I'm sad that this meant the end of someone doing what they love to do and something they put in work for, for years.
But my sympathy ends there.
A Follow-Up to "The Web is Public Domain"
81–90 of 120 posts
Re: A Follow-Up to "The Web is Public Domain"
#82The editor's response reveals a lot about her understanding (or lack thereof) of the business she's in. Normally I'm willing to overlook small typos in blog posts -- but when you are an editor, and you are writing an important response on an important issue, it's not wise to get the punctuation wrong on the very first word . (It should be "it's sad", not "its sad".) That she continues not to use apostrophes throughou…
I couldn't agree more that this editor's fate is deserved and that this is an "apology" only in the traditional meaning of that word (an attempted defense and not a mea culpa ), and a poor one at that. I also have been critical of her unbelievably tone-deaf approach to the subject of handling the complaint of an innocent person whom she had wronged (see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1870300 ). Yet, at some leve…
Sounds like you handled it as well as possible. I remember one time had to let someone go that I'd recruited away from another pretty decent job - that was one of the most gut-wrenching things I've had to do in business.
I actually kept him on and let it drag out three months without him producing anything because I couldn't get up the nerve to face the fact I'd made a mistake. Not just a mistake, but a mistake that would screw someone else's life up that I respected and liked.
It all worked out well - he's becoming a doctor at one of the top English schools now, so I wish I'd done it earlier so he could have gotten on with his life, and I'd have had a lot less stress and my business would have done better. Wavering on it made him dead man walking for three months, and cost me personally $10,000+, more if you count opportunity cost, much more if you count stress. So I gotta say you handled that the best possible way, even though that situation is always hard and always sucks. Someone who hasn't managed people probably can't understand how hard it is to let someone go and do it decently. Sounds like you did right by her in the best way for that situation.
Re: A Follow-Up to "The Web is Public Domain"
#83I might have some sympathy if I bought her premise that this ugliness could have been avoided if Monica simply waited for her to deal with the issue quietly. Monica got a written and printed apology, a donation to columbia, and a virtual assurance that this publication will no longer violate copyright. There's no way she would have received that level of satisfaction without dealing with it the way she did.
Re: A Follow-Up to "The Web is Public Domain"
#84The editor's response reveals a lot about her understanding (or lack thereof) of the business she's in. Normally I'm willing to overlook small typos in blog posts -- but when you are an editor, and you are writing an important response on an important issue, it's not wise to get the punctuation wrong on the very first word . (It should be "it's sad", not "its sad".) That she continues not to use apostrophes throughou…
Re: typos. Can we just do the "put yourself in their shoes" thing for a moment, and consider that she may be heart-broken by all of this, and typed that note through tears? Have you ever attempted to write a note (typed or hand-written), under extreme stress, pain, or frustration? I know I have. It wasn't pretty. Please, some compassion.
As much as I agree with you, if you're writing a public missive about the future of your company, it doesn't make sense to publish the draft, much less the draft you wrote through heartbroken tears. There's a professional context to consider.
Re: A Follow-Up to "The Web is Public Domain"
#85The editor's response reveals a lot about her understanding (or lack thereof) of the business she's in. Normally I'm willing to overlook small typos in blog posts -- but when you are an editor, and you are writing an important response on an important issue, it's not wise to get the punctuation wrong on the very first word . (It should be "it's sad", not "its sad".) That she continues not to use apostrophes throughou…
I couldn't agree more that this editor's fate is deserved and that this is an "apology" only in the traditional meaning of that word (an attempted defense and not a mea culpa ), and a poor one at that. I also have been critical of her unbelievably tone-deaf approach to the subject of handling the complaint of an innocent person whom she had wronged (see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1870300 ). Yet, at some leve…
People who appear to be coddled through their education may just have taken the easy way out and cheated:
Re: A Follow-Up to "The Web is Public Domain"
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
I couldn't agree more that this editor's fate is deserved and that this is an "apology" only in the traditional meaning of that word (an attempted defense and not a mea culpa ), and a poor one at that. I also have been critical of her unbelievably tone-deaf approach to the subject of handling the complaint of an innocent person whom she had wronged (see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1870300 ). Yet, at some leve…
People who appear to be coddled through their education may just have taken the easy way out and cheated: http://chronicle.com/article/article-content/125329/
I had a reply filled with disbelief about the ability to successfully cheat through law school, but after reading that article I'm truly blown away.
