I wanted to clarify a couple things regarding our post on the Lones Group lawsuit on Friday.
First of all, Daniel Rothamel is a friend of Jim and mine. I can speak for both Jim and myself when I say that Daniel’s one (of many) class acts in this industry. I’ve personally never heard a negative thing uttered about him – by anyone over the course of the last five years. That said, I wrote that post for 2 reasons:
- I happen to think frivolous lawsuits are a crazy waste of everyone’s time and money
- I wanted to defend my friend Daniel from his attackers.
On point number 1, it’s my personal opinion. Nothing more. Nothing less. No good whatsoever will come from lawsuits like the one Daniel is facing now. It’s a waste of time, money, and effort for all of society to endur — and the lawyers win no matter what in the end. I would feel the same way on that subject whether or not I knew the defendant.
Regarding point number 2, think of it this way. Imagine someone ran up to your friend and sucker punched them in the stomach Ask yourself two questions. 1) Would you defend your friend? And 2) if you were talking about the matter with another friend a day later, would you give them a neutral account of the incident? I hope the answer to number 1 is yes, and absolutely know the answer to number 2 is “no”. Those who know me well know I’m loyal to a fault, and that certainly played a factor in writing the post as well.
There were some strong comments voiced by Kevin Tomlinson and a few others regarding the fact that we were bullying the Lones Group by taking a SEO angle. Everyone makes mistakes, and we’re more than happy to admit we were in the wrong if that’s the case. On careful reflection, we have decided that although we feel strongly that the post itself was well intended, the SEO comment may not have been. Thanks to all for your input and thoughts left in the comments — this is what makes social media such a powerful medium. I have modified the original post as a result.
What we were doing with our blog post is defending. What the Lones Group did to Daniel and his family IS bullying.
Lastly, please do contribute to the ZebraDefenseFund if you can. Our thoughts are with Daniel and his family and hope this lawsuit is laid to rest soon.
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I will contribute. That is the focus. If this were Active Rain I would say great post…and get 25 points for it! But the backlink is like gold.
Drew, great post. Again, I will contribute. I feel badly for Daniel.
Drew, You are a class act.This post honors Daniel more than most of the posts this weekend. I hope there is a peaceful, amicable resolution that finds everyone winners. I hope others follow your lead.
The fact remains that all of this discussion, good or bad is in the public realm. It’s filtered through blog after blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Whether or not you choose to acknowledge the SEO effects of this in either the more personal way you did yesterday or this further reflection today, it’s still the reality.
The lesson in brand management was one we should all pay attention to. No one is immune from it and I think we have to seriously question our right to do something against the cause and effect. I hope it works out well for Daniel, who seems like a good guy just doing his job in his space…
The fact remains that all of this discussion, good or bad is in the public realm. It’s filtered through blog after blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Whether or not you choose to acknowledge the SEO effects of this in either the more personal way you did yesterday or this further reflection today, it’s still the reality.
The lesson in brand management was one we should all pay attention to. No one is immune from it and I think we have to seriously question our right to do something against the cause and effect. I hope it works out well for Daniel, who seems like a good guy just doing his job in his space…
This wasn’t a sucker punch. Daniel got a cease and desist, but is on his way to Seattle for REBoot in March. How is it, that with all of these Real Estate professionals, no one could negotiate out a settlement?
A lawsuit is a last resort. You all are very correct this will damage Denise Lones.
Now what I have been trying to figure out is what experience Daniel has in Real Estate. You mentioned five years here. What is Daniel bringing to the table other than a social media presentation?
David-
Daniel sells real estate. Sure, he speaks a bit and probably makes a little bit of money doing so, but he still sells houses.
I mentioned 5 years because that’s how long I’ve known Daniel. I think he’s been in real estate longer than 5 years though.
I want to echo Kevin and Frances’ comments. This shows a great deal of class and honors what I know to be true about Daniel’s character.
Yes hopefully this will all be settled out of court. Going to court just makes the lawyers rich.