In a shock announcement, techcrunch founder Michael Arrington is to consider his future; after someone spat in his face at the DLD conference in Germany!
Techcrunch, death threats and assaults
In this post from techcrunch, Arrington also reveals that there was a death threat made against him and his family last summer. He claims the threat was serious enough to involve police from 3 US states and that he hired a private security firm to protect his family and employees! He also claims to have been assaulted on a number of occasions.
Techcrunch’s style of writing has attracted lots of readers (I’m one of them). However, it has also, as Arrington points out, attracted a great deal of animosity too. Even so, I was surprised to learn just how much abuse he and his employees get every day.
As Arrington says:
“On any given, when I care to look, dozens of highly negative comments are made about me, TechCrunch or one of our employees in our comments, on Twitter, or on blogs or other sites. Some of these are appropriately critical comments on things we can be doing better. But the majority of comments are among the more horrible things I can imagine a human being say.”
It’s hard to imagine Arrington deciding to quit the company, which he founded in 2005. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, changes. Whatever he decides, the tech news space would be a lot less interesting without Michael Arrington.
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Was it Steve Ballmer?
Indeed! It is shocking that anyone would feel the right to disagree with someone by spitting in their face, much less the idea that someone would have to be physically harmed for a threat to be actionable. I don’t blame him for taking some time to seriously consider his next steps, though it is sad to think his voice would be silenced by these deplorable actions.
I’m not justifying violence but I’m curious to hear the spitter’s side of things. I’ve been spat on at a political rally and, believe me, it’s better than a punch in the face. It usually isn’t random behavior.
Death threats are scary and always should be taken seriously. Violence or threats of violence against ones family and employees is inexcusable.
But, seriously, verbal abuse is much worse than being spit on…and those that dish it out should be prepared to receive it IMHO. We must realize that our words have consequences. Just like expressing views like this has gotten me blocked from @TechCrunch’s Twitter feed. You piss people off, insult you online, spit on you, or block you on a social network.
This was not a series of motiveless events.
Techcrunch has sent start-ups out of business, by posting inaccurate information about them. They regularly attack competitors and refuse people the right of reply.
The thing that needs to change is Techcrunch and not as he suggests, everyone else.
It amazes me how worked up people get over these these tiny little dots on a computer screen. There is no excuse for that kind of behavior.