Wow. This issue has really polarized some of my best friends on SI.
I'll just put up a post about what I think, and if somebody out there thinks it's important enough to them to break off our friendship, then that's the way it is.
Personally, I don't care about that little Datek thingie. If the tradeoff is the new charts, I'm cool with it.
I also understand the very valid argument that it is the first of maybe several, and it is a precedent, and some people that are members of SI feel that they were lied to about this Datek ad.
Here's the way I look at it:
funphone.com
Seriously; here is the way I look at it:
This site has to make money. End of argument about ads.
Now, about the specific ads and the alleged 'broken promises' and the rest:
Public Relations is an interesting game. You can't please everyone. In my experience, Rule #1 is "Tell the truth". Beyond that, I look at the character of the people that are engaged in the PR. I see nothing to shake my faith in the character of the two dudes that started this site. They are both fine people, IMHO, and if I ever meet either one of them, I will shake their hands and tell them so in person.
I also have some very good friends that don't see this the way I see it. They are not happy.
The thing that really bothers me about this is that some of these people seem to be expecting other people to choose sides, and if they choose the wrong side, then they are all of a sudden assholes. That's kinda like the real world out there, you look at a guy and he's the wrong color or he speaks the wrong language or he's wearing the wrong shoes or whatever, and all of a sudden, he's a dick.
Well, I don't care about the Datek ad. No big deal to me. I don't think I've been cheated or lied to or anything. When it went up it was orange, which blew chunks, and then it got changed, and now it is what it is, and it does not bother me at all.
Should Brad or Jeff defend himself for this horrible travesty?
Why? What does that prove? How does that help? I think they both got the idea here that this might have been handled better, but as far as *how* it might have been handled better, I really couldn't say without sitting next to them and knowing what was going on in the first place. In other words, I'm not saying somebody did something "wrong" because I don't know the whole story, and I probably never will.
If anybody, (and that includes my good friends and you know who you are) feels like this Datek ad is important enough to dilute our friendship, then we have a disagreement on that, but I still like you just the same as before the Datek ad.
If anybody wants to argue about something, let's argue about declaring two splits in one year, which IMHO is just the stupidest thing I could possibly imagine. I'd like to know who was making the case for that. Two splits in one year. Get real. What *possible* friggin' reason could there be to do that? Eh?
Let's move along.
Tell me a joke.
BAWK!
|
