Valleywag Fires Writer Who Criticized Valleywag
Michael Arrington
74 comments »
Apparently everything and everyone is fair game at Silicon Valley gossip site Valleywag. Or, almost everything. Write a post criticizing Valleywag itself, and two weeks later you’re out of a job.
Writer Jordan Golson is the person who finds himself out of work, possibly based on a single critical post about his employer. His post, written on April 1 (but not an April Fools joke), complained that pay was being lowered, but no one knew the details even after they took effect. “Writers are getting a paycut, but are expected to continue working even though we don’t know what we’re getting paid,” adding “We should not be expected to work blind.”
That may not have sat well with Golson’s boss, Owen Thomas. He apparently fired Golson via telephone, and followed up via instant message:
12:13:51 PM Owen Thomas: So traffic was certainly not the issue, I can tell you that much
12:14:13 PM Owen Thomas: It had something to do with what you wrote about, when you wrote, and how you wrote
12:15:02 PM Owen Thomas: And I saw no swift resolution to that.
This was forwarded to me by someone else and I haven’t been able to reach Golson for comment. I’ll update with any additional information.
Update: I spoke to Golson, who says he has no idea why he was fired, but says it probably wasn’t solely due to the April 1 post. It may have also been due to a “lack of enthusiasm” following the pay cuts.
Update 2: Golson now says in the comments that his April 1 post had nothing at all to do with his firing, and that is his final position on the matter. His email, on record and off record comments (as well as Owen’s IMs) are starting to confuse me in their contradictions, I’m moving on.
I hate valleywag with a passion.
Telling you man Economy !
Well joke or no joke, he is out of job for now….
Don’t expect any sympathy for those at Valleywag. Pure trash, Bosh!
valleywho?
Storm, tea-cup, etc
Jim - it’s a blog dedicated to tracking my weight gain, my dating habits, and Jason Calacanis’ dogs.
I don’t think I can read this blog anymore. I have read a few times, but the typos kill me. Please, for the love of literature, use spell check, or maybe even proofread before you post. The things you have to say are interesting, but after 2 glaring errors in about as many lines of text, I can’t do it anymore. Twitter when you find a spell checker.
Oh no, another Valleywag site coming right up
Jordan,
We’d love to give you the opportunity to vent your frustrations and spread a little dirt about your former employers.
Rejoice, you’ve been given a new lease on a legitimate writing career!
In other news: “Arrington shows Valleywag” ;-P
weee drama within the gossip blog itself!
I can see why Owen Thomas would fire Golson based on what he wrote. It’s never a good idea to bite the hand that feeds you.
More traffic for Valleywag!
Come on Mike focus on the startups and not the blog drama or create another blog JUST for startups like I’ve heard you mention possibly doing before.
Posts like this remind me of…well…Valleywag???
Wow this news made you so giddy you even linked to them!
whoooops _ always thought they are smart - sorry to hear about that waggy style
the lesson here is that as a hired blogger you need to know what makes your boss happy. And the blogger needs to know how and when they will be paid.
So now Techcrunch can hire this guy !!
Michael what would your reaction be if one of your employees made a post about TC of similar nature?
Valleywag is the online equivalent to bathroom stall carvings!
“Hey, wanna start a blog that pulls in viewers with unfounded bashing, rumors and sexual innuendos? Yeah, lets call it valleywank! No, i got it Valleywag!!”
Maybe it was crap like this?
http://valleywag.com/378331/yo.....ly-love-us
Sean - i’d fire them. If you see irony in that, think about it until you understand why there isn’t any.
I cant imagine writing for valleywag and calling that my job
Adam - right. that compares so unfavorably to most content on that site.
Gee, “lack of enthusiasm” after a pay cut. I wonder why?
Mike, the funny thing about your hate for Valleywag is I only started reading them because you bash them so much.
funny. two emails from owen. suddenly he’s very concerned with “facts.”
Mike, I’m 100% sure that it wasn’t over the April 1 post, but was instead over the displeasure expressed that I surely showed through my work.
You got a private email that I sent to someone else and posted it without talking to me first. You told me you couldn’t wholly change your post now that you’ve written it. Just use the ’strike’ tag. That seems easier!
Valleypoop is ridiculous. Imagine losing a talented writer for doing his job and being real…one of the reasons I visit Valleypoop. I’m so tired of hearing about companies that disrespect their employees and then when their employees question it they either get fired, called negative, or unenthusiastic for the business.
I POOP on Valleypoop.
Jordan - I’ve got three different answers from you on this now, and what we’ve written above corresponds to your original email. Let me know when you’ve come to your final decision on the matter.
I agree with your postings.
Mike,
I just gave it to you. It’s not due to April 1 post. It’s due to my lack of enthusiasm after the page view rate change.
I wrote “May be due to my April 1 post, I’m not sure.” in my initial email that you posted about. Instead of quoting that, you wrote I was fired “almost certainly based on a single critical post.” I told you that was wrong.
I believe my exact words were “if they wanted to fire me over that, they would have done it two weeks ago. Owen and Denton have never punished anyone for that sort of post.”
this is so much bullshit over nothing.
Jordan, maybe you’ll get yourself a real writing gig you dimwit.
Michael,
You are constantly straying from covering tech companies and start-ups. Are things that s-l-o-w?
oh jordan, how far you’ve fallen. how did you go from the apple store to valleywag.
Ahhh, Valleywag - putting the ads in ad hominem
Maybe Jordon was threatened legally about disparaging remarks?
