blogger interrupted

[UPDATE - So I’m now told the ClickToBlue message board has become one long rant of defamation thanks to Ben Geyerhahn’s original false email.  There’s my harm, in a public forum in which I have no chance to respond.  Anyone know a good defamation plaintiff’s attorney who wants to go after a billion dollar venture capital fund on a contingency fee basis?]

Here’s the email that Ben Geyerhahn, co-founder of ClickToBlue, sent to the ClickToBlue network of blogs across the US to explain why they booted me from the network.  It is here in its entirety.  I have split it up to point out where it is false.  That’s a lot of splitting up.

On May 6, 11:30 am, Ben.Geyerhahn@gmail.com wrote:

Today we made the decision not to extend a contract towww.bloggerinterupted.com, and we thought it important for you to understand why.  Blogger Interrupted is edited by Tim Russo who over the past week has provided the details of his arrest and conviction for soliciting sex from a minor. 

That is categorically false on all counts.  I did not solicit sex from a minor.  There was no minor involved.  Ever. The decision to pull ads from my site was made on April 28, not today.  I have never provided the “details”, in any post, either on April 14, or April 28, or ever.  My writing has only the broad outlines, the ramifications for me, my family and friends, and my attempts to overcome.  The gory details are in the public record, which if I posted here, would still be public record, however gory they might be, wether posted on this blog or on your local news every night of the week.

And, I did not begin writing about my arrest in the past week.  I began writing about it on my launch day, April 14, with my About page,  and a link on the masthead called My Story, which have both been unchanged since April 14, the day I warned ClickToBlue that they’d be contacted someday by someone who wants my ads pulled.  

As a result of these posts, several advertisers (both existing and prospective) who have and will continue to provide significant ad sales to ClickToBlue told me that they and their advertisers were not prepared to place ads with BloggerInterrupted and expressed deeper concern about the ClickToBlue network in general. 

Again, this is false.  I have traffic logs to prove it.  No one decided to pull my ads other than ClickToBlue. Half the ads that were pulled were internal to ClickToBlue.  Those are the advertisers that complained.  I’d be happy to prove it in court if I have to.

To protect ad sales that benefit all of us, ClickToBlue immediately pulled all premium advertising from Mr. Russo’s blog.

Again, false.  ClickToBlue immediately pulled all premium advertising from my blog not this week in response to any advertisers, but on April 28 in response to something they will not talk to me about.  I only learned about the pulling of these ads on May 3.  

While we believe in the potential for rehabilitation for offenders of this type and we commend Mr. Russo on his efforts to achieve that goal, the nature of his blog simply is not in keeping with our network. 

My blog is political, deep blue Democratic, almost in its entirety.  The story of my background is so political, every time I start to blog, someone in politics decides to contact the people who pay me.  If that’s not political, I don’t know what is.  

We all have opinions about these kinds of crimes, and the right of blogger to speak on freely on any topic.  ClickToBlue values freedom of speech enormously and we have no interest at all in silencing, abridging or in any way censoring Mr. Russo or any other individual wishing to speak his or her mind.   However,  the crimes inquestion and the articulation of those crimes threatens the viability of this enterprise and our ability to provide the best services possible to our advertisers and publishers.  Thus, we believe there is only one appropriate course of action.  We took that action.

I did not commit crimes, plural, against a minor, nor articulate them.  I committed one crime with no minor involved whose ramifications I am describing in my blog.  If Mr. Geyerhahn had read any part of my blog that addresses the issue he claims has caused this problem (reckless disregard, anyone?) he would never have decided to tell dozens of bloggers, with hundreds of thousands of readers, in writing, that I have committed multiple crimes against a minor.  

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me or call me directly at ben@clicktoblue.com  or via telephone at (212) 871-8241.

I will be contacting Mr. Geyerhahn, certainly.  But not by phone, and not by email, and through someone else.  How this used to work with me is that I’d get burned, run and hide for six months, and start the process all over again.  Not anymore.  Looks like Ben Geyerhahn and ClickToBlue are going to be another chapter in My Story.  This chapter might end better for me.

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