When a blogger gets death threats

I was saddened to read about Kathy Sierra getting death threats. She was one of the more favourite speakers at SXSW this year and last year, as I noted earlier this month at SXSW.

Then, my review of her Opening Remarks ended with the sentence, "I won’t be surprised if she’s invited back to SXSW next year." How ironic it is now, as we may not be seeing her in public for a while. She's cancelled her engagement at eTech this week and says she's afraid to leave her own yard.

So far, over 600 comments and trackbacks have been posted on her blog. Most readers have shown support for her. At least one reader has criticised her for going into hiding, because that's exactly what this cyberbully wants her to do.

But getting death threats is not funny at all. It may be a prankster, or maybe it isn't. How would you know?

[Update: Kathy's situation has been reported on BBC News. Thanks to Kevin for the heads up.]