Mena's Shocking Baby Scandal!

After writing the post about the acquisition of Ublog, I waited anxiously to see the reaction. After all, you never know what you can expect to appear as a TrackBack. After four positive responses, I saw this excerpt:

» Sorry Mena, you are not welcome ! from SAM @ websympa.org
Loic has sold his French company Ublog to the American one, SixApart. Of course, Mena, the coder's wife applause. But sorry Mena, you are not welcome for two reasons. The first one is the fact you acquire a solid French...

His original post has been replaced but the gist was about how an American like me who voted for a stupid president and corrupts the French culture doesn't have any right acquiring a French company.

And then there was the "coder's wife" thing.

Um, no he di'int.

Now, I don't tend to comment on weblogs -- and I certainly don't comment on really inflammatory comments since there is usually no point. People's opinions can rarely change.

The coder's wife comment, the Bush comment and the new feeling that I can actually blog a bit more and not feel that I, as a CEO, have to always be proper prompted me to I write my comment:

I don't know what I'm more offended by -- the fact you call me "the coder's wife" or the insinuation that I voted for Bush and hate the French.

I'm sorry that you feel this way.

Almost immediately I received an email from him apologizing for his post. The truth is, I felt bad for posting my comment. After all, after all these years, I shouldn't be so sensitive about weblog comments and posts. And, I do think globalization and American influences in Europe is a legitimate concern.

Anyway, we exchanged emails and I explained why I was so hurt. We had just returned from Paris and it was our dream to live there one day. The people we had met in Paris made me think that the French hating Americans was just a stereotype and I was sadly disappointed to see I was probably wrong.

Sam responded by posting an apology on his weblog. Although it wasn't necessary, I surely appreciated the gesture.

This morning, while reading a particularly funny weblog post (more about that later), a delivery man arrived with a dozen multi-colored roses accompanied by a gracious note of apology from Sam, the writer of the weblog post.

The fact is, I would imagine that two-thirds if not more of the battles waged within weblog comments and cross-weblog fights are due to the dehumanization of the people behind the sites. I used to get pretty worked up by nastiness, insults and blatant lies. After almost three years, I still think the Internet is too hostile but can understand why.

The flowers made my day because it shows that someone can see that we're not just characters in this whole start-up game. I avoid conflict at almost all costs (online at least) and have more faith in people getting along when we take time to be civil.

So, Sam, thank you for the flowers and being open for discussion.

Now onto The Blog Herald...

I was going to write a post deconstructing this entire "article" line by line but I realized it's so not worth it.

As I read the post aloud in the office, Maile (as mentioned in this post) said it best:

"That guy's gotta be smoking something to even think that she'd would leave without a fight!"

Seriously, name your "inside source" including the "parties involved" or send me a fu**king bouquet of flowers.

I like tulips.