Sys-Con once accused my friend Aral Balkan of “cihad”. Well… Aral may not have been a man on a mission before, but he certainly is now. According to Wikipedia, one definition of Jihad is
“to struggle to improve one’s self and/or society”
So let’s see. Aral has been threatened and bullied by Sys-Con. The full sordid story is here.
To summarize, I’m being bullied by Sys-Con because I spoke out against my content and identity being misused. I’ve been attacked time and time again with libelous articles that appear to be part of a systemic attempt at character assassination. This whole Sys-Con affair is the last thing I need right now. It’s a huge distraction from work and a generally nasty affair to have to deal with. However, I am not going to take this bullying lying down. It’s time to say “no” to Sys-Con.
One might assume Aral is being paranoid, were it not for the fact Sys-Con has used similar tactics in attacking, for example, Adobe’s Ted Patrick. There is also no doubt that Sys-Con has an “interesting” relationship to other people’s IP and writing on the web.
I am not going to say a great deal more, but please read Aral’s post. If you think it the firm’s behaviour is reasonable, go right ahead and keep engaging with them. But Aral isn’t just fighting for himself now, this is a struggle on behalf of a number of people whose content is being re-appropriated by a third party.
disclosure: As I have said, Aral is a friend of mine. I don’t have any other axes to grind.
timbray says:
July 27, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Don’t speak at sys-con conferences. Don’t go to them. Don’t advertise on their sites. Don’t read them. Insanity: http://is.gd/1P4N4
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
rohanpinto says:
July 27, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Please Retweet : boycott sys-con : http://is.gd/1P4N4 & http://aralbalkan.com/2284
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
mshiltonj says:
July 27, 2009 at 4:38 pm
We need a #boycott_syscon hash tag for http://is.gd/1P4N4
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
ramsey says:
July 27, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Don’t speak at sys-con conferences. Don’t go to them. Don’t advertise on their sites. Don’t read them. http://is.gd/1P4N4 (via @timbray)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Stv says:
July 27, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Don’t speak at sys-con conferences. Don’t go to them. Don’t advertise on their sites. Don’t read them. http://is.gd/1P4N4 (via @timbray)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
richsharples says:
July 27, 2009 at 5:02 pm
never bn a huge sys-con fan (web-site is way 2 noisy) but ths behavior is just crazy. B nice 2 hear sys-con’s side tho. http://is.gd/1P4N4
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
dshafik says:
July 27, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Don’t speak at sys-con conferences. Don’t go to them. Don’t advertise on their sites. Don’t read them. http://is.gd/1P4N4 (via @timbray)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
ashnazg says:
July 27, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Don’t speak at sys-con conferences. Don’t go to them. Don’t advertise on their sites. Don’t read them. http://is.gd/1P4N4 (via @timbray)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
binary42 says:
July 27, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Don’t speak at sys-con confs. Don’t go to them. Don’t advertise on their sites. Don’t read them. Insanity http://is.gd/1P4N4 (via @timbray)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
assaf says:
July 27, 2009 at 5:47 pm
has sys-con lost it? http://tr.im/ufhk boycotted (via http://tr.im/ufhE)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
s_bergmann says:
July 27, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Don’t speak at sys-con conferences. Don’t go to them. Don’t advertise on their sites. Don’t read them. http://is.gd/1P4N4 (via @timbray)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
iainmcgin says:
July 27, 2009 at 6:01 pm
boycott sys-con : http://is.gd/1P4N4 & http://aralbalkan.com/2284
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
dsp_ says:
July 27, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Don’t speak at sys-con conferences. Don’t go to them. Don’t advertise on their sites. Don’t read them. http://is.gd/1P4N4 (via @timbray)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
dustinwhittle says:
July 27, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Don’t speak at sys-con conferences. Don’t go to them. Don’t advertise on their sites. Don’t read them. http://is.gd/1P4N4 (via @s_bergmann)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Labnotes » Rounded Corners 239 — I believe I did … says:
July 27, 2009 at 6:31 pm
[…] If you hear people, myself included, boycotting sys-con, here’s why. […]
skoop says:
July 27, 2009 at 6:42 pm
♺ @s_bergmann: Don’t speak at sys-con conferences. Don’t go to them. Don’t advertise on their sites. Don’t read them. http://is.gd/1P4N4
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
chancegarcia says:
July 27, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Don’t speak at sys-con conferences. Don’t go to them. Don’t advertise on their sites. Don’t read them. http://is.gd/1P4N4 (via @timbray)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
stunami says:
July 27, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Don’t speak at sys-con conferences. Don’t go to them. Don’t advertise on their sites. Don’t read them. http://is.gd/1P4N4 (via @timbray)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
IanSkerrett says:
July 27, 2009 at 8:11 pm
wondering companies like Sun, IBM, MS, Unisys continue to advertise on sys-con http://tinyurl.com/m3nj3v
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
LazycoderLinks says:
July 27, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Just Say No to Sys-Con: Aral’s Jihad: Sys-Con once accused my friend Aral Balkan of “cihad”. Well… Aral may not .. http://bit.ly/161bp2
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
gursesl says:
July 30, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Don’t speak at sys-con conferences. Don’t go to them. Don’t advertise on their sites. Don’t read them. Insanity: http://is.gd/1P4N4
This comment was originally posted on Twitter