I’m not going to write about this now, I want to write a detailed post. But Jem sums it up nicely, other than:
derided from the stage for “letting down the community”
Er, unfairly. I don’t think I let the community down – I actually think I stuck up for it.
You’re currently reading “News from Les Blogs,” an entry on :Ben Metcalfe Blog
interested to know what you’ve been saying to incur Mina’s wrath! hehe tsk tsk 
I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but at some point Mena Trott became a fully fledged asshat. Or at the very least starting acting like an asshat. Which is a shame, as she didn’t used to act that way.
You totally stood up for the community and took the entire brunt for all of us…for what? I’m not really sure. We were being disruptive, which is very important and a core role for bloggers to play.
You are brilliant and I am happy to have made your contact.
What does “disruptive” mean in this context, Tara?
http://vodlog.com/play/lesben.html
I have the full text of the irc, so if someone could tell me exactly when it happened, I could sync it up for posterity
I think treating people with respect should be more regularly practised.
How is that for ambiguous.
I’m not sure what you said on IRC the 1st day to have deserved a public spanking, but hey, she threw you the glove, you didn’t duck, you picked it up, you stood up for your opinion and made a good point.
I agree, you didn’t let anyone down.
There’s still the matter of basic respect for a presenter and the respect for Mena’s role in the creation of the blog industry.
so she got irked coz you maybe dissed six-a-part. technically, so long as it wasn’t libellous then you’re allowed freedom of speech [irc presumably constitutes publication even though it's a semi-private]? if you upset the ‘community’ on the irc then you’d expect some sort of social moral code to develop. the fact that no-one else was bothered suggests to me like she can’t take a bit of criticism. she should have been more civil by not swearing to a full audience and coming back to you on the irc at the time to say she wasn’t happy rather than using her power as a speaker to try and humiliate you in ffront of a lot of people. more power to you metcalfe.
Here’s frank for you — bullshit.
I can only imagine how unnerving that must have been to face a room full of 400 people and have you in your chair making derogatory comments in the background, with others, and have the damn thing projected on the screen!
I don’t get along with Mena, but I am sorry this happened to her. What a nasty damn trick to play on another.
If you all don’t have the discipline to sit still for 30 minutes than go back to your nanny and ask for a sugar teat to suck — at least it would keep you occupied while adults had a chance to listen.
And no, this isn’t the European way. This is a young guy who thinks he knows better. Most Europeans I’ve met at least act in decency.
I concur with Cameron, and I rarely agree with him either.
I am so sorry this happened to Mena.
Six Apart organized the conference and set up the backchannel for public display during the speech. You can argue that he was too harsh, but to describe it as a “nasty trick” or cowardly seems unwarranted.
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