Minor Dilemma

Suppose a blogger is getting poor service from a vendor.  The blogger emails or calls the vendor and tries to correct the problem.  As the blogger gets more and more frustrated, he or she knows that a post on the subject is likely.  Does the blogger have an ethical obligation to tell support reps “anything you say may be blogged against you?”

Suppose the blogger sometimes fancies him or herself a citizen journalist; does this change anything?

I’ve decided that the answer is “no” to both questions because:

1. Unless covered by specific confidentiality agreements, vendors should consider their interactions with customers to be public;
2. A blogger (even one who fancies him or herself a citizen journalist) is primarily a citizen;
3. One of the greatest values in everyone owning a printing press is that vendors should always act as if the person they’re dealing with owns a printing press;
4. Saying “I want you be warned that I’m going to blog what you say” sounds more a ludicrous threat than a well intentioned warning;
5. In the rare case where the threat is taken seriously, the blogger may get unrealistically good service so won’t be able to report reality.

Harder question is what if the blogger has no intention of becoming a customer but is doing research for a report on a product or service; is there then an obligation NOT to masquerade as a customer or prospect?  Don’t know the answer to that.

Glad to have your opinion on any of these questions.

As you’ve probably guessed, there’s a rant on the way.