Where's Megan?
Hello, fellow and female Wonketterrorists and friends. Welcome to Homofascist's Army. The purpose of this site is for fans and friends of former Wonkette editor Megan Carpentier, aka Anonymous Lobbyist, to express our EXTREME displeasure at her abrupt and as of this writing unexplained firing in a classic Bush White House Friday news dump (and after most of the East Coast had left for a 3 day weekend - how calculated!). We have been talking all weekend to come up with ways to support Megan and try to get her placed somewhere back in the Gawker family so that we can continue to keep reading what so many of us had come to enjoy. And based on my email inbox, it has provoked quite a bit of passion and outrage. Would you be pissed if you revealed your secret identity and burned all of your professional bridges for a job that fired you 3 months later? Yeah, I thought so.
So, if you would like to be a foot soldier, we are urging you to:
-Go on strike and boycott reading and commenting on Wonkette
-Write to Wonkette editor Ken Layne (ken@wonkette.com) and Gawker baron Nick Denton (nick@gawker.com) and express your dissatisfaction and wishes for a resolution to this matter
-Keep reading and commenting on Megan's farewell post, helpfully linked for you here to avoid too many extra pageviews at Wonkette.
-Drink heavily.
We are hoping we get some kind of response fairly quickly so that things can return to some kind of normality (although I think for some it is too late). In the meantime, if you feel the itch to comment and don't want to risk your Gawker identity by posting HFA propaganda on Fleshbot, then your Homofascist is open for you as always. I am currently set up to accept anonymous comments, but if I start to get some fucking smartass contrarian bullshit I will delete that crap so fast your head will spin. Sorry, I am petty and I take things personally. I also saw on a recent incursion over enemy lines that Ken Layne is now one of my "friends". I imagine he will be waiting for me to post some HFA link so that I can be banned. Frankly, I have made peace with the fact that my life over there may be approaching the end.
I know that there are long time Wonketterrorists who will think this sudden outpouring of earnestness is ridiculous, and I sympathize. I really do. This is not how I imagined spending my weekend. If you have no interest, than by all means go back and act as if everything is normal and support Jim, cuz if this weekend is any indication he is going to need it. But rest assured that the HFA has many, many of Wonkette's best, brightest and snarkiest. So it may be a little unfun for a while. Sorry, it just needed to be done.
UPDATE: If you would like to keep up with Megan, or just see sweater puppy pictures for those of you that are into that, she has her very own shiny new blogspot. Visit her here.
UPDATE II: Megan has posted the story of her time at Wonkette and firing over at her blog. I feel like I need to stew on this a little bit, but it does seem pretty clear that any hopes we have of getting our Megan back at Wonkette are pretty much DOA.
46 comments:
Excellent picture, mon Generale. The comments on Megan's final post are turning into an interesting free-for-all, with detractors getting very little traction. It is really tough trying to keep up with the activity on Megan's still-sad farewell - a testimony to the impact Megan made in such a short time with us, and to the staying power of the HFA. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow (today!) brings.
Since Ken has yet to address the matter at hand -- outside a that's-life email to me, and a fuck-you response to Chicago Bureau -- my Inner Conspiracy Theorist is starting to act up...
Consider: At some point Friday (when?) he fired Megan, and she didn't post her farewell message until long after the East Coast crowd had gone home.
For a three-day weekend.
I doubt Ken (or any of us) could have anticipated the flood of support for Megan, but even so, the timing guaranteed that her message would be very old news by the time many readers returned to work Tuesday. Especially with a healthy batch of scheduled Saturday posts to bump it off the homepage quickly.
I don't know enough to say that the timing was calculated. But it's awfully convenient.
@nojo:
So the quarter ended 12/31, the numbers looked bad, Nick decided on a reorg, and the conspirators chose the most opportune time (Fri PM, 3-day weekend) for the Wonkette part of the massacre.
Then conspiracy part would be: why Megan? That is, why rip the soul out of Wonkette?
Sorry for the emotive tone, cold turkey is harder than I thought. On the bright side, I keep thinking of those 20k and counting views.
God bless homofascist!
I've written those emails HF.
Here's to hope and 20,000+ pageviews!
