Dealing with people who improperly correspond with others in their business world is an issue that everyone must face. I recently had to deal with an associate of my mother’s who sent a decently nasty and pompous email to a good friend of mine. But on that note, I’ll say this – the email was not sent out widely and was not in plain view of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people.
Apparently this morning, Jason Calacanis tweeted about a new product from Howard Lidzon (stocktwits.com). Jason said “@howardlindzon nice job on stocktwits.com. just installed the firefox plugin and I’m shocked to find out you built a real product with value.”
To which the following conversation happened…
Jason also tweeted the following “… and the “Troll of the Month Award” goes to @HowardLindzon for his direct message to me “F–k you loser” – Well done Howard! keep hating!”
Let’s look at these two – Calacanis has over 41,000 followers on Twitter, started Weblogs, INC. which sold to AOL for millions, and is currently running Mahalo.com… quite the guy. Lindzon, according to his Twitter bio, is “Wallstrip Creator (www.wallstrip.com), Hedge Fund Manger, Venture Fund Manager (www.kbcpartners.com), [and] Now StockTwits.com.” Another impressive internet presence.
So what’s my point?
KEEP YOUR ARGUMENTS TO YOURSELVES! Right now I don’t see entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, I see two high school girls fighting about who’s pink pen is better! Calacanis – they’re not a troll if you ASK or INVITE for them to harass you, which you did. Don’t be an ass. Lindzon – don’t be an idiot. Enjoy what you’ve done and NEVER feel like someone is better than you. Have pride in your work, not just in yourself.
This applies to everyone. Want to maintain a great reputation as a brilliant, nice person who is interested in technology, the interner, or anything else you are passionate about? Don’t be stupid. Learn how to deal with trolls, learn how to not invite them in, and ESPECIALLY learn both of those things when you’re in a position of leadership. You’ve BOTH lost my respect, and I hope you can earn it back. That is all.
