. The University tech folks even took this blog down for a few hours last Friday, for reasons I will be gingerly addressing with them next week. I guess killing this blog would be sweet triumph for some of the Sadly, No people, the Arch Enemy Defeated and all that, but probably I’ll just find another host if I need to. We’ll see. But here are some of the good things that came out of all this: Very nice support from extraordinary women and men of legal academia and/or the blogosphere. You know who you are, and I thank you kindly. Also, I’ve been powerfully reminded to try to look out for other people, particularly women, in unmoderated comments threads. I doubt I could stop a stream of abuse, but at least I could let someone know she wasn’t alone in the room, as folks did for me. Take good care. –Ann Bartow
“The University tech folks even took this blog down for a few hours last Friday, for reasons I will be gingerly addressing with them next week.”
Wow. I just don’t understand the level of vituperation, and I certainly hope it doesn’t affect your future blogging!
I’m genuinely sorry to have caused you pain, Ann. In the midst of the kind of sarcastic frenzy that surrounded those Sadly, No! posts, it’s all too easy to forget that real people are on the other end of the keyboard. As evidenced by the quote above, I’m guilty of forgetting that, and I apologize to you for it.
Scott, Thanks.
Thanks also, Matt. Whew. That means a lot.
I’m agog…I have to admit when I saw the initial stuff, I thought your comment made perfect sense, and while the first couple of remarks were off the radar, it would eventually settle in to at least a recognition of your point. The actual blowup, however, is a real eye opener.
The bit about your blog being taken down is just insane. I think I’m going to explode next time I hear someone bitch about “those liberal academic universities” that “let anything go”…
Hang in there. You done good.
In addition to the above comment, I had a really nice e-mail exchange with Matt as well. It made me feel kind of bad about the first part of this post, so I edited it. If that violates some kind of blogger ethics norm, so be it.