Walks
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.