Comments on: Ben Goes To Hell

By: Ben Findley

Ben Findley — Mon, 14 May 2007 07:41:05 +0000

So wow that man was itching to fight, and show you that he can’t spell one stinking word right. I’m sorry but grammar and spelling bother me, and if this guy expected you to write a professional business letter than maybe he should have started it. I find that maybe posting it was wrong but who cares! Reading something like this is almost like having someone scream in your face about some stupid junk that they got upset about. So imagine having that happen to you over and over agian for no reason; I find Chris’ response perfectly sound and truly Ben was a jerk ready to explode. Reading his first response shows that he was ready to go off on Chris with what seemed to be slighted comments and maybe a goading or two. Just had to say something since well I do sit on the computer all night long so this was my three cents.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Feb 2002 00:03:39 +0000

Hi Chris,
Somehow, I'm finding it hard to jump on the bandwagon of support for you. Why?
1) If you were the bigger person, you would have let the whole thing stop after the guy's second (and obviously deranged) reply. If you really didn't want this guy to reply to you, then you wouldn't have replied any further to him. There's no use in complaining when you get what you ask for, right?
2) Surely you must have some personal insecurities yourself…? I mean, obviously Ben's rantings upset you if you went to the trouble of publicly posting your dialogue with him, I guess for the purpose of getting “revenge” ?
3) “Go to hell, Ben, and please do your best to hit every thorn on the way down.” Chris, aren't those rather strong words? Honestly, I'm skimming through this guy's manifesto here and it doesn't seem as if he swore at you at all. He didn't say anything to warrant such language.
You might want to take this guy's advice! “DonÂ’t get so personal and stop taking yourself too seriouslyÂ…this is after all a hobby and itÂ’s supposed to be fun!”
You really are taking yourself too seriously. Don't get worked up over this guy! If he has suits in his closet older than you and he still hasn't been able to achieve a basic level of competency in the English language, his opinion should mean nothing to you.
I also kind of think your one line URL reply was kind of rude myself. I would have prefaced it with a “Hi Ben” and perhaps followed up with a “Good luck” or something of the sort… it would have only taken an extra second to do. I can imagine the volume of mail you have to handle, however, and perhaps had I been in your shoes Mr. Ben would have gleaned absolutely no response at all from me. :-)
I apologize for being so hard on you, but I expect more from you. I know it sounds cliche but it's really sad to see you sink to his level.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2002 11:28:13 +0000

Chris,
I have to admit that I am not your biggest fan. Sorry.
But, I do agree with your feelings on the way that this person acted towards you. It's obvious that this guy is a jerk. It's almost blatant that he was looking to instigate something.
I agree with you. No one should have to take this crap. Not even you, Chris.
Keep doing what you're doing!!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Feb 2002 19:29:43 +0000

Ah, don't get bogged down with the old “having the last word” thing. Just respond with what you feel like, as long as you feel you've successfully conveyed your point then who cares?
I think there should be a “Lockergnome Named and Shamed Hall of Fame”, where jerk e-mails are displayed for all to see. Hmm… maybe not, everybody would create fake ones just to get on the “Named and Shamed” board, then Chris would have even more mail to wade through. Ignore me, I'm waffling.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Feb 2002 18:33:14 +0000

Chris: With all due respect, you let him get the best of you. In this age when a lot people think that they're a unique little snowflake and the world revolves 'round them, you can be sure that this won't be the last time for this kind of thing.
My recommendation? You should have kept on goading him until *HE* gave up with shorter & shorter responses from you so that his rants would have been longer and longer. Responses from you ranging from “Could you be more specific?” to just plain “Huh?” to “So what's the weather like over there?” would have sent him into a spinout with each e-mail and provided you with much entertainment.
Just my 2 cents. Good luck to you and Gretchen.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Feb 2002 15:24:51 +0000

Ben sounds cool!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Feb 2002 15:24:44 +0000

Ben sounds cool!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Feb 2002 21:42:01 +0000

This guys probably spent 45 minutes look up synonyms for his pathetic argument……….

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Feb 2002 20:50:25 +0000

“Ben is a jerk, but as far as I know hasn't chosen to make himself a public person as you have.”
If Ben believes that he's right, he won't mind everybody seeing what he wrote to Chris, in fact I'm sure that he'd want the whole world to see just how 'mean and evil' Chris Pirillo really is. If he's bothered about other people seeing it then obviously that would mean that he feels some level of guilt, and would prove that he was wrong.
I think this whole situation is best out in the open, it will be a reminder to everybody out there not to be so selfish and petty, and to respect people.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Feb 2002 04:03:43 +0000

I've heard from way too many “Bens” in my life. You just can't win. I've had to make sure that I just de-escalate pretty fast and stop responding. I've had people who read columns I've written about the Mac, and decided I was a total idiot who deserved to be berated. I'd ask them to back down and – wham! – they flipped out.
I had to boot someone from a moderated mailing list because I wouldn't post his every thought on GoLive. I wound up getting a pseudo-anonymous threat from him (full of lots of clues). I called his house and wound up talking to his wife (who I assumed was his mother because of his mode of expression) and told her I'd call his local police and the FBI if I ever heard from him again. I got one more message asking me to leave HIM alone!
You can't win, so I try to stop after one or two go-rounds when it's clear the person is just not going to be civil at all. That kind of response from Ben just chills my soul. How can someone be so ill and nasty?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Feb 2002 19:31:37 +0000

Post his e-mail! That way maybe we can send the jerk 1000 messages and pester him when he doesn't respond to each of ours! I think someone with some extra time should start bensucks.com

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Feb 2002 19:30:35 +0000

“Okay, I didn't plan on doing this at first”, a good instinct. I know you've put it on one of your lists of rights you reserve the right to post whatever you want, that doesn't mean you have too. Ben is a jerk, but as far as I know hasn't chosen to make himself a public person as you have. I certainly understand your frustration and a go to hell ben reply to his email was appropriate, but contrary to what your other fans say, this fan thinks you were wrong.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Feb 2002 17:43:00 +0000

Jeebus! I couldn't bring myself to read halfway through his little tirades.
What a silly, silly man Ben is.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Feb 2002 16:54:37 +0000

This guy sounds like he has as much common sense as Bernard Shifman http://petemoss.com/spamflames/ShifmanIsAMoronSpammer.html . Chris, if anything, the Shifman story will make you laugh!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Feb 2002 16:25:54 +0000

I send chris e-mails and i get the same type of response back and i think thats totaly cool, we should be thanking chris for even answering our e-mails in the first place!! He's not getting anything in return for answering our e-mails!! Its a great thing he does, and when he gets 1,000 messages in his mailbox i dont think he wants to go through each one saying hi and writing an entire full page response, if he did that he would have to take every other day off from work just to do that!! The guys not a machine! Ben's a moron.