The Slashdot Effect

This page indicates a new and worrying manifestation of the Slashdot effect - basically, the story is this: the author and publishers of a book is squeezing the legitimate owner of a domain name, and the Slashdot Groupthink has decided that the best way to counter this is to misrepresent the quality of the book itself on a popular online book store, and to vote down those who have indicate that the book was worth buying.

Sure, what's happening to the owner of katie.com is grossly unfair - but come on... direct that energy where it is best suited, at the lawyers and the publisher... not the book itself. Demonising the book and the author only serves to highlight one symptom of a larger problem - go after the root causes. The effect of large numbers of internet users cannot be underestimated - after all, look at what Penny Arcade were able to do with their wonderful Childs Play campaign. But if the Internet community in general is going to behave like a mob of gung-ho vigilantes, I can't see Geek Power being a valid tool of protest for some time to come.