I’ve been pretty fortunate that in my years as a blogger and a WFD/MFD delegate, that my employer has allowed me to express my opinions on this blog, attend these events and doesn’t pressure me to write about the vendors that we sell. Likewise, the vendors that I sell have been quiet on the matter. Maybe they don’t care, maybe I’m too small to worry about.
I also try to write less about the vendors that I sell. Partially because I don’t want to appear like I’m biased towards those vendors, and partially because I often get to hear more about those vendors on the partner side. Either way, I try to keep my blog and my work separate.
That streak of good fortune came to an end recently. Word came back to me through my company that a vendor that we sell commented that I was “very pro vendor x” on my blog. And the context of that comment was positioned in a way as to question my company’s commitment to selling their product.
I had intended this weekend to write about the cool stuff they were doing, what I think and where that’s going. In protest, I’m abstaining from writing about said vendor. While I understand the interest in gauging my companies commitment and direction on strategic products, I feel that this would be a conflict of interest to bow to pressure from a vendor to write about their product.
For those of you who know me, you can probably guess how upsetting this has been. You can expect me to continue saying what I think and I’ll choose who and what I write about.
ToDSFromDS 