The Religious Wrong...

Chuq von Rospach got kind of pissed off last week when some bloggers wrote about him as “[insert name of employer here] employee Chuq von Rospach…”.  I dropped the employer’s name ‘cause Chuq doesn’t seem to like it when you write about him, his blog and his employer in the same sentence, so why not humor him?  Wasn’t any news to me – Chuq is sort of known in some circles as working with who he works with.

I popped over to Chuq’s site, Teal Sunglasses (which is pretty cool, BTW) to comment on the whole “blogger as individual vs. blogger as employee” debate.  My short take on this subject, much like my view on e-mail and other forms of communication is is…

• don’t write anything you’d be sorry to see attributed to you on the front page of the L.A. Times (goes well about commenting about your employer or his/her business as it does for your family and friends)
• its generally not a great idea to say stupid things in public about your employer in public (regardless of medium)
• realize you’re representing your organization (not speaking for them, representing them) whether you’re “representing” them or not.

What I found when I went to comment, though, was reminiscent of old time computer religion from days (I thought had) gone by.

Isn’t this a religious war that’s run its course?  To flame Robert Scoble as a Microsoft marketing flack when he popped in to make a couple of comments as someone who knows a little about Chuq’s original subject was cheap and childish.  Sheesh… have any of you read Scoble’s Blog?  He’s not always that complementary about MS, whether you think he’s their bitch or not (I, for one, don’t).  Guess if you’re passionate about your work and your employer you’re fair flame game these days.

I love free speech as much as the next guy, and I can go either way on the topic of bloggers as journalists, but jeez – give Scoble a break, will ya?  If you don’t like what he writes, don’t read it.  If you don’t like his employer’s stuff, don’t read it use it buy it.  Either way, grow up folks.  Its a world with a lot of ideas in it, and yours may not be that stellar, either.