After a turbulent week which resulted in all of sports website Deadspin's writers quitting because they refused to only write about sports, the site has been hit with yet another setback. A new contributor, whose first post was published after all of Deadspin's previous staff writers had resigned, has also been pressured into quitting by Twitter users.
Earlier today, freelance writer and musician Alan Goldsher announced his debut for Deadspin in a now-deleted tweet.
https://twitter.com/tjcavs_/status/1190340311173742593
Within minutes of making the announcement, the replies to the tweet were filled with Twitter users accusing him of being a “scab” (a term used to describe people who cross a strikers' picket and go to work in place of strikers).
hey the other replies won't load. has anyone called you a scab yet
— mx. piggy (@Lubchansky) November 1, 2019
you are a scab forever
— guy with link to my own tweets in bio (@fart) November 1, 2019
Your writing is a cheap imitation of the real thing and you misuse “beg the question.” Just a second rate JV scab seeing playing time because all the talent is gone.
— Frankski (@ma5terblast3r) November 1, 2019
Less than an hour after the original tweet was published, Goldsher had deleted it and announced that an apology was incoming.
Deleting this tweet. Apology tweet to come.
— Alan Goldsher (@AlanGoldsher) November 1, 2019
In his apology thread, Goldsher then announced that his first Deadspin post would be his last and that he was out. He added: “I appreciate that I was pointed in the right direction.”
I've listened to the room, and I'm out of Deadspin. I hear what you guys are saying, and I respect it. This clearly wasn't a good idea, and I appreciate that I was pointed in the right direction.
— Alan Goldsher (@AlanGoldsher) November 1, 2019
Goldsher even thanked the Twitter mob for showing him the way the “general public” feels.
In a weird way, I have to thank you guys for all the insults and cries of "scab." If that hadn't have happened, I would've had no clue that the general public felt this way.
— Alan Goldsher (@AlanGoldsher) November 1, 2019
Several Twitter users highlighted that “Twitter isn't real life” and questioned Goldsher's decision to turn down a paycheck after being targeted by an angry Twitter users.
You're turning down a paycheck because some people yelled at you on Twitter? Twitter isn't real life. Earning money is.
— Nate (@BarstoolNate) November 1, 2019
Twitter mob wins again. At some point people are going to realize the Twitter mob isn't real world. Dude got hired to do a job, did his job and quit/apologized over people on Twitter…sad
— Paul (@WahooPaulyC) November 1, 2019
Others said they felt bad for Goldsher and criticized the Twitter brigade for bullying him out of a job where he was “excited to write about sports…on a sports website…where the writers voluntarily quit” and where Goldsher had nothing to do with them quitting.
He just got cyber bullied for being excited to write about sports…on a sports website…where the writers voluntarily quit because they wanted to write about something else(where they now can). Now they are trying to tank other people's jobs who had nothing to do with it. Wild.
— Buck Flamingo (@Run_GRP) November 1, 2019
The incident caps a bizarre week for Deadspin where not only do its former staff writers object to being told to stick to sports on a sports website but some Twitter users also object to the company using the work of writers that are happy to stick to this mandate.
