Blog Insults Debated

[gagquin]

After Suicide, Blog Insults Are Debated

Advertising blogs churn out some of the Web's more scathing, and personal, vitriol. Last week, the bloggers absorbed some body blows of their own.

Visitors to AgencySpy and AdScam, two sharp-tongued blogs written by advertising industry insiders, posted comments blaming the sites for contributing

to the suicide late last month of Paul Tilley, 40, the creative director of DDB Chicago.

In so doing, bloggers and their readers added another chapter in a long debate about how, or whether, to manage anonymous posts that seem aimed at

shredding a person's reputation.

"We're certainly used to criticism in the agency business," said Nina DiSesa, chairwoman of McCann Erickson Worldwide's New York division, who posted

comments on AgencySpy.com in defense of Mr. Tilley, whom she called a friend. "But when blogs attack someone personally, without justification,

and they do it anonymously, it's just wrong."

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