Update 1: List of Fired Bloggers


After seeing some posts to my original piece on fired bloggers, and getting email, and one piece I found tonight while surfing, it is time to update the list of unlucky bloggers:

1) Michael Hanscom, fired in October 2003 as a temp at Microsoft for posting a picture of Apple Macintosh G5s sitting on the loading dock at MS.
2) Troutgirl, fired from Friendster for blogs that included references to her work.
3) Matthew Brown, fired from Starbuck's for posting comments about the coffee chain, its customers and managers on his personal blog in September 2004.
4) Penny Cholmondeley, terminated from her post as Nunavut (Canada) Tourism marketing officer after someone anonymously complained about her blog to her employer, which included passing references to the locale.
5) Iain Murray, a Brit working in the US, fired from his post as Director of Research at an NPO in January 2003, apparently in part due to blogging at work.
6) Steve Olafson, fired from his job reporting for the Houston Chronicle after another reporter outed him as the anonymous force behind a blog that was critical of local politicians and other news sources.
7) Daniel P. Finney, also fired from a job as a reporter, but at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch earlier this month when they discovered he was blogging, in part about his news assignments. [May have quit his job after being suspended...Working...]
8) Jessica Cutler (Washingtonienne), fired this summer after blogging for a total of two weeks about her sexual exploits with six partners, including a few highly placed government staffers.
9) Heather B. Armstrong, whose experiences as an outed blogger first to her Mormon family, and later to her employer, helped coin the term "dooced." She was fired in February 2002.
10) I have not even been able to find out this man's name, but he was "fired from "UN/CEFACT" (a volunteer organization?) for posting his thoughts on the committee (is this thing a committee or a senseless collection of letters? WTF?) on his blog...
11) Amy Norah Burch, who was fired from her job as undergraduate coordinator for the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies at Harvard University, after "a handful of unflattering references to her workplace interspersed throughout the site’s archives raised eyebrows at the department." May 2004.
12) The story that has gotten so much attention this year, QueenofSky, who was fired from Delta Airlines after she posted pictures of herself in Flight Attendant uniform ("risque" poses?).
13) http://www.ensight.org/archives/2005/01/06/the-whole-story-or-as-much-as-i-know-anyways/">Jeremy Wright was fired from the Health Sciences Centre, a major hospital in downtown Winnipeg, apparently after a co-worker or manager noticed that one of his blog entries referred to surfing the web and blogging for three hours while getting paid... [Thank you to Ryan (Quiplash) and Peter D for pointing this one out to me.]
14) Vibor Kalogjera was recalled from the Croatian embassy after he posted comments "that the diplomatic meetings were boring and that there was no difference between President Bush and the Democratic candidate John Kerry." (You have to scroll to the bottom of the page to see the report about Kalogiera.)
15) Joe (surname?) fired from Waterstone's in Edinburgh for blogging, in part, about his employer, including writing about "Bastardstone’s’ and have a character called ‘Evil Boss’ (my equivalent to Dilbert’s Pointy Haired Boss – in fact I compared head office directives to being in a Dilbert cartoon)."
16) Romiustexis, fired from an "anonymous courthouse," although I have not been able to determine what exactly he did that resulted in the termination.
17) Peter Whitney, fired from Wells Fargo-owned brokerage, Ragen Mackenzie, supposedly after a client did a web search for the company name.
18) Rachel Mosteller, fired from the Durham Herald-Sun, for blogging that included references to her editors.
19) Rob Smith, fired from Kerr-McGee, for blogging 'material that was "inappropriate" for a supervisor in their plant." Of course, this guy happens to be a racist wingnut who wrote lots of completely unflattering entries about his ex-wife, who worked at the same plant...
20) Gregg Easterbrook, fired from ESPN apparently for blogging about Kill Bill's producers, noting their Jewish ethnicity and asking "Does that make it right for Jewish executives to worship money above all else, by promoting for profit the adulation of violence?"
21) Veronica (surname unknown) fired after someone anonymously faxed her employer (employer unknown) saying he was a potential client and would never do business with a company that employed someone like Veronica and referring to the blog.

I knew when I wrote the original piece that it would resonate with members of the blogging community. Just as I was writing it, Curt Hopkins published his list of bloggers who have lost their jobs, been disciplined, or have lost job offers because of their blog entries. Within a few days of my posting the original piece, QueenoftheSky published her list of blogophobic companies and bloggers' rights.
Those two pieces, and then a link to QoS's page from boingboing, drove up email traffic and I have gotten some fantastic messages from people. I have received emails from a few people who have experienced similar problems, but don't want their stories published. I have to figure there are dozens or hundreds more like them whose names are not showing up on this list.

Let me wrap up this post by saying a huge thank you!! to Curt Hopkins. I used a lot of information from his list, and appreciate it. (It is obvious that QoS is using it as a reference, as well.)

Posted: Wed - January 12, 2005 at 01:57 AM        

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