"What puzzled colleagues and myself, is that Mr Anderson took the time to sort through and list his long tail of misbehaving PR people, it must have taken many hours."

What? Clearly you guys don't use Outlook. "Junk Mail Options/Blocked Senders/Export to file."

Three clicks, and it's all automatically sorted. It may have taken 10 seconds.

Tom,

I'm on Anderson's list and I'm not a PR person although Anderson somehow got on my email list (which he could have easily unsubscribed from). While he has a point, I'm disturbed at how malicious Anderson is in dealing with what you correctly point out is a petty annoyance.

There isn't one of us who couldn't "expose" people for lots of things. Anderson, (supposedly a hard-bitten journalist but, as it turns out, a delicate little flower easily fatigued by clicking the delete button) opted for a mean-spirited, vengeful way to deal with a problem that even neophyte bloggers experience.

What a baby he is.

I've read through much of the discussion on Chris Anderson's post (and posted too), and think it's sad to see such caustic vitriol flying between PR folks and media folks. I've been in this biz for 20 years, and I've never seen such discord - maybe it's always been bubbling there underneath the surface waiting to vent via the blogosphere, or maybe tensions really are rising as wrenching transformations in the media cause many participants - journalists, bloggers and PR pros alike - to go cannibal on each other like rats on a sinking ship.

Thanks Chris, useful information. "Tips on how to make your own Long Tail Blacklist of Bad PR in two clicks or less."

Thanks Cynthia, maybe Chris's delete button has worn out.., which is very likely.

Mark: Yes, you are right, there is an unprecedented amount of bad blood between media and PR sectors. I think it is because media is doing badly (except Wired). Journalists are over worked and under paid--and now they have to blog too.

While in PR things are booming, there is lots of work, and lots of money--which is why the pitch barrage has ratcheted up a good few notches this year. I completely understand Chris Anderson's complaint.

As someone once said, "Why can't we all get along?"

Anderson has a point: do a little research on his (or any) publication prior to pitching...it is the minimum you can do and it shows the respect that a professional reporter deserves.

I also think that Anderson makes a good point when he says some PR people are "friends and colleagues." While all of us on the PR side of things can aspire to that nomenclature, both sides have to realize that PR/Media is a symbiotic relationship.

Speaking for myself, I haven't felt the "unprecedented amount of bad blood" between reporters and PR people. Nor, have I heard about it until now.

And, finally, we're ALL being asked to do more - that's the beauty (and challenge) of social media.

I'm with Chris on this one. It's been going on and getting worse for many a year.

Why should journalists and bloggers put up with what amounts to unprofessional behaviour.

'We' soon get called out if we mess up. Isn't it time the PR industry got a grip and used some of its money to actually train its reps in how to handle media folk?

Dennis, I understand your position but Chris is a veteran journalist, and a highly succesful one, this stuff comes with the territory. And it was great that it created a lot of discussion around this topic of media and PR. Plus I had some fun with it which was fun, I'd love to have a similar opportunity.

But there is more going on here, and Mark Coker laid his finger on it, saying that the animosity between media and PR professionals is very high.

My view is that part of the problem is that there are fewer journalists these days, but they are pursued by ever larger armies ( or is it hordes? What is the collective noun?) of PR people. ... and so the pitch barrage can sometimes be overwhelming.

Bad pitches are easy to deal with, easy to ignore. But being overwhelmed with great pitches is far more challenging, which is my cross to bear.

Chris Anderson can apply his blacklist firewall in two clicks and he is done. But my problem is that I've got too many great pitches, interviews and story ideas that I know what to do with. How do I deal with that? That's a far more challenging problem, imho.

As Mark Borkowski points out in his great post (http://www.markborkowski.com/?p=7215) about chris anderson, it is perhaps time for PR professionals to take a stand against endless spam. Its not really going to harm the people 'outed' on his list, after all spam is a part of our live nowadays unfortunately

There is way too much brown nosing going on around Chris Anderson. Because he is a powerful editor in the Wired media empire.

But have you considered this: Too many people are taking Chris's rare opportunity for self-deprecating humor way too seriously.

Chris is a Brit and Brits know how to set up a hissy fit in a light, self-parody.

If you don't get it, will you be on Chris's uber-never-ever list for ever and ever? It's a possibility, I would.

As a PR professional myself, I can empathise with Chris Anderson's frustrations, and sending an Editor-In-Chief a generic press release or pitch is certainly not on my to-do-list.

I can not comprehend how such PR agencies continue to function, after all do we not need to know where the journalist's interests lie in order to pitch them a story of which they may consider to write about? Just as I would not reply to a message from a stranger on Facebook, how can these PR's expect a response from such a high profile media mogul?

This is not to say I agree with Mr Anderson's actions, perhaps many of these PR executives have not been trained correctly by their management, but in the future may turn out to be very media savvy with some extremely high profile and creative ideas. After this ordeal with Mr Anderson, they may now be too intimidated or humiliated to contact him again, thus making it Wired's loss and another mag's gain.

My point being, patience is a virtue. Educate, don't dismiss.

Personally I love Wired. I also think Chris is too smart to do something like that by mistake. I think he published the list to draw attention to his (unrelated) blog. And it worked.

As an aside, wouldn't it be funny if we all posted the spam that we get from Wired?

I think the guy is a genius when it comes to generating brand awareness for himself and for Wired, and that crafting personalized, self-screened PR pitches for him is not such a reasonable demand. For instance, it's not terribly transparent of him to publicize the 'failed' pitches without being clear on what 'successful' pitches contain/how they're used.

Now that the tempest winds are calming a bit, I've explored his actions at DIM BULB if you'd like to check it out (http://dimbulb.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/11/teapot-in-the-t.html)

"My view is that part of the problem [...]"

You mentioned earlier that there's a lot of money in PR. If that's true, then the real problem is that PR has become too successful. Which is why I don't understand these hissyfits you people throw here and at Anderson's blog. Is that part of the game of Harass the Journalist? Having some extra fun by pretending not to understand Anderson?

As for the new rift between journalists and flacks, ten years ago us journalists couldn't get you PR people to send e-mail if we used a cattle prod. Everything you guys sent was on paper, and even though the cost attached to paper is small, it's still real and non-trivial. But now you're rich and the cost of sending out your stuff has approached zero. This could account for an incline in flam.

"For instance, it's not terribly transparent of him to publicize the 'failed' pitches without being clear on what 'successful' pitches contain/how they're used."

Your position is all wrong to start with. You are asking yourself: how can I spam Chris Anderson without him noticing it is spam? Why don't you just send your press releases to relevant addresses? Surely the latter takes less work than figuring how to harass a person?

It is comments and blog entries like these that reinforce my opinion that a flack's prime goal is to be Evil (and to enjoy being Evil).

Branko: As as journalist for nearly 25 years I got used to the fact that not all PR people know what they are doing. And the fact that I get hundreds of pitches per day and many of them are of no use to me--is just part of the job. I screen them out without a second glance. I don't know why some journalists like Chris, get their underwear in a twist because someone pitched them an inappropriate pitch...