I just got home from work and I was signing into my blog so that I could nominate Kat Coble as one of ‘Thinking Blogger Awards‘ deal because she always makes me think, when I ran into a firestorm.
My friend Kat and her husband visited one of those ‘headhunter’ executive job search places (J.L. Kirk) back in February.. It was not a happy experience. Kat ably conveyed her frustration at the pressure tactics deployed by the firm along with incredulity that they were asked to pay more than $4,000 freaking dollars UP FRONT. The more common practise is for the company that hires the job seeker to pay the fees to the headhunter.
Someone from JL Kirk posted a comment on Kat’s blog defending Kirk and its practices. Kat posts the response on her blog as a post. Soon afterwards, the it-shay hit the an-fay. Via high falutin’ powerful attorneys, Kat is being asked* to pull remove all posts referring to JL Kirk.
One incredibly ironic item here is that one of the posts (see above) WAS WRITTEN BY JL KIRK. Kat posted the response in its entirety without ANY editing.. Kat certainly didn’t have to extend JL Kirk the courtesy of publishing their rejoinder.
The bullying did not go un-noticed. Bloggers far and wide picked up the trail. Glen Reynolds (Instapundit) linked to the story, thus ensuring that thousands upon thousands of folks now know about JL Kirk. Nice going!
Kat is a reasonable and thoughtful person. If she chooses to take down the posts to avoid the hassle, more power…it’s her blog. And there are some awfully powerful names on those cease and desist letters. If she wants to keep the posts up, she already knows that hundreds, if not thousands of people are going to support her and further propagate the true story of how one headhunter firm handles its unhappy customers. And, I’m just taking a wild guess here, I’m guessing that there may be one or two or one hundred unhappy customers who may have a chance to re-kindle their own ire.
Way to go, J.L. Kirk!!
Brittney at NIT is tracking the developing story HERE.
Others commenting (and I’m sure this section will grow)
Say Uncle with a GREAT subject line.
Rachel from Women’s Health News
Bill Hobbs rocks this one.
My neighbor S-townMike
My buddy GingerSnaps (you don’t want her snappin’ at YOU)
Rob Robinson’s ThinkTrain
Feline Formal Shorts (the mighty magniloquence)
The women of HomeEc101 clean UP
Krumm absolutely kills – brilliant!
Better Business Bureau opines..
Rex the master blogger speaks up
The Zero Boss zeroes in
QandO weighs in.
My Memphis buddy, the Lynnster
Pink Kitty – claws OUT
Postscripts (Charleston, SC)
I love Glen Dean’s take on this
Bridgett’s Beautiful Wickedness
Space for Commerce – Wisconsin heard from
Our Louisville friend – Lee
No Silence here
Anne witnesses
Smalltalk Tidbits, Industry Rants
Alphecca – New Verb in Town!
SaucyGirl – The Cats Demand Answers
This fine write-up from TheRipoffReport (not specific to Kat’s case, but evidence that the ‘Kat-play’ isn’t isolated.
*if the definition of ask includes the DEMAND
14 Comments
April 11, 2007 at 4:48 pm
[...] POSTS ABOUT THE SAGA: Bill Hobbs: Suing a Blogger John Hutcheson: Hey J.L. Kirk and Associates – Nobody likes a bully Toys in the Attic: Time for me to steal someone’s joy Say Uncle: Is calling JL Kirk & [...]
April 11, 2007 at 4:52 pm
[...] Hutch [...]
April 11, 2007 at 5:05 pm
I swear this is the kind of thing that happens to other people in like, Chicago or something…
I’m utterly bemused.
Who thinks it’s a good idea to respond to accusations of intimidating behaviour with more intimidating behaviour? I do not get it at all.
But thanks for sticking up for me. And for the whole “thinking blogger” thing. I tell you what, I’m doing plenty of thinking NOW!
April 11, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Don’t mess with a blogger. We are like a family, left, right, middle, whatever.
April 11, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Glen, you’re absolutely dead on.
April 11, 2007 at 8:29 pm
[...] course, all hell breaks loose. In a move much like the “I am Spartacus!” “No, I am Spartacus!” deal, bloggers everywhere post about this [...]
April 11, 2007 at 8:37 pm
[...] The Right To Say What We Want To Say John Hutcheson: Hey J.L. Kirk and Associates – Nobody likes a bully Rachel Walden: Off Topic: Don’t Bully the Bloggers Aunt B: None Shall Pass; Or This, Too, Shall [...]
April 11, 2007 at 11:10 pm
[...] JL Kirk will also have to send a nasty-gram to the Tennessee Better Business Bureau. (Thanks to Salem’s Lot for the [...]
April 12, 2007 at 6:28 am
[...] great list can be found at the blog, Salem’s Lot. permalink | categories: blogging | Time posted: 11:47 am on Wednesday, April 11th, [...]
April 13, 2007 at 11:40 am
[...] If the Newscoma and Hutchmo Mondo Awesome Organizers with matching action figures are available also, those would be nice too. [...]
April 14, 2007 at 9:18 pm
[...] screwed up in a major way. And the list goes on: Say Uncle, Smiffster, Toys in the Attic, Salems Lots, the best librarian ever (Women’s Health News), and the wonderful Lynnster. Also our local [...]
April 15, 2007 at 9:56 am
[...] no one in the kick-ass law firm understands the power of blogs or how Google works. Lots and lots of other bloggers picked up on the story. I’m guessing people who hire kick-ass law firms [...]
September 19, 2007 at 1:09 pm
damn all these beautiful gir. Corrina Eudora.
November 26, 2007 at 7:22 am
cqkgjytmwg cqkgjytmwg cqkgjytmwgcqkgjytmwg
cqkgjytmwgcqkgjytmwgcqkgjytmwg cqkgjytmwg