Long time ago.. a Bad PR story …

This is a pretty old thing. Very old since I don’t usually read Crunchnotes, so I came across an article which

1) is a Bad PR story

2) is “Shady”

3) the FBI is involved ?

4) and lots more..

Mike says it will move to Techcrunch sometime.. but I guess it did not, I tried searching for Qorvis on Techmeme and Techcrunch (yeah… in that order) but it turned up zilch.

So in case you have not read it .. i mean seen it.. here it is.. I am including some great comments too.

Comments I liked …

guess Qorvis hasn’t broken on through to the internet, yet. amazing that it wasn’t a hand-written letter

You should have charged them $1200 for the reprint… Then you tell them they also have a free option if the use their own printer and paper.In serious note, though, this is to teach us (tech-lings) that not everybody understand tech, yet, they have a need for it.

As you failed to block out the name “Kathryn” on the “To:” field, I did a quick google search for “kathryn qorvis” and immediately turned up this: http://www.qorvis.com/an_influential_firm/bios/phelps_k.html. So now the rest of us need only send her our quotes for blog reprints, and bang. Easy money.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49849-2004Dec8.html

Congratulations for picking on and publicly humiliating a college intern who was giving you the courtesy of asking permission to use your content for our benefit. Given how dumb this issue is, I’m baffled at the extent to which you all have gone to attack this smart, capable young woman. I hope you feel great about yourselves.Have a great long weekend.- Seth Thomas Pietras,Senior Director, Qorvis Communications.

Seth -Assuming you are actually with Qorvis.I’m not sure you understand the amount of time that firms like yours take up by throwing random crap - mostly press releases - our way. To then send yet more email that shows you don’t know that we are not a print publication is yet more time wasted.I took the time to post this in the hope that PR firms will begin waste less of my time in the future. In that way, it is an investment.It may very well be that your intern is smart and capable. Combine that with an ability to do a Google search before sending out emails like this, and you’ve got yourself a winner. A quick tutorial to your staff on what a blog is and isn’t might be a good idea too. Or, as a last resort, actually visit my site.You did not request permission to use my content. I get requests like that occasionally and know what they look like. You asked for a reprint of an article, which print publications do. So, in addition to wasting my time, you are also a liar.Finally, I am not humiliating your intern specifically. Her last name was removed. I am “attacking” your firm, not an individual.If you take this kind of liberty when you spin your clients - specifically twisting the facts and then injecting emotion into your message, I feel badly for them. They deserve competent and ethical representation. - Mike