Discussion
  • Read More
    FlamingTelepathJ.K. Trotter
    10/30/14 4:19pm

    While technically true, that's a misleading headline, pal. He left after, but not because of, her complaint, from what I can tell from reading the piece.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      J.K. TrotterFlamingTelepath
      10/30/14 4:28pm

      Well, leaving your quibble with the headline aside, he did leave because of the complaint’s effects. The complaint led higher-ups to strip him of managerial authority, which led Taibbi to quit.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Sir BigglesworthJ.K. Trotter
      10/30/14 5:44pm

      Post hoc ergo propter hoc? No. I think you should read the Intercept's account of events again.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Freddie DeBoerJ.K. Trotter
    10/30/14 4:23pm

    You ever read the book he wrote with Mark Ames?

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      J.K. TrotterFreddie DeBoer
      10/30/14 4:26pm

      No. Is it bad?

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Freddie DeBoerJ.K. Trotter
      10/30/14 4:34pm

      I have no idea if these allegations are true. But...

      pg. 134: We have been pretty rough on our girls. We'd ask our Russian staff to flash their asses or breasts for us. We'd tell them that if they wanted to keep their jobs, they'd have to perform unprotected anal sex with us. Nearly every day, we asked our female staff if they approved of anal sex. That was a fixation of ours. "Can I fuck you in the ass? Huh? I mean, without a rubber? Is that okay?" It was all part of the fun.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    J.K. TrotterJ.K. Trotter
    10/30/14 4:15pm

    This is a RASCI, I guess:

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      McChimpJ.K. Trotter
      10/30/14 4:19pm

      So "responsibility assignment matrix" is a buzzword for "chore list"?

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Crash CometMcChimp
      10/30/14 4:23pm

      God, some people just don't understand business. Look, dummy...

      It's a buzzword for chore chart, OK? The grown-ups are trying to talk here.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    MarvinogravelbaloonfaceJ.K. Trotter
    10/30/14 4:22pm

    Taibbi's always struck me as bad journalism. Sure he seems smart and he can write well, but some of his stuff is so desperate to make a point that he ends up annoying me the for all the same reasons that the Fox/Rush crowd does. Perhaps the fault is mine in that I was looking for impartial fact-based material that exposes the atrocities of the Right. I think that the facts are usually damning enough; wannabe-Hunter Thompson-esque hyperbole and histrionics is neither necessary or appreciated.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      J.K. TrotterMarvinogravelbaloonface
      10/30/14 4:27pm

      That seems like a separate issue here!

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      MarvinogravelbaloonfaceJ.K. Trotter
      10/30/14 4:29pm

      True, but please try not to get me off track when I'm trying to build up a head of steam for a rant.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    RussianistJ.K. Trotter
    10/30/14 4:23pm

    I'm guessing the short version is that he got frustrated with one of this company's insane policies and called the drone insisting he follow it a b*tch — not nice and not professional, even for a guy who's fond of profanity, but not quite a firing offence. None-the-less it gave him an opening to leave the project and he took it.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      EasttoMidwestRussianist
      10/30/14 4:28pm

      A definite possibility, although there is no excuse whatsoever for talking to an underling that way.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      RobNYCRussianist
      10/30/14 4:30pm

      I'm thinking it wasn't a word he said but rather a sum of the parts.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    WhatIsInvalidScreenNameJ.K. Trotter
    10/30/14 4:55pm

    Kind of disappointed in the headline here. Alongside all the other articles on Gawker, one jumps to the assumption that this was going to end up in some sexually inappropriate place. ("Female Staffer"). Reading the article, it doesn't sound like much more than Taibbi being Taibbi and clashing with the way his bosses were doing things. The female staffer "gender" angle was buried in the intercept article, and pretty vehemently denied by other staffers. And obviously had nothing to do with any sexual impropriety (which you don't say but c'mon). Also, sure, it happened "after" the staffer's complaint (as in later-in-time), but sounds like it had little to no bearing on his leaving. I love you guys, but not sure why you'd try to focus on that angle when there's nothing of real merit to it. Sounds more like a headline TMZ would publish.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      J.K. TrotterWhatIsInvalidScreenName
      10/30/14 7:44pm

      So the headline isn’t inaccurate, you just don’t like it? I don’t mean to be glib here; I’m just kind of exhausted by these critiques that consist of: “Well, it’s CORRECT but [something].”

