Have You Ever Regretted a Post?
If you read my post, One Man's Goal - People in the Projects Shouldn't Throw Stones, you know I flipped out on a guy named Justin Briggs at SEO Zombie. It was in response to this post he made on his blog.
Why did I flip out like that?
I could make the excuse that it was well after midnight when I made that post. I've been living off of 4 - 5 hours a sleep each night and it finally caught up to me. I just didn't think it through.
I could also make the excuse that like Marc, I was recently involved in a blog transaction that was questionable to say the least. When I read Justin's post, it felt like he was adding insult to injury and I just snapped.
Both of these things are true, but they are no excuse for my behavior. Bottom line, I went off half cocked and went way over board. I criticized Justin for not voicing his complaint with Marc in private, yet I did not offer Justin the same courtesy. Then to make matters worse, I really got in the gutter with some of my comments about Justin in an attempt to make him feel humiliated.
What can I do to fix this?
I started to delete my previous post, but after considering it, it felt dishonest to do so. That post is more of a reflection on me than Justin. It says more about who I am or can be, than who he is. This blog is about me and serves at as a notebook for me to keep track of things that interest me. If you take time to read my posts, you'll get me at my best and you'll get me at my worst. The previous post was me at my worst. For those reasons, I've decided to leave it up.
To Justin and anyone else that read that nonsense, I offer my apology. Justin, I wish you lots of success in your future projects and your aspiration to master SEO. If I can ever do anything for you, please let me know. We live in the same city and grew up on the same street! We should be working together and comparing notes, rather than wasting time on such negativity.
BTW, here is your back link. SEO Zombie
Tags: apology, blogger feuds, justin briggs, one man's goal, SEO, seo zombie
Well I think whatever you did wrong such a frank apology is a good way to make it up.
Also credit should be given to you for keeping the old post.
I have regretted endorsing products through paid posts in the past. Or just making crappy posts to fill space.
I take my hat off to you Brent as admitting this does take some guts. I admit that I wasn’t impressed by the last post as I appreciate Justin (he has helped me with various things online) and I also appreciate you.
Admittedly we will never agree with everything we do, say and act on, but getting into a public slagging match never serves anybody. We all stuff up and make some pretty stupid mistakes at the time.
Real integrity happens when we do what you just did!
Anyway, not for me to judge, just stating my humble opinion and like I said, well done for writing this.
@Forest – Thanks for your opinion that “keeping the old post was a good idea.” I was really unsure if it was best to leave it up or take it down. But I finally concluded, if that post spoke bad of anyone, it spoke bad of me. That is why I made the choice to leave it up.
@Monika- Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. You are such a thoughtful and caring person, and I’m glad for the chance to know you and learn some of that thoughtfulness and caring from you.
It really spills over into your blog and is felt by your readers. I believe it is a big factor in why your subscriber count keeps growing and your readers are so interactive.
I wrote Justin the other day and pointed him to this post. He never responded and I can’t say that I blame him. I’m not sure if there is anything I can do at this point other than say, “I’m sorry”.
Than you for the kind words Brent. I think what you said is true though, you can’t do more than say sorry and the reason why Justin never responded to your email could be many fold.
* he could be truly upset
* he could have missed your mail totally
* he could be away
* or else
Don’t worry, you tried to defuse the situation and that is really all you can do.
Brent,
I am sorry that I missed your emails. Honestly, not coming here was not intentional. The trackback just showed up, so I’m just now seeing this post.
Thank you for your apology. I believe that a huge bit of that entire situation could have been dealt with better than both of us did. You did make me feel bad for my post, had considered deleting, but made the choice to leave it. Since, I’ve tried to give Marc advise several times. I really hate that his blog got a PR slap.
Thank you for your reply Monika. Yeah, I’ve been busy finishing exams and moving home, so I’m sure his email got lost in the huge pile of things I ignored for a week..
No worries Brent, its all good. =)
@Justin – Thanks for your reply Justin. I really appreciate it. I think we would both be so much better off helping each other and comparing notes.. I’m guessing we have many of the same goals.
Send me an email when you are not so busy. I’m guessing we know a lot of the same people from the neighborhood. brent at brentcrouch dot com.
@ Justin and Brent: you go guys. That is why I like the both of you. You just showed true “sportsmanship”.
You both rock!
@ Monica – Thanks Monica. You rock too 🙂
Good stuff. Glad to see that there is still some level of respect in the blog-o-sphere. It’s a sad state of affairs when a few people may or may not have been ripped off, and we are all quick to light the torches and storm someone out of town.
I think both of you are fantastic bloggers, and I’m glad you reconciled your differences. It takes a big man to stand up and admit he was wrong, so kudos to you Brent.
Brent,
I sent an email to the address listed on your whois information. I am unable to find contact information on this site. I would like to officially request the removal of the insulting post. If you do not receive my email, please contact me via the email I used for this comment.
I’ve looked into it and I’m requesting because I consider your original post to be defamation.
Please email me as soon as you have a chance.
Hi Brent.
It has taken me a long time to get myself back here and I appreciate your response on the original post, which has just led me here.
Good to see that you kept the post up and wrote this one too. I think a lot of people said a few things that they regret over the sale of OMG. It is not good to see that MArc got a further google slap and is now PR0 and that he also does not seem to be motivated by Justins (and others) good advice.
Oh, well…another day in the blogosphere!
@TheAffiliatePost – Thanks for stopping by and the update on OMG. I wasn’t aware of the Google slap. That’s too bad.