It’s been some time now since I found myself the subject of a wide variety of  commentary about a situation in which I was part of  a brief, expletive-laden outburst on Twitter. Much to my chagrin, if you Google my name you can figure out what I’m talking about.

I am conscious that addressing this now may not be in my best interest, but after some long thought, I have declined to speak a little bit about what happened. As someone that works in the newspaper industry, one that I truly love being a part of, and ever-so mindful of how keeping quiet could affect my career in this business, I felt that I should at least offer my perspective on what happened.

Yes, I am guilty of one incident in which I conducted poor professional behaviour, and it is something I deeply regret. Although I do not want to get into specifics, the situation was the culmination of two months of attempting to reach a source for an off-the-record discussion and subsequently having private discussions published online without my permission with numerous phone calls to rectify the situation unanswered.

The result was a firestorm of activity on blogs, newspapers, comments, whispers, etc., none of which I appear too kindly in. Some were deserved, some were not.  Also, I received a couple anonymous death threats and an anonymous impersonator hijacked my Twitter account and posted incendiary messages as myself, situations which no one should have to experience.

Although I am proud of a career in which I have not plagiarized, libeled anyone, misquoted anyone and have since cultivated hundreds of trusting  sources, this lapse of judgment was a cold, hard splash of reality. As a technology journalist, the irony of having a widely-publicized event on a new social media platform is not lost on me, nor is the fact that many other writers will now reference what happened in a “what not to do online”-story.

However, I have learned greatly from this incident. I am ever-mindful of what I say online, either through the vacuous void of the Internet in Twitter and this blog post as well as to other people. I also admit that I have some growing up to do – the person I was in February is not the same person I am now. I’ve taken it upon myself to become calmer, less judgmental, more patient – in short, more professional in all of my relationships, whether they be career-related or personal.

An update: Since I’ve posted this entry, I’ve received a considerable amount of traffic as well as several comments. With all my posts, I moderate the comments on this blog. What you see below is the comments I’ve approved for this post, however, I have deleted a number of snide, anonymous negative comments as well. Please understand that I have no real issue with comments but if you feel the need to add some unconstructive feedback, at least have the courage to do so with your real name and e-mail.