About
The Koolaid Point is a theory coined by programming instructor and game developer Kathy Sierra to describe a point in which brands become hated because of the fame they are gathering instead of valid criticism of their work. The term became used to cover people as well, especially women and the harassment they receive.
Origin
On October 7th 2014, Kathy Sierra, known for her work and her publications on the Javascript program and Sun mycrosystems, wrote a lenghty post on her website Serious Pony[1], titled Trouble at the Koolaid Point, in which she described what she endured during the last ten years of facing harassment online, most notably concerning the 2007 case in which well-known hacker weev doxxed her[2] and send her threats. In the post, she referred to an article she wrote in August 2005 called Physics of Passion: The Koolaid Point[5] in which she coined the term Koolaid Point, inspired by the drinking the koolaid figure of speech, to describe a point in which a brand is hated because of the popularity it gains.
She then went on to explain that the phrase can also apply to people in general.
Spread
On October 8th 2014, news website Wired republished the post unedited as an article entitled Why the Trolls Will Always Win[3]. The story was picked by The Guardian[4] on October’s 9th, in an article by Jess Zimmerman linking the concept to Gamergate. The post was also shared to other websites such as metafilter[6] or the Reddit gamerghazi subchannel[7].
External References
[1]Serious Pony – Trouble at the Koolaid Point
[2]Wikipedia – Kathy Sierra’s Harassment
[3]Wired – Why the Trolls Will Always Win
[4]The Guardian – The truth about trolls and the men they worship
[5]Head Rush – Physics of Passion: The Koolaid Point
[6]Metafilter – Trouble at the Koolaid Point
[7]Reddit – Gamerghazi