urbanSTL

^ If true, and we already know the Post-Dispatch can't be trusted as it freely broke its privacy policy, this means that Kurt Greenbaum blatantly lied. He stated multiple times this issue was over a one-word post. Sorry, but I don't have much respect for him.

Kurt Greenbaum wrote:By mid-morning, a number of folks had commented about their experiences with Bird’s Nest Soup, octopus, cow brains and rattlesnake. Then, while I was in our 10 a.m. news meeting, someone posted in reply a single word, a vulgar expression for a part of a woman’s anatomy. It was there only a minute before a colleague deleted it.



A few minutes later, the same guy posted the same single-word comment again. I deleted it, but noticed in the WordPress e-mail alert that his comment had come from an IP address at a local school. So I called the school. They were happy to have me forward the e-mail, though I wasn’t sure what they’d be able to do with the meager information it included.

Bob Rose, who explained on KMOV yesterday that his pariah is a saint, and Arnie Robbins are also responsible.



Their contact information is found below and pulled from their own website: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/help/s ... enDocument



ARNIE ROBBINS (Managing Editor)

# Editor Phone: 314-340-8130

# E-mail: arobbins@post-dispatch.com

# Responsible for: Policy, planning and general direction for news and features coverage, as well as oversight of the editorial and commentary pages.

# Background: Robbins joined the Post-Dispatch in May 1997 and was named managing editor in February 1999. He has also worked at the Chicago Sun-Times and Minneapolis Star Tribune.

# Executive assistant: Maureen Tomczak

# Phone: 314-340-8102

# E-mail: mtomczak@post-dispatch.com



BOB ROSE (Deputy Managing Editor/Online and production)

# Phone: 314-340-8333

# E-mail: brose@post-dispatch.com

# Responsible for: The copy editing, visual journalism and design of the Post-Dispatch, including headlines, captions, graphics, photography and layout.

# Background: Rose joined the Post-Dispatch as assistant sports editor in 1988. He was part of the group that launched Get Out and oversaw the redesign of the newspaper in 1997. For the past three years, he's been in charge of the paper's editing and presentation.

^thanks. It's slow today so it's fun to pile on the dbags.

Unfortunately Lee Enterprises, the Post-Dispatch and Kurt Greenbaum are being a bit obtuse. We are now forced to up the pressure on them.



Are there any marketing people here from the Post-Dispatch? I'm compiling a list of businesses that currently advertise with them so that we know who to boycott. Thought you may be able to make the work a bit easier. We'll be creating an email/phone script to make it easy for St. Louisans to express their displeasure with the Post-Dispatch and those that continue to advertise with them.



What the Collective Wants from the P-D

1. Kurt and the Post-Dispatch must sincerely apologize to both the victim and its readership for violating its trust.

2. The Post-Dispatch either fire Kurt or force him to resign. (He could have kept his job if he weren't so damn arrogant and if he had an ounce of moral fortitude to apologize.)

3. Review the commenting policy, improve it and the system in which it is enforced.

Who is the "collective"?

lukethedrifter wrote:

innov8ion wrote:Unfortunately Lee Enterprises, the Post-Dispatch and Kurt Greenbaum are being a bit obtuse. We are now forced to up the pressure on them.



Are there any marketing people here from the Post-Dispatch? I'm compiling a list of businesses that currently advertise with them so that we know who to boycott. Thought you may be able to make the work a bit easier. We'll be creating an email/phone script to make it easy for St. Louisans to express their displeasure with the Post-Dispatch and those that continue to advertise with them.



What the Collective Wants from the P-D

1. Kurt and the Post-Dispatch must sincerely apologize to both the victim and its readership for violating its trust.

2. The Post-Dispatch either fire Kurt or force him to resign. (He could have kept his job if he weren't so damn arrogant and if he had an ounce of moral fortitude to apologize.)

3. Review the commenting policy, improve it and the system in which it is enforced.

Who is the "collective"?

The Collective

- The tens of thousands of Tweets that are at least 95% highly critical of Kurt Greenbaum and the P-D.

- A multitude of news articles and blogs that have a similar consensus. Highlights from Google News and more at Kurt's favorite site.



The collective (the world, really) is overwhelmingly upset with Kurt Greenbaum and the Post-Dispatch. A formal apology, Kurt's job, and an improvement of the comment system is representative of the remedies that the aggregate is seeking.



