Double cross

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Double Cross — A reviewer gets into a trouble

Vasanth read the mail again, he could not believe what he saw. He chuckled for a moment then went into deep thought. He read it once finally before forwarding it to his friends. He opened his blog and went through the last post he posted the day before. It was this post that got him a legal notice within hours of posting it.

Vasanth is a popular blogger and he is known widely in the blogosphere. He criticized the policy and the ethics of a top IT firm in his recent post. He also made his points clear that it made a strong effect on the readers. Comments poured in on the post, few were surprised, few agreed with Vasanth, few doubted him, few were furious and even directly attacked him for his take. Vasanth maintained his cool while he replied to the comments. As soon as he got the notice in his mail, he was surprised. It was the last thing he had expected.

Vasanth was not sure about whether he ought to close comments or if he should remove the post. He never did that and what would he say if his friends from the blogosphere asked him. He messaged his close friends in the blogosphere and told them about what had happened. They sounded upset and told Vasanth that they all would start an online campaign against the big corporation. They told him not to give up and to not close the comments. Their words comforted Vasanth and he also got carried away by the virtual support he got from his friends. He published a new post about the notice and announced it to his readers. Now comments poured in on the new post. Vasanth felt that all the attention was on him. His mind was now on page hits, Alexia rank and Google page rank. If people kept visiting his blog at this rate, his blog rank would shoot up. He forgot all about the notice now and was convinced by the support he got in the comment section.

Within hours new blog posts were published by Vasanth’s friends in support of him. They all were worried about freedom of speech. By now, the issue was noticed by the print media and was published in the next day’s daily news section. It had excerpts from Vasanth’s original blog post, reviews from a few experts from the comments section and an interview of other bloggers who were worried about their freedom of speech. Now the issue was soon picked up by the media channels.

Vasanth was now not only known to almost everybody in the blogging world but also people who watched TV. His identity was now known to all. People from his office started to ask Vasanth about the commotion, and this started to bother him. He had not expected the issue to escalate to this level. He was worried that it might affect his career.

On the other hand the IT firm was very firm in its stand. The entire legal panel appeared on television and gave an interview about how their firm was affected, the losses due to it, etc etc. Soon Vasanth realized that his opponents were in the physical battle field with him whereas his supporters were only in the cyber space.

Vasanth contacted Gopal, his lawyer friend. Gopal by now knew everything and he sensed that Vasanth was in serious trouble. He assured Vasanth that he would do everything humanly possible to help him get out of the trouble he had landed in. Gopal advised Vasanth to remove the blog post and to post an apology message as the company asked.
Vasanth hesitated, he did not want to give up. He strongly believed and stood by what he said. But he did not have the power to fight the company. Also, it would tarnish his image in the blogging world. He had another week to respond to them.

— — -

It was four in the evening. Vasanth took half a day’s leave for the meeting with the lawyers of the firm he had criticized. He clearly sensed that his manager was not happy with how things had turned out due to his blog. Few newspapers even raised questions about whether it was Vasanth’s firm that was behind the entire review about the policy. He made it clear to resolve the issue by the end of the day anyhow. He made a list of the points he wanted to express, stopping to pick up Gopal on the way.

They entered the room. Vasanth looked around as they were greeted by the four middle aged men in the room. They introduced themselves one by one. After the formal talk, Vasanth got ready to present his points to them. As he was about to start, one of the panel members spoke,
“Mr.Vasanth, we all know the current situation now. We also understand that you don’t want to fight with us on this matter. But your blog post has made a serious PR issue for our firm. You must be aware of all the news in the papers and the channels, not to mention everything that is floating around on the internet as well. While you may believe in what you said, you have to prove it if the case comes to court. And we hope you don’t want to spend your time and money fighting a case which you are going to lose obviously.”

As Vasanth remained silent, the man continued,

“At first we were determined to make you remove the post from your blog and to make you post an apology in its stead. From our sources we hear that you don’t want your reputation to be spoiled by doing so. Your self respect is important for you, as is ours for us. But interestingly we have a different option which might surprise you. Even we were surprised when we heard it, it is all up to you now. Our company is ready to hire you, with a promotion and twice the salary you get now and you don’t have to remove the post from your blog. Also you don’t have to post an apology, also we would not make it public if you join our firm. Everything will be smooth. Also we consider this as an opportunity to prove you wrong . So, decide and let us know about your decision in two days.”

Vasanth who did not expect this was out of words. He said he would get back to them in two days and let them know about his decision. He clearly understood that he was being lured with the offer, but he was pulled by both sides, his career and pride. It was a tough decision to make.

— — -

“Welcome Mr.Vasanth, we are glad you joined us. We know you are smart, that is why we offered you such a great deal even after the losses we faced.”
“I am glad to join your firm, and this is a great opportunity for me to explore my career options,” he replied.

Vasanth thought this was a great opportunity for him to collect details and prove himself right about the firm. Though it would take time, he thought he would unveil the truth to the world. He was very much excited to think anything else. Little did he know that the news channel’s breaking story of the day would be that of his joining the firm he criticized.