Danny O'Brien responds to Andrew Orlowski's teeth against Foo Camp, with some insight for members of any net-based fandom or insular group with regular outside detractors. (Read "they" as "we" if you like.)
The answer why they won't shut up is - they're not talking to you. They're talking in the private register of blogs, that confidential style between secret-and-public. And you found them via Google. They're having a bad day. They're writing for friends who are interested in their hobbies and their life. Meanwhile, you're standing fifty yards away with a sneer, a telephoto lens and a directional microphone. Who's obsessed now?
But they have an alternative. They can just keep it to themselves. ... [W]hy don't they just keep it to that small group? The answer is: most of them do, but you don't hear about them. And if you did, you'd be even more furious. ... There are only two registers on the Net; public and secret. In the public sphere, everything you say is for everyone. Talk in the secret register, and you have something to hide.
And this is what the end of privacy means.