“You got a private email that I sent to someone else and posted it without talking to me first. ”
Well if that isn’t eating your own dogfood and calling the kettle black I don’t know what is. How dare TC not rise to the journalistic standards of VW!
Jay: maybe not overtly, but…burning bridges and all that.
Enjoying the irony of watching Golson seek a “correction”. As a (slimy, fat) Valleywag writer, he never corrected his lies. Of course, based on Owen’s comments, Mike’s first conclusion appears to be the correct one.
are gmails Imap servers down right now for anyone else?
@37 What post did I write where lied and never corrected them?
@Mike Arrington: Journalists are funny that way.
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO CAAAAAAAAAAARES.
Yo Jordan, I know you are a writer, but sometimes you have to stop writing….
I did a joke blog series called 40 Days or Rag on Valleywag and they went ballistic over there. I was making fun mostly of that prostitute who blogs at valleyrag. However, even Owen when nuts in the comments sections. People iin glass houses …
http://www.johnmwillis.com/oth.....eakonmics/
Michael,
Just hire Jordan already. You say his contradictions confuse you in their contradictions — so he’ll fit in perfectly with the folks already on TC staff writing similar stuff on a daily basis!
@jordan
“I just gave it to you. It’s not due to April 1 post. It’s due to my lack of enthusiasm after the page view rate change.”
Dude, quit while you’re ahead, so to speak.
ValleyWag sucks…… i think jordan would rather be at TECHCRUNCH……you cant find anyone better then someone who stands up for himself and what he believes….he’s my hero lol
is it just me or does Jordan looks like the twin brother of the guy from Tao of Steve….
btw valleywag’s posts are more entertaining than Duncan Riley’s….at least they are funny
Valleywag may have low standards, but at least they aren’t so hypocritical to lower their standards even more when it suits them.
The constant gossip on Valleywag is their core business, and mostly tongue in cheek. The intermittent gossip on Techcrunch is at times malicious, often lacking in humor, and clearly driven by personal grudges and hangups.
It’s not so much annoying as just…. painful. Just don’t. Please.
Eh…
Normally I hate people who make the “Was this news? Why did you even post this?” comment. But in this case I have to be that guy and ask “what’s the point?”
Posting this about Valleywag is like criticizing the weak morals of the crack dealer in the school yard. It isn’t as if you could lower people’s opinion of Valleywag anyway so there’s really no point.
Employees are hard…
Jordan = Perez Hilton of Silicon Valley
I like Jordan’s writing…
Live by the sword, die by the sword. Owen will be out of a job someday, maybe soon. Just like everyone at who ever worked at Gawker. It will be so interesting to see how he feeds himself after tormenting everyone in the Bay Area like the gutless (though fat) lying liar he is.
Has anyone noticed how Gawker Media hires only the most pathetic, self-hating people–Valleywag being the most obvious example. Morbidly obese Thomas, the dwarf that used to run the place, etc. Have you ever seen any of the freaks who work for him in NY? It’s like, Only The Self Loathers Need Apply.
It is true that if Owen doesn’t take a few off, he’ll be the next blogger to die, slumped over his greasy keyboard. If anyone has his mailing address, please post it ASAP so we can send him Krispy Kremes.
Hey Mike.
How about use rel=nofollow for sites/companies/products that you hate or give negative reviews.?
No sense giving pagerank to these guys.
Kevin
@Nick Denton: Wired hired Megan McCarthy and the New York Times hired Paul Boutin, so I don’t buy your theory that Valleywag’s writers are unemployable. Unless you truly believe that the only jobs worth having are at TechCrunch. I’ll bet you a Krispy Kreme that Jordan ends up at a TechCrunch competitor.
@Not Nick: You got me Owen. Then let’s put it this way: Neither Paul nor Megan lasted long enough for Valleywag’s stench to rub off on them. But ask yourself with that total honesty and integrity you so famoulsy bring to your “journalism” (cough, cough) : You think either of those places would hire you? But hey! You know how to blog, don’t you? You just stick your finger in your ass, and blow…
why do i feel like Owen is just having a conversation with himself at this point. guys, please tone it down.
The people at valleywag eat puppies and unborn babies.
yawn. who cares? i mean, seriously? this is not useful to someone interested in tech goings-on. valleywag is a POS. a real POS. the only one obsessing about that collection of talentless idiots seems to be techcrunch. just move on. it’s such bullshit. personally, i can’t wait for the big shakeout so those useless slugs all get fired.
Golson was doing just fine in April according to Valleywag stats, sometimes better that Owen Thomas: http://valleywag.com/stats/
Sure looks like Tubby fired Chubby for “what he wrote about” on April 1.
Too funny. Jordan is an idiot, a piss poor writer, a drain on our health care system with his weight, and a detriment to property value anywhere he goes.
I laugh at his pain. His tears are delicious.
Because valleywag always left me empty i came to techcrunch In search of my digital diet Stop talking about the crumby site. The gossip is entertaining though. They recently sold a couple of sites they should have lots of money. Imagine techcrunch a gossip rag. As with any business if you wanna be in business and stay in business follow what sells! Smut sells any way you slice it. Im full.
Jordan ought to have the last laugh here Crunchies. If I know my libel law (and I think I do) he has an excellent case against Valleywag. I’ve never actually seen someone’s “firing” as his boss(?!) Mr. Thomas kept calling it in his inane memo, made so public—”so obviously designed to be leaked,” as the site itself said. And so humiliating. (”The parting was perhaps overdue…” Goodness!)
Jordan, hire an attorney my young friend. You’ve just hit the jackpot.
@Nick Denton: Way to show ‘em, boss. Can I have my walk now?