clinical-reader-update

Edited at 3:50 MDT: Clinical Reader has changed their site, and blamed the legal threat on a junior employee. I think the only thing missing is a brief public apology to Nikki. The below is still an interesting case study on how overreacting in social media can come back to bite you very quickly.

Original post:

The great and terrible thing about Twitter is the way it makes it so easy for an organization to shoot itself in the foot. About an hour ago, I had never heard of Clinical Reader. Now, I would never use, trust or recommend them, and am happy to share my opinion with you, dear reader.

And it’s not because of what Nikki Dettmar wrote on her Eagle Dawg Blog entry, Starry ethics fail about how Clinical Reader seems to be misrepresenting themselves as recipients of awards and recommendations that don’t exist. I might not have even seen that post, and if I did, I might have been inclined to give Clinical Reader the benefit of the doubt and assumed it was a minor lapse in judgement that they would soon rectify. Hanlon’s Razor and all that.

But when they respond to that blog post not with an apology or explanation (or even silence), but with bogus legal threats, they immedately move from the “possibly clueless” category in my brain to the “toxic and dangerous” category. (Also: love the “too” and the way they say they are “kindly” threatening someone. I feel warm and fuzzy.) And I’m not the only one.

Way to shut up your critics, Clinical Reader.

Edited at 2:02 MDT: It just gets better! Quit while you are behind, Clinical Reader!

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