steveklabnik, When someone publishes your name in a blog post concerning sexual assault, scores of people harass you in comments, emails and sometimes phone calls.
They take it into their own hands to administer justice. You become concerned that employers, friends and family members will see the accusation if they search for your name.
So, if you're angry at someone, you can achieve a form of vigilante justice by publishing negative information about them and sharing it with many people - even if your account appears to be factual and not sensational.
You'll see people attempting to take justice into their own hands if you look at the comments below the author's post.
Those who have been long-time HN news commentators may remember that I myself was on the receiving end of a Hacker News and Reddit 'lynch mob' for a mistake I made. It was terrible for me. Yet, I also made someone else feel terrible. Mistakes get made. I have to deal with remembering that for the rest of my life. I think about it often.
Yet, equivocating "harass you in comments, emails, and sometimes phone calls" with being sexually assaulted is... yeah.
Note that Joe has specifically said that he's radio silence on this issue. No apologies, no rebuttal, no his side of the story.
They take it into their own hands to administer justice. You become concerned that employers, friends and family members will see the accusation if they search for your name.
So, if you're angry at someone, you can achieve a form of vigilante justice by publishing negative information about them and sharing it with many people - even if your account appears to be factual and not sensational.
You'll see people attempting to take justice into their own hands if you look at the comments below the author's post.