I also want it to be made clear that Daniel did not leave any contact information except their Yahoo email account. Still sounds very fishy to me. Even the email headers are very similar to those of the Radicati Group. It makes me wonder. Is Joseph Lewis also known as Daniel Johnson? The email also failed to contain a phone number, URL, or any company affiliation.
I also did some research on the Yahoo account that Daniel used to send the email which was created on 7/29/2004. Hmmmmm. He stated on Colin's blog that he didn't have an email account and had to borrow his sisters spare.
Go read the comments on Lotus Informer by Joe and compare them to Daniel. Hmm.....I smell a fish. I have removed the references to my employers name in the email for reasons I think you can understand. You can read my About page and my Site Disclaimer for more information.
Here's the email:
Subject: Questionable behavior of Employee Bruce Elgort
Dear Mr. XXXX and Ms XXXX
I am writing to you to call your attention as primary media contacts for XXXXX to the greatly disturbing actions of Bruce Elgort, manager of information services for XXXX Corp.'s U.S. microelectronics division. He was recently quoted on CNN.com: http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/biztech/07/28/thinner.computing.ap/
Mr. Elgort has taken it upon himself, perhaps inspired by many otherwise poorly-entertained peers, to engage in online Web logging, or "blogging", making no attempt to hide his name or organization. While he has no official company-blog, he has a personal blog at http://www.bruceelgort.com/, in which he has recently been partaking in and encouraging actions that are truly degrading representations of your company and its beliefs and products, which I have always held in high esteem.
Please see http://www.bruceelgort.com/blogs/be.nsf/plinks/BELT-636TSU#comments for a highly undignified, petty, childish representation of Mr. Elgort's partaking in an online battle. At various other sites:
http://www.e-promag.com/lotusinformer/index.cfm?commentID=290
http://colinp.dominodeveloper.net/members/colinp/colin.nsf/plink/040728-1257
Mr. Elgort proceeds to spend his time scouring other blogs, harrassing online bloggers such as myself, and apparently feels that it is his right to demand answers and insult them at will with false assumptions.
I find it greatly unsettling that XXXXX would sanction its employees to run rampant, engaging in childish bullying and strong-arming tactics online, while proudly parading under the XXXXX banner and giving the world the impression that this is the company's official view point on this matter. (To summarize, the overall matter was about an insignificant market analyst report that compares IBM Lotus Notes to Microsoft Exchange - nothing new, ground-breaking nor particularly interesting.)
Mr. Elgort has the odd habit of gleefully joining in online "flame wars" to discredit any offending party (be it a member of the press, an analyst firm, a random individual) if he/she says anything that even hints that any product/company he prefers is not the absolute best in the industry. I agree that loyalty is commendable, but I feel that these recent actions have reeked of unprofessionalism, desperation, and leaves me and many others with a bitter aftertaste.
I doubt that this is something XXXXX should be associated with nor heralding, particularly in this day and age where companies are held responsible for their employees actions. The blog comments have degenerated into truly idiotic and irresponsibly petty mud-slinging insults.
I hope that you take the appropriate action with such a clearly errant employee, who is accomplishing nothing but ruining XXXXX good name, image and reputation with his malicious online drivel. If you are unable to do so, I will be happy to escalate this matter to someone higher in the organization.
Sincerely,
Daniel Johnson
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage!
Comment posted by Ferdy Christant08/02/2004 11:59:10 AM
Homepage: http://www.ferdychristant.com
Bruce, OMG! This thing is getting out of hand. I can't believe he has the nerve to contact your employer and still claim that YOU are the one being childish
I know this is not neccessary but still...if your employer is reading this he should know what he hopefully already knows. That you're a professional in every way. That you're extremely active and useful in this industry and that you have a wealth of market knowledge. Anyone who puts up a clear fight can argue with you in a mature way, and either agree or disagree, no hard feelings. The fact that you do not hide your company or name can only be seen as a compliment, although you're not even speaking on behalf of them. This, after all, is a personal blog. It is pathetic to see how this person is everything he accuses you of.
If he's reading this...go ahead and visit my site too, and please...contact my employer. They eat idiots like you for breakfast.
Comment posted by Carl 08/02/2004 11:58:24 AM
This does sum it up though doesn't it:
"insignificant market analyst report ", they even admit to it.
Comment posted by Carl 08/02/2004 11:57:14 AM
Homepage: http://www.iminstant.com
Now that I like
Comment posted by Richard Schwartz08/02/2004 12:04:12 PM
Homepage: http://smokey.rhs.com/web/blog/rhs.nsf
Carl... you beat me to it
Actually not. I mentioned it to Bruce in a chat. You just beat me to posting it 
-rich
Comment posted by Carl08/02/2004 12:50:43 PM
I believe you Rich
Comment posted by Christopher Byrne08/02/2004 05:01:52 PM
Homepage: http://www.controlscaddy.com/
This will receive a follow-up blog on my site tonite. I really want to move onto other topics, but the ethical implications of this whole episode are just too significant.
Comment posted by Bruce08/02/2004 05:05:46 PM
Me too. I really have dived deep into Notes/Domino 7 and want to resume with my regularly scheduled blogging. As I stated in the blog entry after this one "Game Over". Thanks for posting Christopher.
The Radicati Group doesn't deserve any more press than they have already gotten.
Comment posted by Colin Pretorius08/02/2004 07:13:36 PM
Homepage: http://colinp.dominodeveloper.net/
I traded mails with our dear Mr Johnson on the weekend, and certain similarities between Daniel Johnson and Joseph Lewis' comments (and the Radicati follow-up, for that matter), are all mighty suspicious.
Trackback: http://colinp.dominodeveloper.net/plink/040803-0149
Comment posted by Neil08/03/2004 01:13:51 AM
I cant believe he actually wrote to your employer, this is a personal blog, if he has a problem with you views or issues THIS is the forum to tackle them.
Whats next, you speak to someone outside of work in a group and someone writes to your employer...
But I have to admit, that clearly identifying yourself, and merely inviting someone to contact you to discuss it would force me to get a restraining order against you.....
This is madness and I hope your company treats it in this way....
Comment posted by Kurt08/03/2004 06:10:56 AM
Homepage: http://www.higs.net
What I find amusing is in this sentence: "Mr. Elgort has taken it upon himself, perhaps inspired by many otherwise poorly-entertained peers, to engage in online Web logging, or "blogging", making no attempt to hide his name or organization."
Then later he says: "Mr. Elgort proceeds to spend his time scouring other blogs, harrassing online bloggers such as myself,".
Nothing like insulting yourself.
Comment posted by Volker Weber08/03/2004 09:36:58 AM
Homepage: http://vowe.net
Link-o-rama: http://vowe.net/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi?RadicatiGroup
Comment posted by jonvon08/04/2004 01:54:46 PM
Homepage: http://jonvon.net
wow, this is the most bizarre twist in this "geek drama" yet.
hope those at your company know you are the Real Thing man. in fact i'm sure they do! i don't think anyone could miss it.
this is written with heartfelt respect sir.
