# ...and why being nasty on the internet can come back to bite you in the ass! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 28, 2014, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514 "2014-02-28T15:07:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/1 "2014-02-28T15:07:27Z")
So a young woman (Diana Mekota) who recently graduated from college and was looking to move back to the Cleveland area reached out to another woman ([Kelly Blazek](http://www.iabccleveland.com/storage/images/Kelly_Blazek_jpg.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1383770018769)) seeking assistance with a career in the Cleveland area. Blazek works as a marketer in the media industry in the area and voluntarily started a job bank for marketing professionals in the Cleveland area. In 2013 she won an award as the “Communicator of the Year” from a local business group. Mekota reached out to Blazek via LinkedIn, seeking to subscribe to her job group: [http://imgur.com/bBonE3M](http://imgur.com/bBonE3M) Blazek responded to Mekota with a scathing reply: [Your humility lesson for the year from a 'professional' - Imgur](http://imgur.com/gallery/71sQ92K) > [@Blazek](#): > > We have never met. We have never worked together. You are quite young and green on how business connections work with senior professionals. Apparently you have heard that I produce a Job Bank, and decided it would be stunningly helpful for your career prospects if I shared my 960+ LinkedIn connections with you - a total stranger who has nothing to offer me. > > Your invite to connect is inappropriate, beneficial only to you, and tacky. Wow, I cannot wait to let every 25-year-old jobseeker mine my top-tier marketing connections to help them land a job. Love the sense of entitlement in your generation. And therefore I enjoy denying your invite, and giving you the dreaded ‘I Don’t Know’ Diana Mekota because it’s the truth. > > Oh, and about your request to actually receive my Job Bank along with the 7,300 other subscribers to my service? That’s denied, too. I suggest you join the other Job Bank in town. Oh wait - there isn’t one. > > Don’t ever write me again. Mekota responded to her in a very polite and courteous manner: [My response - Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/oBaAGMN.png?1) However there was no reply again from Blazek, so Mekota posted the string of communications to friends via email and then on reddit and imgur. It eventually found it’s way back to Blazek who has now issued an apology in the Cleveland paper. > [@Blazek](#): > > I am very sorry to the people I have hurt. > > Creating and updating the Cleveland Job Bank listings has been my hobby for more than ten years. It started as a labor of love for the marketing industry, but somehow it also became a labor, and I vented my frustrations on the very people I set out to help. > > Hundreds of people contact me every month looking for help, and as the bottom fell out of the job market, their outreach and requests demanded more of my time. I became shortsighted and impatient, and that was wrong. > > My Job Bank listings were supposed to be about hope, and I failed that. In my harsh reply notes, I lost my perspective about how to help, and I also lost sight of kindness, which is why I started the Job Bank listings in the first place. > > The note I sent to Diana was rude, unwelcoming, unprofessional and wrong. I am reaching out to her to apologize. Diana and her generation are the future of this city. I wish her all the best in landing a job in this great town. Stay classy Cleveland!! ---
**Author:** ![jonesj2205](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecc23a/32.png) [@jonesj2205](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonesj2205)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/2 "2014-02-28T15:10:36Z")
Have to give her credit for a well written apology anyway. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/3 "2014-02-28T16:15:04Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Stay classy Cleveland!! For the record, the rest of us in Cleveland are seriously pissed at this jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/4 "2014-02-28T16:27:43Z")
> [@jonesj2205](#): > > Have to give her credit for a well written apology anyway. What choice did she have after she was publicly shamed and it threatened to hurt her bottom line? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/5 "2014-02-28T16:41:28Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > What choice did she have after she was publicly shamed and it threatened to hurt her bottom line? Actions by people taken when they don’t think anyone else will see, are more representative of one’s character than actions taken when they expect everyone to see. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/6 "2014-02-28T16:58:24Z")
I don’t see how she can ever really recover from this now that people know what she’s like when no one else is looking. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/7 "2014-02-28T17:13:37Z")
> [@jonesj2205](#): > > Have to give her credit for a well written apology anyway. I did too, until I read that she sent similarly snide and bitchy replies to several other job-seekers before this incident — so it wasn’t just her having a bad day, but was clearly something she enjoyed doing. Nearly as much as I’m enjoying watching her reputation self-destruct. Oh, the _Schadenfreude_. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/8 "2014-02-28T17:18:27Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Actions by people taken when they don’t think anyone else will see, are more representative of one’s character than actions taken when they expect everyone to see. Yep, between private nastiness and a public apology, I know which I’d take as the better gauge of her nature. The apology strikes me as an attempt at damage control by someone who knows the right words and is willing to parrot them. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/9 "2014-02-28T17:22:27Z")
Yawn…an unpleasant person reveals to a wider audience that she is, indeed, unpleasant. A cursory examination of local arrest reports will demonstrate that a host of other people do exactly the same thing (or worse) DAILY. Since Cleveland isn’t the go to “job destination” for the US and since the majority of people online will eventually find work without either referencing or even discussing this petty woman and her anger issues, this is just another tempest in a teapot that the media can use to show that they are “hip” to that whole “Internet thing.” ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/10 "2014-02-28T17:23:33Z")