Well, I have actually gone to the trouble of blocking my website from viewing Wonkette now, yet somehow allowed me to see this here website -- which of course violates about eleventy of the criteria they set forth for good wholesome family internets programming.
So I will not be responding to Ken's little piece o' retort today, or posting anything else today. (Like it needs one.) Hell, I might actually get some work done.
Carry on, brave ones.
This is a great thing you're doing here. After Alex Pareene left I got bored with Wonkette, but Megan's posts were always hilarious. I thought Greg's were funny, too. I am happy to join this boycott, even though I rarely comment over there.
I've been jonezing to write a comment or ten. Nobody shoot me as I've posting on Jez, but not wonk.
FYI. I'm signing off any comment with HFA.
Megan put her story up on her blog. From that I am surmising Ken won't be changing his mind, no matter how many readers he loses. Though I really don't get it, maybe I haven't read Wonkette long enough to know about this "uniformity" issue he is talking about. And if Jim and Megan had such complementary writing styles, why did let Megan go and not both? Confoozled, but that might also be a result of the caffeine withdrawal.
I read M's post about the why of it and found it puzzling. Why would a new editor want all his staff to write with the same voice? Or tone? I don't understand. Surely you'd want some kind of diversity? To compare it, for a moment, to musical theatre, it would be like having everyone sing in unison. It sounds thin and - what's the point?
Layne's postings are mere sophistries and sound, to my ear, quite hostile in tone. He's becoming the Rumsfeld to Denton's Cheney.
BTW, General H, excellent new picture. Not surprised to learn that suite of bums was Brit. All that spanking at school firms things up nicely.
@ Louise V.
Great minds think alike.
BTW. The big, big plus that the Gawker sites have is the ease and flexibility of posting comments. It sucked us all into their web of deceit.
@louisev:
Read Megan's post. So all is justified as long as someone has the "vision thing"?
I don't hold with that. Sound more like there was some editorial envy going on. Megan's killer combination of insider details with extreme writing chops, has gotta intimidate some.
I never expected Ken to relent. To me this is more about going out with a bang.
@litotes
No, no, I wouldn't say that Megan's firing is justified. My comments were mostly encouragment. I have been a technology consultant for a long time, and getting the axe is pretty much a normal event. Project ends - you're gone. Family member related to the manager needs a spot - you're gone. Customer runs out of money - you're gone. Life has to go on, and no it isn"t fair,or good, or right. However, having good will and politeness in the process can make the transition to the inevitable next day and resume scramble the difference between survival and career death. And even better, if there is anything Gawker Media can do to help Megan find her next post, all the better.
No - that doesn't make firing her right. Just survivable.
@Lyndon,
you studied that photograph MUCH too closely!!!
@louisev:
Thanks for your wise and calming words.
You're right, Megan's survival is paramount. Hopefully Big Gawker will realize this, and help her to a soft landing.
@litotes:
It is tough to lose a job. But there are job losses that are tough and there are ones that are a complete and total bitch, and there are ones that are soul wrecking. While we may not have the real "whole story" of what happened to Megan, those two items jumped out me: that Megan herself had done nothing amiss, and that she was treated respectfully. I can tell you that these two things are critical in surviving a job loss, and they can be a great comfort. There is nothing worse than putting all of your energy and creativity into something and not only lose the job but to be kicked out like you never belonged there. I had this happen to me after winning a customer satisfaction award (which came with a financial bonus.) Being unceremoniously fired after such rewards can be mind-twisting.
But as Megan said, this result was no surprise once Ken returned to Wonkette, and being decent about it is also a very important element of professional survival. I dunno... I guess the reason I go on about it is that I have had "good" job losses and the really bad kind, and there is a lot of reason to hope she will land lightly.
I read thru AL's comments. Personally, I like have a mix of styles as what makes me laugh is a lot of different things.
Monochromatic vision? I thought that was a commie thing. As far as I can recall, it didn't work out so well.
Well, it is Ken's blog to run as much and it is his prerogative as editor. Don't like it, but I'm not Nick Denton.
I still won't post till Wed. And to throw in my 2 cents, I enjoy the commenters more than the actual postings as you guys made me laugh more than the commentary. I think what made Megan so great was she knew that and let us go at it.
