Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh - Valleywag Comments

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

Trackback — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:58:47 PST

Like many bloggers, we get inundated with ridiculous press releases about stuff we'd absolutely never write about.

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

inmediaPR — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:09:31 PST

We've been commenting a bit on this whole hacks-versus-flacks thing our own blog, wwww.inmedialog.com, and one of our readers pointed to this, what she called a " particularly egregious" example of the worst of PR practices. Some of our comments, and yours, wonder how fair it is for bloggers to pick on such easy targets. As a practitioner for 20 years, I say, "Bring it on." Like the jackal who actually does the shepherd a favour by culling the weakest from the herd, having bloggers name and shame these poor practitioners will only make the PR species stronger.
BTW: Poor Tom Biro has missed the boat. This wasn't a case of a "blog pitch gone bad." This was malpractice from the first cut-and-paste. It was engineered from the outset to be a disaster.

inmediaPR

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

LauraMoncur — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:42:22 PST

I wish EVERY PR company would follow the guidelines of that list. I can't count the times I've received PR emails telling me that they've been reading my site, enjoy it and thought I would be interested in reviewing a product I trashed two months ago.

LauraMoncur

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

Jeremy — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:14:49 PST

@Patricia2: Guess my reps loved me more to catch my mistakes. ;)

Jeremy

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

Owen Thomas — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:47:27 PST

@TheTypeset: You forget -- or more likely never knew -- that yours truly got his start shooting fish in a barrel. So watch yourself.

Owen Thomas

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

TheTypeset — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:23:17 PST

I look forward to future articles in which Nicholas Carlson shoots fish in barrels, mocks retarded children, and misleads the blind.

Making fun of PR people isn't exactly a sign of with. Especially when you think California is New York.

[valleywag.com]

TheTypeset

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

elvenjewel — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 03:06:40 PST

Yes, too bad -- it was fun watching her dig herself deeper into the hole she's burying herself in. Alas, I'm not sure she can even do that competently.

elvenjewel

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

ROIpositive — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:58:59 PST

banned? this was just getting good. :(

ROIpositive

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

Patricia2 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:26:49 PST

@Jeremy, you'd be surprised. I've seen it happen more than once.

Patricia2

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

Owen Thomas — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:05:45 PST

@puntacana2242: Too stupid to read Valleywag's terms of use? Too stupid to comment on Valleywag! You're banned.

Corresponding with Gawker Media
Any correspondence with the GM Sites or with Gawker Media, including any documentation or images, are considered property of Gawker Media. Gawker Media reserves the right to reproduce such correspondence, in whole or in part, on any of the GM Sites or its affiliates.

Owen Thomas

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

Totorototoro — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 19:01:54 PST

"Apprently" her attorney is wrathing you right now?

Totorototoro

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

soccerstar2242 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:14:37 PST

And whoever Punta Cana is, thank you!

soccerstar2242

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

soccerstar2242 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:13:44 PST

Thanks for all the comments, you can thank me for all the laughs :)

soccerstar2242

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

soccerstar2242 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:11:34 PST

This is Monica, I don't know what you guys are talking about.

soccerstar2242

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

ScalaWag — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:47:36 PST

@Alaska Miller: If she keeps going on like that she risks joining the ranks of the starving herself. At least she will go down fighting!

ScalaWag

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

woogie77 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:38:18 PST

This is a classic 'revenge of the nerds' post.

woogie77

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

Alaska Miller — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:03:15 PST

You know, Monica, if you're going to go undercover and mingle with the crowd you should at least pick a better name.

Your first post was also really lame:

BY PUNTACANA2242 AT 11/28/07 02:19 PM

You all are too critical. People are dying everyday and people are starving let's get priorities straight. Entry-level employees make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes. Leave the poor girl alone. Enough said.