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      UnbelizeableJ.K. Trotter
      10/30/14 8:15pm

      hang your hat on a technicality all you want, but if you're just shooting for sensational it would likely be just as accurate to say "Matt Taibbi Left First Look Media After [Breathing, Drinking A Half Lifetime of Alcoholic Beverges, Being Born, Speaking with Woman, Writing Own Name Down].

      The gist is that you're focusing on part of the story and pretending that this part is either more crucial, most crucial, the butterfly that flapped its ring wings, or the only thing that matters. Its clear he left FLM for complex reasons, the largest being disagreements with management.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    rini6J.K. Trotter
    10/30/14 10:25pm

    The headline implies something such as sexual harassment and I think is a tad inflammatory and unfair to Taibbi

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      J.K. Trotterrini6
      10/31/14 1:31am

      Okay. It’s certainly not intended to imply that.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      WhatIsInvalidScreenNameJ.K. Trotter
      10/31/14 11:02am

      It really does and you should just change it. It would be more honest to say "Matt Taibbi Left First Look Media After Clashes with Management/Staff" or even something along the lines of "Matt Taibbi Leaves First Look Media After Being a Big Jerk" (whatever you want to put there). But to characterize his leaving after "complaints by a female staffer" throws a massive amount of inference to facts that just aren't there. It's misleading, whether you intended it to be or not.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Beet ArthurJ.K. Trotter
    10/30/14 4:16pm

    Matt Taibi always seemed like an arrogant jerk, so much so that I was surprised he found someone to marry him. Whereas Jeremy Scahill....I've had to restrain myself from stalking his known hangouts. purrrrrrrr

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      NoButWait Hates Your GoT Fan TheoriesBeet Arthur
      10/30/14 4:26pm

      This guy I don't know always seemed like a huge jerk, but this OTHER guy I ALSO don't know..SWOOOOON.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Beet ArthurNoButWait Hates Your GoT Fan Theories
      10/30/14 4:29pm

      Thank you for understanding what I said. I never said my feelings were science based.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    MissNormaDesmondJ.K. Trotter
    10/31/14 4:23pm

    This is really a terrible headline for what the substance of the story turned out to be. I urge you to consider re-writing it.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      J.K. TrotterMissNormaDesmond
      10/31/14 4:29pm

      It’s an accurate, non-sensational headline. Come on.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      MissNormaDesmondJ.K. Trotter
      10/31/14 5:50pm

      I think you're not seeing it the way a reader does who comes to the story with no awareness of what it's going to be about. I'm not trying to accuse you of anything, I just think it's a natural blind spot caused by your already knowing what the story is. When I saw it, the immediate implication was that there had been some sort of sexual harassment incident, and I think you're seeing that a lot of other readers reacted the same way. It means that one reads what follows with an inaccurate idea in mind that needs to be dispelled by careful reading. You read carefully. I read carefully. Many people do not read carefully.

      In any case, it seems as if you're missing what's really interesting about this story. To me, it would be that multiple other personnel at the organization, including two ex-Gawker editors, wrote an open letter of support after he walked out.

      I don't mean to be a jackass here, these are obviously only my opinions, and worth what you paid for them. I do feel strongly, though, that probably without at all meaning to, you've written a misleading headline that doesn't serve your story well.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    revarthurbellingJ.K. Trotter
    10/30/14 4:15pm

    So when will Taibbi's version of events come out?

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      J.K. Trotterrevarthurbelling
      10/30/14 4:31pm

      Soon, I’m assuming.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      MarkEbnerJ.K. Trotter
      10/30/14 4:38pm

      Soon yes, but will anyone really care? We're talking about the guy who wrote about being glad that Andrew Breitbart died.

      Reply
      <