“What is the price of Experience?
Do men buy it for a song?
Or wisdom for the price of a dance in the street?
No, it is bought with the price of all Man hath, his house, his wife, his children.
Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy, and in the wither’d field where the farmer ploughs for bread in vain.”…William Blake
In my entire time online, I’ve only had one confrontation over something I posted.
When I wrote a post on the 2007 Domain Roundtable, in the first paragraph, I linked to an article I did not agree with using the term “misinformed”. I intended absolutely no malice to the author…I actually forgot I even did this until receiving an email from Tom Crandall letting me know that he felt slighted and upset by my action. While I didn’t quite view the situation as Tom did, I did understand his point of view and realized that I could have chosen a word/phrase for link text that expressed my disagreement with his post without casting an aspersion on his professionalism.
So, in attempt to make amends, I went to his blog and publicly apologized to Tom and his audience (in addition to starting a debate over the issue where we disagreed).
Hello Tom,
First, let me apologize publicly for characterizing your article as “misinformed”. “Misinformed” has connotations that are not consistent with my belief that you wrote an posting of high quality that was slanted in a way in which I did not agree…in fact, the quality of the posting was probably why I remembered it as I was writing my article…
I did not feel the least amount of personal shame or humiliation in doing this…for me; it was a moral imperative to write what I did.
There are plenty of spirited debates in search started when a person or entity has “acted irresponsibly” in the eyes of the greater community (and when the whole community is in opposition to one person/group, chances are quite high that the lone individual is in the wrong). The most common responses by a person to a community-wide attack upon them include defensiveness, attacking back, or skulking away and hiding. Humility by the malefactor doesn’t occur all that often.
Recently, an online marketer named Matt Bacak release the most obnoxious, self-promoting press release that I’ve ever seen. The Twitter and Digg communities rightly pummeled him. I submitted his press release to Sphinn where it got a large number of spirited comments. I believe I rightly described Matt’s press release as a “FUBAR”.
So what did Matt do? He accepted the community’s verdict on his press release and began to change his behavior to conform to what they expected of him.
He publicly acknowledged his mistake and shouldered the entire blame for the incident.
I barely even knew about this press release. I did not write it
nor did I even submit it. Yes, I did suggest to have it written. I
take full responiblily (sp) for it.
He then started following people back on Twitter (which he hadn’t been doing). He now has almost 50% more followers on Twitter than he did before this incident started and he’s tweeting back to all who tweet him.
While the community brutalized Matt for the press release, a large percentage of them remained open to accepting Matt if he responded appropriately. Because Matt consented to the community verdict and changed his behavior publicly, he has been welcomed by many of his critics and his business will greatly profit from everything that has transpired.
It’s natural to be defensive when the entire community is attacking you. However, try to look at the issue from the majority perspective. Even if you don’t agree with them, acknowledge their viewpoint. The right response to your opponents could turn the negative into a strong positive for you. The wrong response can cause you to be permanently excluded by your peers.
Todd Mintz knows PPC…knows Social Media…knows SEO…knows Blogging…knows Domaining…and knows them all real well. He runs growth marketing for )and is also a Director & Founding Member of SEMpdx: Portland, Oregon’s Search Engine Marketing Association, and he can be found here on Twitter and Facebook.
Thanks for always adding wisdom and the human touch to your work, I admire your writing as well as your common sense;)
Apologizing is a very difficult thing for most individuals. I’ve read articles that suggest that apologizing is akin to weakness. In my position within my company, I’ve had to apologize to customers for a mistake. It’s amazing how quickly you can turn a negative situation around by simply apologizing. I don’t advocate apologizing for everything but when a mistake is made, own up to it and make it right.
Great info in this post. I thought I would drop by again and leave the link I mentioned in my last comment.> “The Arbitrage Conspiracy Report” is our first piece of hard hitting Freeline content. It is 25 pages of awesome information related to Adwords and CPA.
Check It Out Here:
https://www.arbitrageconspiracy.com/vegasreport.php?ref=731b3783
It’ll knock your list’s socks off and keep them watching their inbox for your next email…
Great post…that press release was over the top, but in the end he handled it right and it still accomplished its purpose 😉
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Great article thanks. I saw the negative press he was getting on digg and twitter for his PR, but I wasn’t aware he made an apology. Good for him!
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Nice article Todd. Actually saying sorry is the easiest thing to do, apologizing sincerely is a totally different matter and you have done that well. In addition that fact that you agreed to disagree after all is proof that you were sincere in your apology and in your original beliefs. Way to go!
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Matt’s and your reactions were very mature and definitely the right thing to do. Especially when you are into blogs and Twitter you should always be ready to take responsibility for your mistakes and, if necessary, apologize.
Nice article Todd. It also shows how internet makes it so easy for people to voice out their opinions…whether positive or negative and it spread like wildfire. But to err is human; to forgive is divine. Cheers =)
Great article, I found that saying sorry is often a problem for many people, myself including.
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It’s not easy to admit to mistakes, but those who do, get much greater respect from their peers. Thank you for reminding us of this very important fact.
It is a great article. Sorry seems like a genuine apology to me. We should be thankful for any apology even though its a week overdue.
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cristina12
I think Lisa sums up best what I like about your work. It’s informative, but still offers a glimpse into your personality. Its perhaps why your so successful with social media. And its often an article on the Internet begins with a quote from William Blake.