@manchucandidate
I know - the commenters are the best. That is the whole fucking point of Gawker Media! I am not sure if it was Denton that figured it out, but whoever did is brilliant. The writing can be good, but then the fun really happens in the comments. I am SURE they never try to play up that fact when selling ads.
I think we broke the comment thread. It's not posting anything now, at least on my end....
I just got mine posted. Try again!
I'm worried the problem is just that our efforts are petering out. Obviously taking down the British ass (in the non-sexy way) hurt troop morale. Time for a rally.
hey, if Homo hadn't taken down the troop of ass I wouldnt be able to log in here from work. It was a considerate move. Clearly the rising consensus is that wherever Megan lands, the HFA is going to parachute in a short time later, and it is looking more and more like that is perfectly okay with Ken.
Yeah, I know it was the right move. I just wanted to say our peters were out, hehe.
Oh, the pic will be back at some point in the future. Normally it would be a great recruiting tool, but I have a practical side too. I just find it funny that asses are so verboten, especially considering that I first saw that picture when it was published in the Chicago Tribune.
I can also email it to anyone that would like further study.
FYI: HF - Jezebel just put up a pic of a tennis player and a koala bear. Trade ya for ass pics??
For those who haven't seen the rest of the pics from Saturday night's Revenge-Plotting And Commiseration Jubilee - DC Edition, they are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14728423@N07/
Also, don't hold it against Weasel for crossing the picket line. He was out and about on Saturday like a good little soldier, filling Megan's wineglass.
And finally, while I agree with the boycott and how everyone should click on Megan and Greg's posts, we're really giving Jim Newell the short end of the stick. I know I'm not the first to say it, but he's a good kid and he doesn't deserve to have less money thrown his way just because Layne made a shitty decision.
I've been going to Wonkette and clicking on his entries, not commenting, but just clicking on them, so dude can still pay the rent.
In case ya'll haven't seen it, Megan posted a link on her site to a great article: http://www.bilerico.com/2008/01/wonkette_over_and_out.php .
Sorry, I don't know how to link it (I'm old, so sue me). Check it out - they did her proud.
Megan's a class act.
if i had to explain what happened after every time i got fired...
i wasn't totally gung ho about jumping into the commenting boycott. but it's funny - i went over there and didn't feel like i had anything to say today.
erm, except here.
so now what?
Hurray! We got 1,000 comments. Thanks guys
Mission Accomplished.
YESSSSSSS!!!
Well, not that anything's changed. But still.
Everyone who was over at Wonkette has to show up here and confirm they've logged out. No more page views. No more comments. Starve them out.
So...hi! How 'bout that Hillary, huh?
Present!
I've never taken an abstinence pledge before, but, what the hell.
Let the snark continue.
Can't wait for the pic of our Fearless Leader landing on the aircraft carrier in his flight suit. Nojo, I assume the Pacific Fleet of the HFA is on it?
I refuse to go back over there, but maybe someone should leave this link and urge the rest to sign out and come over here.
Did you guys see this?
http://gridskipper.com/346990/down--out-in-dc-one-girls-guide
All right, phase one completed, what's next on the agenda?
I (EWALDA) hung around waiting to see if my final comment would ever hit. I entered it at 993 and by 1020 it still wasn't showing. I think the gerbil collapsed under the strain.
I'm here. I'm not queer. Get used to it.
A question as to whether to permanently stay away, or to support Newell, or to come back after a week -- what would have the most impact, what would help Megan most, what would improve our chances of getting laid, etc., need to be fleshed out. More from me later; must work. But enter me onto your imaginary log.
Hey everyone --
Homofascist has started a clean new post on the front page where we can celebrate.
And it's got pecs...lots of pecs...
cynica: Looks like Comrade Flores is in charge of the Propaganda Unit. By the time I got around to Photoshopping something up, the moment would be long past.
I logged out I logged out. Really I did.
Cool story you got here. I'd like to read a bit more concerning this matter.
By the way look at the design I've made myself High class escorts
That's a funny photo of the baby!
Great website, continue the Excellent work!
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