I’m a little behind the curve today, but not because I went to Austin (I changed my mind) but because I went to see Harry Potter and hang out with a friend all day. I had planned another rip on Hollyweird after seeing the most insulting preview in history, but then I saw this idiocy, just when I thought the whole OSM thing might be taking baby steps towards being resolved.

The OSM/Dennis the Peasant squabble goes off the deep end into some very shallow waters. It’s looking like Roger Simon hit his head on the dive and forgot to come up for air. This isn’t even high-school, it’s like I’m back reading the forums for my server on Everquest, and the 13-year olds (maturity-wise, anyway) are all engaging in what the more restrained of us called “drama.”

Some folks are just a little high-strung to be starting media giants, don’t you know?

Ok, Mr. Simon, Ms. Simon, here’s some free advice that I think you both need to take to heart:

Take a big, deep breath, and . . .

SHUT UP!

Take the high road. Ignore the slings and arrows. And most of all, stop responding with snarky, angry, stupid blog posts and comments. You’re not helping yourselves. Even when you think you’re just “defending yourself,” you only make it worse. How damn hard can it be to say: “I see that Mr. Peasant has engaged in criticism of myself and OSM. He is entitled to his opinion. I found the comment about the dog to be in poor taste, and have asked that he confirm it was not meant as an actual threat to cause our pet harm.” And stop right there, finis, the end.

When OSM(tm) debuted, you became a business. When you crossed the line from blog to business, the standards under which you were judged changed. They changed so automatically that no one even thought twice about it — maybe not even once. It was just assumed… by everyone except the principals of OSM(tm). A blogger, just mouthing off on his site, can say pretty much anything at anytime, and nobody cares unless it’s really extreme. But CEO’s and directors? They. Can. Not. Do. That. (Extra periods on loan from Rachel Lucas.) They (or their wives) can’t threaten to “out” people, or make wild accusations (true or not) of people threatening their pets or harboring ill will due to busted deals. Right or wrong doesn’t matter to that. Nor does fairness. Fair? The world isn’t exactly drowning in fair. Toughen that skin up and deal with it.

So here’s my second piece of advice. After you shut up, OSM(tm) needs to hire a professional flack. A company with experience in advising clients of what kind of “game face” to show the public. One with experience in helping businesses that have just made the “bonehead maneuver” and need to recover. Because that’s the bag you’re holding right now, and you guys filled it to overflowing.

Update: LaShawn Barber says by inferrence that I’m an outsider who is jealous of the OSM bloggers. I’m a little confused by that. Since I’m blogrolled there, wouldn’t that make most outsiders view me as an insider? I don’t feel like one, mainly because I have yet to be shown what it is I’m inside. (Just for the record, I have no problem with not being an insider. Who the hell is this guy calling himself “King Turd” anyway?)

So I guess it’s just outsider jealousy on my part too… it couldn’t possibly be that such an amateurish production by folks I’ve voluntarily chosen to associate with could make me question my own involvement in it, nor make me worry that it could actually be detrimental to developing this blog as a “serious” (i.e.: at least minimally money-making) hobby or entrance to other things.

Edit– added:

As part of my usual practice, I won’t do what naysayers desperately want me to do: link to them. Instead, I’ll just feel pity for them. Sadly, it’s usually low-traffic bloggers who blog negatively about other bloggers, but there are exceptions, of course. There are much better ways to build readership, people.

But if you want to focus time and energy on me and members of OSM, you’re free to do so. But I truly wish OSM bloggers wouldn’t dignify naysayers by giving you a much bigger stage than you have on your own.

That must be why I’ve posted all those attacks on La Shawn Barber over the last week. More traffic! All… um… zero of the attacks. Wait, I know, I’ll count this as the first one! Because, you know, she doesn’t care about all the people that attack her, especially from the conservative side, so she feels no need to lump them all in one pile and call them anything like “jealous outsiders.” Or the attacks on . . . . ummmmmm. . . . No one, except Charles Johnson and Roger Simon; the two masters of foot-in-mouth disease.

Sigh. Well, it’s nice to know that Charles and Roger aren’t alone in their suffering.