I especially like how Blazek stomps all over a “young jobseeker” and accuses her generation of being “entitled” when she herself holds the key to many valuable professional connections. Classic Catch-22 - you can’t get a top tier job, or even on the corporate ladder, unless you have the right connections but without the right connections you aren’t allowed to join the connections-club. It’s not “entitled” to have ambition. With young people (and older folks as well) being told to bypass automatic gatekeeping and reach out to actual human beings in order to get a foot in the door why are people like Blazek so _shocked_ when people actually try to _do_ that? How dare they! But how else do you get a job these days? The apology written by Blazek is meaningless. Ethics isn’t about what you do when you’re being watched, it’s about what you do when you think no one is looking. Blazek is clearly an entitled jerk who wants to exclude people from her private club rather than promoting people of merit. She’ll get her comeuppance. Oh, and the “you have nothing to offer me” crack? Seriously, this twit doesn’t understand the benefit to nurturing talent? It’s inconceivable to her that at some point in the future she won’t want the services or need the help of someone younger than herself? What an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/11 "2014-02-28T17:39:38Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Actions by people taken when they don’t think anyone else will see, are more representative of one’s character than actions taken when they expect everyone to see. Exactly. She’s not sorry, she’s worried. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/12 "2014-02-28T17:51:25Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Actions by people taken when they don’t think anyone else will see, are more representative of one’s character than actions taken when they expect everyone to see. Spot on ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/13 "2014-02-28T18:05:18Z")
Cue [background intro and music.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozZCIXwtD3M) Unless, [the drama continues longer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8jlcQZpJ1U). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/14 "2014-02-28T18:19:50Z")
> [@Blazek](#): > > Your invite to connect is inappropriate… And therefore I enjoy denying your invite… Please. The noun is ‘invitation’. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/15 "2014-02-28T18:27:05Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Exactly. She’s not sorry, she’s worried. I disagree. She’s sorry. She’s sorry her hypocrisy and bitchitude was published for all to see and came back to bite her in the ass. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/16 "2014-02-28T18:37:56Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I disagree. She’s sorry. She’s sorry her hypocrisy and bitchitude was published for all to see and came back to bite her in the ass. Because she’s \*worried \*about how it will impact her bottom line. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/17 "2014-02-28T18:59:08Z")
Probably most people deserve a second chance. Some might even feel genuine regret after a public excoriation. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/18 "2014-02-28T19:08:32Z")
[Apparently, this wasn’t the only nastygram she sent.](http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/02/kelly_blazek_restarts_her_job_bank_twitter_account_with_an_apology_and_the_hashtag_letcitydown.html) To one guy in December who’d been dropped of her list and asked to be put on again, she sent this: > [@](#): > > My December Job Bank had a five paragraph rant about what a poor job my subscribers do when telling others to sign up for my service – explaining one’s career field is paramount to entry. Period. I promise to deny any requester who made me guess what they do. Congratulations – you’re another one." > > Because Uldricks had tweeted at her asking why he was denied admission to her group, Blazek’s email continued: "Taking to social media to rant about my denial (excuse me, your failure to follow instructions) is in poor taste and immature. I am offended that you’re too lazy to send me an e-mail. Half the world has my e-mail. Not difficult to find. Too busy posing for pouty Twitter pictures? > > “I provide an amazing free service to an entire industry that needs to remember I have no idea, nor do I want to know, the personal resume behind 7,300 e-mails or 2,700 Twitter handles. People are removed from my list for spamming me, for annoying me (you’re doing a great job), and perhaps you were removed on purpose?” > > “You’re super-brilliant Twitter stunt sealed your fate. And does that work well when you interview for a job and don’t get hired?.. I suggest you sign up for the other Job Bank in town. Oh, guess what – there isn’t one. Done with this conversation, and you.” And to someone else: > [@](#): > > “Did you mention fundraising or development even once in your original note to me? You can ‘discuss me’ all you want; but I deal with two dozen vague, unclear, and often unqualified jobseekers every week for my entirely free, volunteer job search gift to the NEOhio jobseeking community… and this back and forth e-mailing to individuals who cannot communicate clearly wears on my patience.” > > “I’ll answer my question for you, Wendie: you never mentioned you were in fundraising,” she added. “Rule #1 of jobseeking: do a better job communicating what you do and what you’re looking for. Nonprofit work includes social work, accounting, case management, client intake…it’s not an assumption that because you say nonprofit, anyone interprets that as fundraising and development. I said ‘I’m sorry’ and I said ‘Good Luck in your Search’ in my response to you. I guess those are construed by you as horrible and rude.” > > She said Blazek ended with: “Therefore, since my tone is so offputting, I think you’ll be happier with the other Job Bank in town. Hint - there isn’t one. You have a great day.” StG ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/19 "2014-02-28T19:17:24Z")
Quite the power tripper, isn’t she? It’s a hammer she gets smug enjoyment from hitting people with who ask for her help. Kind of sick. “I hold the only keys to the kingdom and you are not worthy to see it!” ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514/20 "2014-02-28T19:18:17Z")
Someone needs a cunt-punt. ETA: That was a reference to that sorority sow from a while ago who bitched out all her sorority sisters for being too slutty (or not being slutty enough, I forget). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-why-being-nasty-on-the-internet-can-come-back-to-bite-you-in-the-ass/682514.md?page=2)