The world is screaming for justice... If Kurt and the Post-Dispatch doesn't provide it, then Kurt's safety could be in danger.

innov8ion wrote:

lukethedrifter wrote:

innov8ion wrote:Unfortunately Lee Enterprises, the Post-Dispatch and Kurt Greenbaum are being a bit obtuse. We are now forced to up the pressure on them.



Are there any marketing people here from the Post-Dispatch? I'm compiling a list of businesses that currently advertise with them so that we know who to boycott. Thought you may be able to make the work a bit easier. We'll be creating an email/phone script to make it easy for St. Louisans to express their displeasure with the Post-Dispatch and those that continue to advertise with them.



What the Collective Wants from the P-D

1. Kurt and the Post-Dispatch must sincerely apologize to both the victim and its readership for violating its trust.

2. The Post-Dispatch either fire Kurt or force him to resign. (He could have kept his job if he weren't so damn arrogant and if he had an ounce of moral fortitude to apologize.)

3. Review the commenting policy, improve it and the system in which it is enforced.

Who is the "collective"?

- The tens of thousands of Tweets that are at least 95% highly critical of Kurt Greenbaum and the P-D.

- A multitude of news articles and blogs that have a similar consensus. Highlights from Google News and more at Kurt's favorite site.



The collective (the world, really) is overwhelmingly upset with Kurt Greenbaum and the Post-Dispatch. A formal apology, Kurt's job, and an improvement of the comment system is consistent with what is out there...

I don't understand how "the collective" has such specific demands if it is so decentralized. Will "the collective" out me for asking this question?

^ Anonymous is mainly decentralized but joins clustered forces when necessary. Typically, Anonymous doesn't act like a mob. But when they have been fu.cked with and when there is such injustice and fu.ckery like with what Kurt did and how he and the Post-Dispatch are making excuses and failing to claim responsibility -- then they engage. It's seeking accountability and won't lay off until it happens. Read more about Anonymous here.



If you've ever voted, taken part in a poll, been a member of a demonstration -- then you know what I'm talking about. If not, I can't help you.

This whole thing is ridiculous. All of it. The 'victim' was stupid to do what he did. From work at a school. Twice. Greenbaum's an arrogant ass and I can't nor want to defend Lee. The jerks who comment to news stories are pathetic in general. But the internet mob that threatens a man's safety and security from behind the curtain of technology is more cowardly and reprehensible than any of the other players in this tragicomedy.

^ First, the tastefulness or origin of the comment is insignificant. The central issue is that the Post-Dispatch violated its own privacy policy which resulted in a forced resignation.



Most people, to include myself, prefer that he stay safe. But that requires a bit of cooperation from both Kurt and the Post-Dispatch. If they don't make this situation right soon, then nothing is guaranteed because we all know that anonymity breeds incivility. Maybe it will pass over, who knows...



Kurt never listened when I begged him to bring accountability to the comments sections. The "jack*ss" could only brag about how good it was to instead be lazy. Guess what, Kurt was wrong in not listening to constructive criticism and things just got uglier and uglier until this scandal erupted and he got totally pwned by the interwebs. Needless to say, we continue totrack the "best" comments on stltoday.com and I can guarantee that most are worse than what Kurt's victim got canned for. I hope Kurt recognizes the irony in this whole situation.



The problem is that the Post-Dispatch is likely concerned of the impending lawsuit and doesn't want to do anything that may be seen as assuming guilt. They seem to be lacking a moral compass and are only concerned with their liability. Either they value their privacy policy or they don't -- it's as simple as that. And since they don't, their integrity is shot.



Does the Post-Dispatch management realize the seriousness of this situation or are they complete idiots instead of just ignorant? I mean, in what universe is it possible to be so completely oblivious to what hundreds of thousands of people are saying? Just check the Reddit post, Twitter searches for Greenbaum & @kgreenbaum, and http://www.kurtgreenbaumisapussy.com/ with 32,000 page views and counting to see that this ain't a joke. Read your own comments section too (I have never seen such consensus on any topic in the Post-Dispatch but over 90% of its readers are livid): http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-ed ... l-comments.



