I did something this morning which I haven’t done before, and which I have said in the past that I wouldn’t. I deleted several posts from this site. The posts in question concerned a specific individual’s business. Some time ago, I wrote an uncomplimentary opinion about some aspects of the way this business was being marketed. The response was a flurry of emails and comments threatening legal action for defamation.
Besides being opinionated, I’m stubborn too. I consulted some lawyers I know, determined that there was no case against me, ignored the threats, and let the whole thing play out. Others emerged from the blogosphere, including someone purporting to be a former girlfriend, and another purporting to be a former landlady with outrageous things to say about this person. He responded in kind, and the whole thing took on a surreal and unbelievable twist. It was as if I had the Jerry Springer show going on in my blog comments — trashy, larger than life, and completely over the top.
Last night, I received a piece of email which included these two sentences:
What I kindly propose is that you pull all references to me off your blog, it is doing great harm to me… I also would like to meet with you the next time you are in the area, and have you actually learn about who I am. Thanks. It’s done, we all make mistakes, and I’m happy to have that coffee and conversation. As so many others have said, blogging is about conversations. A phone call, or an email like the one I received last night could have resolved this very quickly. The threats only amplified my initial opinion.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
