On Friday, we posted a couple of items about how Jason Calacanis, the founder of Mahalo, was using a WIRED cover without attribution. (see Compiler and Epicenter.) Calacanis quickly added a credit line to the post in question, and also secured permission from WIRED to use the image.
Unfortunately, our attempt to give Calacanis a good-natured ribbing came off as more vindictive and mean-spirited than we intended. Adding irony to insult, our post on Epicenter initially used an image of Calacanis that was itself lifted from another magazine, Fast Company. As a result, we made ourselves into an illustration of the very error we were trying to point out.
So, to Mr. Calacanis, whom we offended far more than we intended to, we offer our apologies. To Fast Company, whose image we briefly used without attribution, we also apologize. And to our own editors, we offer this lesson: A blog, like a loaded gun, is a dangerous thing. Be careful where you point it, or you might blow your own foot off.
Thanks, Dean!