Blogs of death
Posted by Julie on March 3 2008, 22:36 » Uploaded 04/03/08 09:40

I don't know the details of the story below, but it made me think about how easy it is to hound people using the web, how easily a mob witch-hunt mentality can develop, which might have serious consequences.

 

BLOGS OF DEATH
POSTS CITED IN CREATIVE CHIEF'S SUICIDE
By HOLLY M. SANDERS

February 26, 2008 -- No one seems to know why Paul Tilley, the 40-year-old creative chief of ad agency DDB Chicago, jumped to his death from the window of the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago on Friday.

But that hasn't stopped a barrage of finger pointing on several advertising blogs at the center of a controversy about what role, if any, they played in Tilley's suicide.

Most of the anger appears to be directed at two sites - Agency Spy and Adscam - that subjected Tilley to scrutiny leading up to his death. Both bloggers defended their coverage yesterday.

"I see in the comments of this post that many will point fingers at this blog for Mr. Tilley's death. That is unacceptable," Agency Spy wrote in a posting.

The defense was in response to readers who blamed the public scrutiny and "snarky" comments for driving Tilley over the edge or - at least - contributing to the pressure-cooker atmosphere in the ad industry.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02262008/business/blogs_of_death_99343.htm

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