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Comment by SamAtt | Hacker News Reader

I had a blog up until a couple years ago. But I eventually decided the risk/reward equation was way out of whack. Especially given how easy it is to offend some people.

That’s what it came down to for me. Every blog post became "is this worth losing my job, friends, etc... over if I potentially offend someone?" Once I determined the answer to that question was almost always no I decided to ditch the blog.

(and it's also why I don't Tweet)

Hopefully FedEx has a management team that is understanding enough not to fire this poor guy. Because a lot of companies are willing to cut someone loose at the mere hint of controversy.

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Fedex Management should fire the asshole who blew a tweet way out of proportion, ignored his own company's leadership structure by directly contacting his executives, and directly contacted a customer's leadership.

I'd agree but as the article points out people in memphis are very sensitive about their town. If a decent sized boycott starts I'd bet this guy's job is toast (especially in this economy)

The issue is whether the irrational people can make enough noise to cause him trouble and whether that one tweet was worth the consequences it will bring to him.

(see tptacek's response above where he completely agrees with the guy who made this a big deal)

So, are you going to stop talking to your colleagues, friends and family because you might offend them by saying something? Man, live your life, do what you want/like doing. If people get offended by something you said genuinely with no bad intentions, they should be the ones feeling bad. Rather the best part about blogging is that you can proof read it as many times as you want before posting, unlike talking.

You can talk to friends and family without making it public. You can also live your life without twitter (though some might find that hard to believe)

The point I'm making is that there is a risk involved. You can't just say "if they get offended it's on them" because they might e-mail the VP of your company and the VP of your company might see firing you as less trouble than facing controversy.

And if there's one lesson I've learned in life its that no amount of proof reading will keep you from offending some people. So that point's moot.

You can talk to friends and family without making it public.

Increasingly, you can't. I understand your decision to avoid making your own comments public as a rule, but once you've said something to someone, it may go public through their use of twitter, facebook, et al. As more people start lifelogging and vlogging, it will become likely that you're effectively in public at any time, even in the "privacy" of a friend's home or your own.

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