Oh, and if you work for the Post-Dispatch you can do your management a favor by letting them know an organized boycott of them and their advertisers is in work... Anonymous can make it easy for existing P-D subscribers to cancel. And have you stopped to consider how much money the paper would lose if it fell victim to a denial of service (DDOS) attack?



Three Steps Needed

1. Apology from both Kurt and the P-D

2. Sh1tcan Kurt

3. Fix the commenting system to raise the level of discourse or get rid of it altogether. Oh, and solve the institutional problem of your journos harassing its readership.



Remember, this is not a high school newspaper you're running and it's not your duty to patronize us with your, "teachable moments." This is a metro area with 3 million people. We deserve better than this chicanery...

innov8ion wrote:The world is screaming for justice... If Kurt and the Post-Dispatch doesn't provide it, then Kurt's safety could be in danger.

Exaggerate much? I would wager that most of the world does not care.

^ This issue was distributed world-wide and a majority of the people that read it were disgusted. All his personal information is out there, people can track his vicinity based upon towers his cell phone is connected to, it is reported that people are having pizzas delivered to his house, gorilla poop, etc.... Who knows, there are a lot of unstable people out there. The bottom line is that he's getting a taste of his own medicine.

innov8ion wrote:...it is reported that people are having pizzas delivered to his house, gorilla poop, etc.... Who knows, there are a lot of unstable people out there.

[nods and slowly backs away]

I suspect the internet crazies have lost interest and moved on to other issues by now.

lukethedrifter wrote:This whole thing is ridiculous. All of it. The 'victim' was stupid to do what he did. From work at a school. Twice. Greenbaum's an arrogant ass and I can't nor want to defend Lee. The jerks who comment to news stories are pathetic in general. But the internet mob that threatens a man's safety and security from behind the curtain of technology is more cowardly and reprehensible than any of the other players in this tragicomedy.

+1.



I'd be more worried for Greenbaum if these low lifes and racists who thrive on the anonymous boards weren't also complete cowards.

The "P" word appears in the STLtoday comments again. Will Kurt Greenbaum strike again? Who will be fired next? Stay tuned as the P-D's moral inquisition on its readership continues.- http://ow.ly/ERUX

Riverfront Times (Chad Garrison) Expose: Meet the Person Behind the Website "Kurt Greenbaum is a Pu55y"



I may not be a lawyer but if an IP address isn't identifiable information, then how can the RIAA use it to sue the pants off everyone? Gee, maybe Jammie Thomas can tell the RIAA to go to hell over the $1.92 million judgment she received in the courts. Case law exists -- sorry Charlie!

^ Couldn't agree more...



And I don't think the backlash on Kurt is justified, at all.

Moorlander wrote:^ Couldn't agree more...



And I don't think the backlash on Kurt is justified, at all.

I think the backlash is justified...the talk and bluster is what I think is getting out of hand.



The PD needs to get rid of comments altogether. There is clearly no moderation and honestly, i am perfectly content to get my "news" without commentary from every tom dick and harry.

Jeff707 wrote:

Most people, to include myself, prefer that he stay safe. But that requires a bit of cooperation from both Kurt and the Post-Dispatch

"I prefer that your restaurant not burn down, Mr. Restaurant Owner. But that requires a bit of cooperation on your part, if you know what I mean"

In the sense that every person and organization can be held accountable by society. This can be adjudicated both inside and outside of the justice system. Scary? Perhaps, but so is war. And now nations aren't the only entities able to declare it.



If people act right, they won't have much to worry about. We may be entering a new era in society, but it's still based upon the same principles.



The mission of the Post-Dispatch is simply to deliver the news. It is not to serve as moral inquisitors and tattletales. What’s next, they determine that one of us holds unpopular political or religious views, tracks down our employer and gets us fired? It’s up to the school to ensure its staff and children act according to its own standards -- not the paper. No matter the legality, their cavalier behavior just set a precedent and cost whatever trust the public had in them.



And if the paper cares so damn much about civility, they'd wouldn't foster an environment that foments such racist, divisive, drivel. Instead, their actions indicate hypocrisy. Will advertisers want their brands to be displayed alongside this nonsense for much longer? Probably not if the public helps make them aware of it. So be proactive and fix it now. Establish mechanisms as described in http://stltomorrow.org.



Somewhere, Joseph Pulitzer is rolling in his grave. The P-D's founder was known as a champion for the common man. And now they got him fired.