Alaska Miller

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

puntacana2242 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:55:57 PST

I don't even know Monica and I feel sorry what you're doing to her! Enough is enough!

puntacana2242

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

puntacana2242 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:53:01 PST

Nicholas Carlson is evil and desperate for press! Who posts things from personal inboxes anyway? It's called privacy, something he obviously knows nothing about.

puntacana2242

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

Jeremy — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:35:29 PST

@Patricia2: Well, usually the wire service catches the tracking, and you are safe.

Here, I have no comment.

Jeremy

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

jonathanmarcus — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:29:03 PST

Awesome stuff Nicholas!

jonathanmarcus

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

ohpoormonica — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:26:27 PST

Haha Monica screwed the pooch again - "apprently" is actually spelled "appArently" in America. The article was also entitled "Great Moments" not "Geat Moments."

My advice to MWW - find better employees or send Monica back to elementary school.

ohpoormonica

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

Patricia2 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 15:13:19 PST

Wow, I wonder if her firm signed off on that email she's sent you. I would have handled that in a completely different way.

For the record, sometimes if you cut and paste something and it looks clean in the email or word doc, it'll screw up in the transition on its own - it's something wonky about Word and the track changes feature. You should see when it happens with a press release over the news wire! Heads really roll then! But, it happens on its own - you have to be very careful.

Patricia2

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

ROIpositive — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:49:37 PST

I don't think that would be the best use of Monica's money. She's going to need to be pretty frugal...unemployment doesn't cover a whole helluva lot.

ROIpositive

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

bbucy — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:43:01 PST

The only lawyer whose wrath I fear is my wife. Many of her clients are large, heavily tattooed, and singularly unpleasant. Worse, some them owe her money.

Wait, I just had an entrepreneurial thought: Maybe Nick could pay me a lot of money to keep my wife's contact info from Monica. Or maybe Monica could pay me a lot of money for said contact info.

The auction is on!

bbucy

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

Alaska Miller — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:15:39 PST

Milk this for another week. I would like to see the form letter the lawyer sends out.

Alaska Miller

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

sachmet — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:50:35 PST

I say Nick removes the "Geat Moments in PR" article off the site. The "Great Moments in PR" article should stay.

sachmet

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

mizznike — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:47:24 PST

Nick, you should take this down immediately before Ms. Roberts' lawyers send cease and desist papers to GigaOm.

mizznike

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

dalejo — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:36:39 PST

Funny stuff. Can anyone tell me why lawyers are so angry? Does anyone else bring their "wrath"? C'mon guys, you make great money, lighten up!

dalejo

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

SVreader — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:17:12 PST

Gotta love how everyone suddenly has a lawyer on call when angry. You could have obscured her contact info though, to keep it classy.

SVreader

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

NefariousNewt — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:16:20 PST

@sample032: This is the equivalent of the cold sales call. She wasn't expecting anything more than some positive press, little realizing that most of the people on the Internet (and at this site in particular) are probably a whole lot more tech-savvy than she is. I would love to listen to the lawyer's laughter as she explains it to him/her.

NefariousNewt

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

nirreskeya — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:14:50 PST

What was just a boring mistake has turned into the funniest thing I've seen all week, maybe all month. Thanks Monica!

nirreskeya

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

Dan Frommer — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:59:44 PST

'Geat' stuff!

Dan Frommer

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

egoldin — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:58:21 PST

She asked for it. Fight the power.

egoldin

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

ScalaWag — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:56:10 PST

@DaveMcClure500Hats: I am starting to feel bad for Monica and can totally picture her as a helpless seal pup :)

Sir Nicholas, show her some mercy.

ScalaWag

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

sample032 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:54:40 PST

Sorry, but when you send a very sloppy email to a self-described "gossip rag" with a rich history of posting embarrassing stories, what were you expecting?

sample032

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

ROIpositive — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:44:58 PST

a computer glitch, eh? don't make fun of you? i can't imagine the "wrath" of your lawyer. or should we expect your big brother?

ROIpositive

Dear PR flack, don't make us laugh

DaveMcClure500Hats — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:44:10 PST

nick, just admit it: when you want a good time, you go beatup seal pups don't you?

DaveMcClure500Hats