Via Michael Gilleland, I've found out that Ilkka Kokkarinen, a computer science instructor at Ryerson, has shut down his weblog, Sixteen Volts, because of a scandal about some of the comments made there. While I wasn't a regular reader, I did occasionally read it, enough to know that it's a sad passing. Always smart, sometimes insightful, sometimes frivolous, very often snarky, sometimes biting and cynical, it was always interesting to read, and the blogosphere is diminished by its absence.
In some of his posts, however, it appears that Kokkarinen made some angry and bitter comments about women, which resulted in sharp and, it must be recognized, merited criticism. Kokkarinen has since apologized and, recognizing that such a situation as this merits self-reflection and should be an occasion for self-improvement, has bowed out. It is to be hoped that we would all do the same were we ever in such a situation. While it's sad that another intelligent weblog has vanished due to a controversy, if this is the price of anyone's moral improvement, it is well worth it.
As is always the case in situations like this, those of us bloggers not involved should spend less time nosing about the matter and more time taking it as an occasion for our own self-reflection and careful evaluation of the moral persona we exhibit in the forum provided by blogging. Indeed, the self-reflection should be more general than that: How do we present ourselves to God, the world, and ourselves, and how can we improve?
