I wasn’t going to blog about the Gizmodo / CES thing, but a conversation I had today made me realize how strongly I feel about what they did, so I’m going to add my voice to the chorus.
What the Gizmodo guys did wasn’t just puerile, it was mean and flat-out wrong. The fact their their boss Nick Denton seems to think it’s all good so long as the pageviews keep rolling is just as bad.
Those people in the CES booths are human beings trying to do a job and they should be treated with basic respect. If you think their shtick is stupid or their product is lame, fine. Feel free to say so. But when you decide you’re going to screw around with their stuff just because you can, you’re way, way over the line, and you’re no better than a schoolyard bully.
There once was a young girl who came home from school one day with grapefruit-sized bruises on her legs, because a couple of boys decided that kicking the crap out of her was “fun”. The bruises went away eventually, but the memories of fear and humiliation linger a long, long time.
Bottom line: It’s not funny, and if you think it is, you need to take a long, hard look in the mirror and ask yourself what kind of person you really are.
Tags: bullying, gizmodo, Nick Denton
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Well said.
[...] recently posted an article about the Gizmodo/CES debacle, which you can read about here. To be brief, one of the editors at Gizmodo, Brian Lam, thought it would be funny to have a bunch [...]
I was appalled when I heard the gizmodo story. I think CES really needs to look at banning Gizmodo & Gawker media from future events.
-Jeff