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UPDATE - Rabble Rousers set up Babble Strike Web site: Click Here
In case you're wondering who Audra Trower Williams is, she's a resident of Halifax and considered by many as the reason for the success of Rabble.ca, the most popular and successful left leaning Web site in Canada.
Today, Audra posted a letter on her blog that indicated she was fired. Not only was she fired, but the manner in which the organization fired her could be considered anything but left. Audra received the news VIA e-mail. Click Here .
Audra wrote the following on her blog, in response to the e-mail firing: The first question is "Are they f****** kidding me?" to which the answer is no. The second question is "So after 5 years of building the most successful part of a site, and putting up with late cheques and decreased hours and all sorts of unpaid time I got fired by email by a member of the management committee for not filling out a form?" to which the answer is yes.
The third question is "How hurt and angry am I right now?" to which the answer is very.
After hearing the news, some Babble forum members have called for a strike. In other words, they are asking members not to participate in any discussions on the boards, with the exception of discussing Audra's firing.
The following are just a sampling of comments appear on Rabble's forums:
robbie_dee "You may be wondering why a number of the active topics in this forum have been closed. I am the one who did so, as a protest.
The staff moderator of babble has been summarily fired. I believe this discharge to be unjust, or at the very least, it has been poorly explained and apparently without due process.
Although unfortunately I do not have the ability to close this forum entirely, I would strongly urge all "pro-worker" babblers to cease posting to this forum until this situation is resolved. Scott Piatkowski has advised me that the USA forum is likewise on strike until further notice."
Cougyr "I have stopped contributing until this is sorted out."
eau "And here I thought this was the best part of the site..I had just emailed Audra privately on the weekend thanking her for her efforts and how I appreciated them and now this."
Stephen Gordon "I've been wondering why this bothered me as much as it did, and the answer can be summarised by one word: respect.
She insisted that babblers give it - even to those who may not have deserved it. And by doing so, she earned the respect of all babblers.
But not, apparently, the respect the the Management Committee ("Well, I wouldn't want to start unsubstantiated rumours about what a crappy job Audra's been doing lately. Oops! Was that aloud? I meant to say that Audra was an honourable woman.").
This general atmosphere of respect is one of the reasons why I don't mind occasionally playing the role of babble pinata. I've trusted the moderators, and if the only thing that was going on here was the passing of the baton from Audra to Michelle, there'd be no problem.
But it's not, so there is. The Management Committee's lack of respect towards someone who's earned it many times over does not bode well for babble's future.
So unless this plays out to the general satisfaction of babblers, this will be my last post here."
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