This is an interesting day for the concept of my course of interests. This blog is about the merging of Business, Technology, and Ethics. And a couple of days ago, they merged in such exquisite fidelity that I had to comment on what I think is going to turn out to be a big pile of steaming marketing mix. With that, I give you my response to what I’ve read so far. I’ll reference the response from the River Front Times to all the angry masses, but there is a lot more talk about it everywhere online.
Sorry River Front Times, people who are upset about the outing of an “Anonymous” poster, who some are now questioning even exists, are not Trolls. They are people who, I would suspect, are feeling a bit confused how an anonymous posting can lead to a person being confronted in the real world when the only apparent identifying mark was their post and the assignment of -Anonymous- as the username who posted it. So, rightfully so, people should just walk away from Saint-Louis Dispatch / STLtoday.com websites, marketing and whatever else because it is obvious that there isn’t any ethical concern over abusing ones power. Well, at least not at the level of Kurt Greenbaum – the guy in charge of social media policy at STLtoday.com and the person who allegedly pursued a person from virtual anonymity to real life. Instead of shrugging it off and deleting it [twice?] he became the self imposed arbiter of free speech. I have the right to speak as I wish as long as it isn’t harmful to you financially, you have no right to not be offended. Institute a voting system so you can, by way of your population of like-minded readers; hide posts that don’t meet your expectation of taste. Again, you don’t have the right to not be offended and you do have the right to delete my post if you so choose, but you can’t come to me and confront me in person; that can lead to some serious problems for everyone involved. That confrontation can get me fired (in this case it allegedly did), change a persons perspective about my nature, and in other ways harm me financially which IS something that is illegal. Especially when you have the option of being anonymous and don’t like what I have to say, then abuse the resources at only your disposal.
I still question that this even happened since we don’t know the school, the person, the postings, or anything but the word of the”Director of Social Media” in charge. This says Viral Marketing 101 if anything does. If anyone is the Troll it is Mr. Greenbaum for creating the key factor of any good troll… inciting an emotional response for whatever reason, which is meaningless. He could have simply done this without any further comment and let the person who ‘quit’ because of the confrontation for saying the word “Pussy” to such high-brow journalism as “What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever eaten?” which cries out for help.
Now, the epitome of internet pariah is converting this negative attention into attention in general; and as the saying goes, “No Press is Bad Press.”
Personally, the ethics of saying Pussy anonymously is amusing. Who cares, it is a joke. The ethics of abusing your power and confronting a person reflects something on the situation at STLtoday.com where a person can obtain personally identifiable information about someone who made an off-color joke anonymously and uses it to harm someone in the real world. I’d rather let the off-color joke slide, than be seen as an iron-fisted hater of all things different than my belief system on a site that encourages social interaction… “Director of Social Media” has taken on a new meaning.
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