It's beyond pitiful - in the literal, not pejorative sense - how many people manage to get through our so-called higher education without so much as the ability to communicate on a sixth-grade level. I guess all I can do is teach my kids the value of what it means to love learning, and how to communicate their thoughts and ideas well. The system obviously hasn't figured out how to make that happen yet.
Re: A Follow-Up to "The Web is Public Domain"
#87The editor's response reveals a lot about her understanding (or lack thereof) of the business she's in. Normally I'm willing to overlook small typos in blog posts -- but when you are an editor, and you are writing an important response on an important issue, it's not wise to get the punctuation wrong on the very first word . (It should be "it's sad", not "its sad".) That she continues not to use apostrophes throughou…
She also could have taken the negative and turned it around. If a restaurant gets closed for violating health codes (which is not usually permanent, from my understanding), that's a perfect time to put big glass windows on the kitchen, issue a sincere mea culpa , and say "look guys, we learned our lesson and are the cleanest restaurant in town now!". It worked for Jack in the Box after the e. coli scare. While this o…
This is especially insightful. To the talented marketer, there is no such thing as bad press. Being thrust into the limelight to be mocked and laughed at is a really great opportunity to take one on the chin and own up to your mistakes, and then to turn that around into positive press about how you screwed up and how you're fixing it moving forward. Cook's Source has visibility easily several orders of magnitude greater than it did before this whole debacle, and all you need is to convert a small number of those to your product to make some mighty tasty lemonade out of those lemons.
Instead, the editor took the opportunity to further expose the traits that caused the uproar in the first place - self-importance, arrogance, and ignorance. The "apology" is no more than a half-hearted attempt at deflection and a misplaced plea for pity. It will both fail to deflect the bad press, and will not garner any pity.
This is an excellent lesson in how to not handle customer relationships, management of negative press, and fixing your mistakes. Entrepreneurs, take note - look at what Cook's Source did, and don't do that. Always assume you are at fault first. When you are at fault, go the extra mile to make it right. If you get caught with your pants down, join the chorus laughing at your embarrassment and use it as an opportunity to market your underwear.
Re: A Follow-Up to "The Web is Public Domain"
#88The editor's response reveals a lot about her understanding (or lack thereof) of the business she's in. Normally I'm willing to overlook small typos in blog posts -- but when you are an editor, and you are writing an important response on an important issue, it's not wise to get the punctuation wrong on the very first word . (It should be "it's sad", not "its sad".) That she continues not to use apostrophes throughou…
Her business is to work "with small food-oriented businesses and farms to get the word out on their works/products". The vehicle is publishing, and I get the feeling she's using the magazine the same way a lot of normal people use their computers: as a means to an end. If I had to guess, I'd wager that's why she doesn't understand copyright. Her area of expertise (and I use that word with a HUGE grain of salt) is foo…
That's fair, but the reason she's taken so much heat is that she blasted the author whose work was stolen, citing decades of experience that gave her authority on copyright law. If her area of expertise is food, then she has no business citing her business in editorial work as a viable defense.
Re: A Follow-Up to "The Web is Public Domain"
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
I couldn't agree more that this editor's fate is deserved and that this is an "apology" only in the traditional meaning of that word (an attempted defense and not a mea culpa ), and a poor one at that. I also have been critical of her unbelievably tone-deaf approach to the subject of handling the complaint of an innocent person whom she had wronged (see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1870300 ). Yet, at some leve…
People who appear to be coddled through their education may just have taken the easy way out and cheated: http://chronicle.com/article/article-content/125329/
But if they couldn't do the work in school (needing to turn to someone else to do their assignments), then why would they be flabbergasted that they couldn't do the work on their own outside of school?
Re: A Follow-Up to "The Web is Public Domain"
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wade through at your leisure. http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=196994196748&topic... Same primary source regardless of what outlet covers it. NPR: http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2010/11/05/131091599/the-... Economist: "A host of Facebook and other denizens have traced over 100 other articles that have appeared in the magazine to The Food Network, NPR, Martha Stewart, Sunset, and others. A Google Docs spreads…
Out of curiosity, how do you suppose that spreadsheet was created? How would one go about finding the sources en masse from a set of articles? What tools would be used?
Google?