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Fired For Not Blogging

firedblog.jpgThe world of blogs is becoming more mainstream everyday, which sucks, 'cause now we can't feel very special about our online-publishing selves. All we have now is the silent suspense of the impending consequences for all this cyber posting. All we can do is be careful. But whatever you do, don't tell Jen, Jake or Gothamist that we are blogging on the job. Why not, you ask. Because people get fired.

Way back before Google, a guy named Cam got axed because of his personal website.
Three years ago Heather Armstrong got fired for posting sarcastic remarks and now if you get the pink slip for a blog you've been dooced. More local, a year and a half ago, a Microsoft temp, Michael Hanscom, got fired for posting photos of sensitive work-related stuff (Apple Mac G5s delivered to Redmond) and it made frontpage PI news.

Both Michael and Heather in their own words accept some amount of responsibility for the unfortunate situation. And Heather is careful to nicely remind all you bloggers out there to Be Ye Not So Stupid. And did I mention that Heather rocks! And I love Chuck.

But what about Scoble and Anil Dash? Both are employed primarily to blog and evangelize the technology behind blogs and the potentialthey hold as marketing or communication tools. Anil, of Six Apart (which powers this website), says, "Nobody has ever been fired for blogging." Scoble, who works for Microsoft and is officially employed as a Technical Evangelist, says essentially that if you are in marketing and don't use simple weblog style technology that YOU should be fired.

So I say again, be careful. Somebody is already mapping out the legal terrain. But the good bad news is that soon maybe you will get fired for NOT having a blog. Of course you could quit your job, blog full time and solicit patrons.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.
By Jonathan in on March 11, 2005 8:03 AM

Comments [rss]

  • Hmmm. It's actually close to balancing out between the two, but I think overall the pros win out over the cons.

    While it was a pretty good job that I lost, and it certainly hit me financially, the fame (or, perhaps more honestly, infamy) has been entertaining -- more so now that it's been a while since it happened. There was a time when I got sick of being "that guy who got fired from Microsoft", but now it's settled down a bit, and it's kind of fun to see where my name pops up from time to time.

    I wasn't able to parlay my sudden name recognition into a new job as some of the more recent cases have, like Mark Jen -- but then, I don't have the tech-heavy background that would get me hired at a place like Google or Microsoft in the first place (as opposed to a contractor providing support services), so that's never been a big surprise to me.

    Still, I was able to find another job, I got a few more regular readers for my website, and now I have the rather odd but amusing distinction of being one of the first and more widely known case studies of blog-related firings. Maybe not something I'm going to splash all over my resume, but worthy of some small note from time to time none the less.

  • Your, I mean you're wright, I mean right. Fixed it. Doesn't change that you got fired. Just kidding. Thanks for keeping Seattlest on our tows, I mean toes. Dam, I mean damn.

    Since you stopped by, a question. Was the overall result of the blog/MS debacle positive or negative?

    Thanks, Michael.

  • (Can one be fired for not-blogging and being a grammar nazi? Hmmm...)

  • Two quick things: first, thanks for the mention!

    Secondly: with all due respect, that graphic should start with the contraction "you're", not the posessive "your". ;)

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