Well, my latest post on Technologizer has certainly struck a chord among many on both sides of the aisle. It’s been fun to read the comments, and for the most part they have been civil and well thought out.
However, after all the kibbitzing by either side, I have seen an unfortunate trend developing (and surprisingly enough, its coming from those partial to Microsoft) — twisting of words by these bloggers in an effort to make another look bad.
Twice it has happened with this post. The first came this afternoon from a gentleman named Bob Caswell, who apparently is a Microsoft employee. In his post, instead of doing the right thing and accurately portraying my argument, I find a link to a comment that wasn’t even part of the argument as to why the ad was offensive.
First rule of blogging ethics: Do not be disengenuous just for hits. While I do write provocatively, I will never EVER take somebody out of context in an attempt to discredit someone. Your readers can see right through that.
It seems like when Microsoft and Co. run out of ways to fight something, they become desperate. That’s shown in both the way its handled the digital music realm, and now the personal computer market now that Apple’s making serious moves into its turf.
When you read a piece of my work, you will always know I am speaking my opinion, and not one driven by a quest to draw hits to my post. Yes, some people get angry with me. But no, I don’t ever try to make somebody look bad.
I am finding this post being linked in several blogs, including VentureBeat (whose post I believe is titled exactly what the ad is).
Microsofties, the Mac vs. PC war will go on. But don’t twist people’s words in order to make a point.
March 30, 2009 at 12:18 am
Ed, nice try on trying to make this into an ethics conversation. But reread exactly what I wrote. See below for what I posted in the comments on my own blog. By the way, just in case it isn’t clear, these are my words and opinions, not the words and opinions of Microsoft:
Just a quick update that the author who I quoted in my post above responded to me via email. Here’s what he said:
“I don’t care that you link to my work, but I would really appreciate it if you do not take me out of context. I think its only fair that you post what I really found offensive rather than the snippet you decided to pull.
It’s really disingenuous and disappointing. I would believe you would expect me when linking to you to actually accurately represent your work rather than attempting to shoot it down by using a tangential portion of it. I think that’s more than fair.”
My response:
I chose my words carefully, actually. This is what I said:
“…what was the first point of the author who wanted to explain why this was so offensive?”
I actually wasn’t pointing out why he was offended. Rather, I was pointing out that his post starts with the premise of explaining his offense and then jumps right into an unnecessary but apparently very important tangent (the only section of his post surrounded by bolded words) on what wasn’t his point.
Does that make sense? It didn’t to me, either. That’s exactly why I called him out on it. But, please do go and read the full post, if you’d like. And at the author’s request, I’ll quote it here, from the beginning, up until the point where he explains why he’s offended:
“I noticed some tweets (join me on Twitter’, @edoswald) over the past several days regarding Microsoft’s latest ad from those on Redmond’s side of the aisle. One of them specifically told “Mac fanbois” to “GROW UP,” so I decided to post this to explain why Microsoft’s latest ad is not only factually loose, but offensive as well.
“Lauren” is given $1,000 to go and get a PC. Within 10 seconds, Microsoft’s already going for the gusto. She goes into the “Mac store” — red flag here already, anyone who is even remotely interested in a Mac knows it’s the Apple Store — and within seconds is out saying how the only under $1,000 unit is the white Macbook.
Okay, true enough there Lauren. But in the car, she then proceeds to take it where I think the ad shouldn’t have gone, and where I began to have a problem with it. “I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person,” she exclaims. Wow, just wow.”
March 30, 2009 at 12:28 am
It is completely about ethics. When you are talking about the “offended” portion, you use that portion. It wasn’t clear at all Bob. In fact, it was written to make it look like that’s what I was offended about.
I was actually setting up the entire argument, and reviewing the entire commercial up until that point. What is wrong with that? I’m sorry it wasn’t written in the style you’d like.
If that was your point, you should have said it the first time. Instead, you chose otherwise.
March 30, 2009 at 12:43 am
Ed, again, read my words carefully:
“…what was the first point of the author who wanted to explain why this was so offensive?””
Put another way, I said you “wanted” to explain the offense but then I went on to quote what I called your “first point” since it came before your explanation.
You deciding that what I meant to say was that your first point was why you were offended… Your interpretation at best.
But save your ethics lessons for when you’ve got more to work with, Ed. This one’s a bit of a waste. As I said in my email to you, I’m afraid you may be the one with the ethics / out-of-context problem here. You just misused the situation to make it into something it was not.
I sincerely understand if you didn’t understand the situation until I explained it in more detail. But now that you know exactly what I said and, more importantly, what I meant to say, it’s up to you to take back your ethical implications.
Truth be told, I don’t expect you to. Either way, I have nothing against you personally and wish you well with your tech blog.
March 30, 2009 at 12:43 am
Having read the comments, I think when you say “kibitzing” you mean “kvetching.”
March 30, 2009 at 12:47 am
LOL, Tim! Good insight.
September 3, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Cool site, love the info.
December 17, 2010 at 5:42 am
I do have a bit of a guilty conscience. But I am a “live for the moment” kind of person, and prefer to have disposable income today, because I don’t know if I’ll even be alive 5-10 years from now, let alone 50.
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