TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington has walked off the job after being spat on receiving a series of death threats.

Arrington siad that he was leaving at least until February because he had a gutsful of the threats and harassment. He had to hire private security protection costing $US2000 a day after "an off-balance individual threatened to kill me and my family".

The last straw was when a stranger came up to him in German and spat at him. Arrington's missives on the site have been known to make or break aspiring entrepreneurs in the tech world and Time magazine said he was one of the most influential people in the world .

Apparently he is hassled all the time by start-up founders who want a plug on his site, and some of them do not like his scathing criticisms. One start-up owner with a criminal record who owned a gun threatened to kill him and his family called his office, sent emails and even posted threats on his own blog. He said that he wrote about technology start-ups and news he shouldn't be getting spat in the face.

Hell, he wouldn't survive five minutes writing an Apple column which actually tells the truth about the outfit and does not cater to fanboys. The problem is that if hacks give into these sorts of people, it encourages them to bully. You just have to be incredibly thick skinned and have a life.