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Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

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Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#21

Post by banana_giraffe »

D13Fd wrote: post #15
common_crow wrote: post #10

Reminds me of Dawn Frederick, a literary agent who was "cancelled" for calling 911 on looters who rammed a van into the gas station on her apartment block: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/p... This happened during the BLM protests this summer in St. Loius. The looters she reported were blocks away from any BLM protest, and other looting bands were setting fires on nearby blocks. Frederick w…

I honestly don't know why people use "post what you're thinking" style social media at all at this point. With employers being so sensitive, how can the cost/benefit analysis ever really result in a determination that it's a good idea to be active on Twitter/Facebook (or Gab, Parler, TheDonald.win, etc.)? Maybe that's part of what makes things get so extreme on those sites. The most reasonable people know enough not…

I always suspected there's a little bit of survivorship bias (? not sure of the best term here) going on. If you haven't suffered the hoards, or had someone you know suffer them, you're likely to think some combination of "it only happens when it's justified" and "no one will care about little old me"

I've witnessed it happen to a colleague early on in my career. He posted how trivial it was to cause an IoT device to reset because they had a reset password only protected by hashing an English word that they changed every update. There are multiple security lapses there, and he didn't even mention the really scary ones, this one was almost silly.

Turns out the parent company of the IoT device and his parent company were the same, and calls got made, his post misunderstood by management, and he got told to find a new job somewhere else.

Still makes my blood boil, and I'd name names, but neither company exists anymore. It did teach me to be _very_ careful what I post online, even when I'm anonymous.

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#22

Post by paperwasp42 »

D13Fd wrote: post #15
common_crow wrote: post #10

Reminds me of Dawn Frederick, a literary agent who was "cancelled" for calling 911 on looters who rammed a van into the gas station on her apartment block: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/p... This happened during the BLM protests this summer in St. Loius. The looters she reported were blocks away from any BLM protest, and other looting bands were setting fires on nearby blocks. Frederick w…

I honestly don't know why people use "post what you're thinking" style social media at all at this point. With employers being so sensitive, how can the cost/benefit analysis ever really result in a determination that it's a good idea to be active on Twitter/Facebook (or Gab, Parler, TheDonald.win, etc.)? Maybe that's part of what makes things get so extreme on those sites. The most reasonable people know enough not…

I have literally seen NYT bestselling authors talk about how they're super excited to publicly heckle an author at his next book signing. And join in on conversations promoting burning his book.

His crime? Writing a female character who goes on the run, has limited food, and trains in martial arts--which leads to her losing weight.

This was, apparently, fat-shaming and deeply sexist.

The authors involved in these threats and book-burning talk had literally no punishment. None. Just a bunch of new followers who gushed about what "strong women" they were. (As a woman, I can't think of anything weaker than threatening to burn a book and harass someone, all for internet points.)

The thing is, Publishing Twitter is super safe if you're on the far left. You can talk about harassing people, burning books, and purposely destroying careers. Zero consequences at all.

But if you're so much as a hair right of center left? Forget it. Your career is gone.

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#23

Post by mellosouls »

cblconfederate wrote: post #13
polka_haunts_us wrote: post #2

I feel like my choice to not participate in non-anonymous social media in any but the absolute most bland and uninteresting ways is the best long running decision I've ever made. The end of anonymized internet is the end of my participation in it and sadly I think that day is fast approaching.

but if a future employer asks to see some social credentials and they don't see any, they ll be suspicious

If a future employer expects such social "credentials" from me, I'll be suspicious and tell them where to go.

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#24

Post by lawnchair_larry »

InTheArena wrote: post #11

That statement by De Chiara is going to cost them a lot of money as that statement is prima facie a violation of any number of employment laws. If had identified specifically objectionable content, it would at least be a case.

Which law does it violate? I can’t think of any.

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#25

Post by hertzrat »

cblconfederate wrote: post #13
polka_haunts_us wrote: post #2

I feel like my choice to not participate in non-anonymous social media in any but the absolute most bland and uninteresting ways is the best long running decision I've ever made. The end of anonymized internet is the end of my participation in it and sadly I think that day is fast approaching.

but if a future employer asks to see some social credentials and they don't see any, they ll be suspicious

Social media accounts are not credentials, and that requirement is bogus for 99% of jobs unless your job is social media publicity

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#26

Post by threeseed »

chrisjharris wrote: post #16

Frequently I feel that there is a conflation of the inherent attributes of a platform like Gab or Parler, and its user base. Though they may pitch themselves at a certian audience, social media platforms don't ultimately get to choose their users, and I'm not sure to what extent it is fair to judge them by their users. If we do judge them by their users (and I don't mean to sound like I'm criticizing Gab/Parler users…

> social media platforms don't ultimately get to choose their users

Of course they can.

They simply ban/allow people until they get the mix of people they want. It happens all the time on Reddit e.g. /r/the_donald, /r/conspiracy.

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#27

Post by [deleted] »

paperwasp42 wrote: post #22
D13Fd wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly don't know why people use "post what you're thinking" style social media at all at this point. With employers being so sensitive, how can the cost/benefit analysis ever really result in a determination that it's a good idea to be active on Twitter/Facebook (or Gab, Parler, TheDonald.win, etc.)? Maybe that's part of what makes things get so extreme on those sites. The most reasonable people know enough not…

I have literally seen NYT bestselling authors talk about how they're super excited to publicly heckle an author at his next book signing. And join in on conversations promoting burning his book. His crime? Writing a female character who goes on the run, has limited food, and trains in martial arts--which leads to her losing weight. This was, apparently, fat-shaming and deeply sexist. The authors involved in these thr…

[deleted]

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#28

Post by 300bps »

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #24
InTheArena wrote: post #11

That statement by De Chiara is going to cost them a lot of money as that statement is prima facie a violation of any number of employment laws. If had identified specifically objectionable content, it would at least be a case.

Which law does it violate? I can’t think of any.

The fired agent telegraphed which law she believed has been violated when she said, "I just got fired because I'm a Christian and a conservative."

https://www.eeoc.gov/religious-discrimination

Re: Agent fired from literary agency for using Parler and Gab

#29

Post by common_crow »

paperwasp42 wrote: post #22
D13Fd wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly don't know why people use "post what you're thinking" style social media at all at this point. With employers being so sensitive, how can the cost/benefit analysis ever really result in a determination that it's a good idea to be active on Twitter/Facebook (or Gab, Parler, TheDonald.win, etc.)? Maybe that's part of what makes things get so extreme on those sites. The most reasonable people know enough not…

I have literally seen NYT bestselling authors talk about how they're super excited to publicly heckle an author at his next book signing. And join in on conversations promoting burning his book. His crime? Writing a female character who goes on the run, has limited food, and trains in martial arts--which leads to her losing weight. This was, apparently, fat-shaming and deeply sexist. The authors involved in these thr…

I assume you're speaking of the Scott Bergstrom debacle?

Yeah, I remember that one. Link to Scott's interview that infuriated those authors is here: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/child...

Don't want to dox anyone and post which authors had such horrible behavior, but I will say I personally witnessed those tweets discussing book burning, stalking, and public harassment.

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