My take on retractions

Yesterday I re-posted, with permission, a column sent to me by someone who writes freelance. The article was about the MacIver Institute. Over the course of about 8 hours, I received over 15 emails from the same person, first demanding a retraction of the parts of the post that were about him (I complied) then demanding an apology (I did not comply) and finally, “advising” me to take the post down because he implied that both he and the MacIver Institute would sue Blogging Blue for libel.

I explained to this person that I had reached out to the author of the column seeking an explanation, but that until I heard back, I wasn’t inclined to remove the post. That seemed fair to me, since I didn’t write the column myself, and it’s generally good to go straight to the source and gather all of the facts before making rash moves in situations like this.

But that wasn’t good enough for this person. He was relentless with his “demands” both via email and via twitter.

I do not consider twitter, which is public, to be an acceptable forum in which to air grievances.

The way in which this entire incident was handled by the person demanding a retraction seemed entirely unprofessional to me, and felt like harassment. It was extremely stressful.

But this is a good learning experience for me.

For the record, I am a fair person who would never seek to libel anyone for any reason. The ends do not justify the means. My own personal integrity and the way that I treat others is much more important than any post or story.

So I’d like to request that if any of you have a problem with any of my posts, that you use traditional methods to reach me and be patient while I investigate the problem rather than demanding immediate retraction. Please treat me how you, yourself, would like to be treated.

Thank you.