Garrett is da man. I'm stopping comments on this post
because Mr French just said all there is that needs to be said about it.

This drama needs to die!

/drama
/post
/comments

in response to annonymous on 4/19
I'm sorry to see Dan going - he was a great contributor to MSI's rebranding committee and an analytics zealot. Plus he's a good guy. I'll miss him and wish him well.

I suspect that the 90% number is a little high. I'd check your polling methodologies.

That said - times have been tough here. I imagine there are still some folks with lines in the water.

Magazines - you were poorly informed about a custom publishing initiative that's been knocking around. I'm not personally sure where it's at now. If you're really curious about it give me a call: 919-433-3139 and I'll dig into it.

Numbers... hm.

It's unfortunate that you're posting what I suspect was told to you in confidence, or more than likely without the knowledge that you would toss them off in a comment thread. Anyways, I'm not the one to speak to what our numbers actually mean, or to the accuracy of the numbers you're reporting second hand.

You're trying to build a "they don't have much more time" case from them.

Why?

Let me know! 919-433-3139.

in response to Evan's 4/19 post:
Cord's kicking ass (he runs a TIGHT SHIP) and is putting people *I* consider to be HIGHLY ENGAGED like Adam Schultz, JP Sherman and Geoff Lamm in positions to drive new products and improve our old ones.

As far as how long we will last?
That's not something I ever think about. I don't have the time. I come in early, stay late, and remain vigilant about working with people internally who are excited, passionate people who strive to do their best work every day.

Whether we will be around in one month or three years isn't an issue to me personally. I just don't think about it. I live frugally (those of you who know me can attest to this), I don't have dependents and I know I can find another job pretty easily. Plus I'm having a blast here. (...as the marketing and communications manager ;) I didn't have as much fun when I started as a copy writer, though that was before Jack's time...)

From my perspective we're trending up. I don't have any charts or data to actually show (beyond the increase in PR we've been seeing because of our blogging efforts), but I know that I personally remain excited about coming in to work (almost everyday), and I've never been more excited about this job.

I can't predict the future, but I can predict my actions: I'm gonna keep driving MSI's growth from my little corner of the company with every thing I have.

And if ANYONE ever wants any clarifications on rumors you're hearing please give me a call. If it's not about numbers I'll help you make sure your comments here - or anywhere - are accurate. You don't even have to tell me your name.

Garrett French
MarketSmart Interactive
919-433-3139
garrett.french@marketsmartinteractive.com

Well my time table may have been a little bit off but its still happening.

Ive heard some pretty crappy stuff going down.... a good note, cord has been rumored to actually be doing well.

Dan Lott put in his notice. And 90% of the people on the customer service side are looking to leave, just a matter of them finding other jobs and such.

they had some slide show showing that sales needed a 1.5 million per month to keep on track...so far theyve had 400, 800 and like 600k.... and i believe in the year and a half I was there they only hit 1.5 million one or two times...

Tom Dwyer also has a great idea about trying to get some new magazine going, word on the street is that its his dad that does this for a living and he is trying to integrate it some how to help him sell...

think of it what you will but i agree...they dont have much more time....

"I don't beleive that company will be there in 2-3 months, so if you are still there, polish up that resume... :)" It's been two months now...still think everyone needs to polish up the resume?

so what if they are hiring some of them back, you should have a job by now...

"Fired" "Laid Off" "Let Go"

WebSourced / Market Smart Interactive / Keyword Ranking.com whatever you want to call them, still got rid of us.

I consider it being "Fired"

they weren't "fired" btw...

What?! Who are they hiring back and how did you hear about this?

I can't believe they are actually hiring some of the fired employees back!

what kind of idiots are running the show?

Regarding Kya:

http://www.newsobserver.com/104/story/412767.html

you mean she got out after she shit in the fan

1.She was in on every meeting involving the future of the company.
2.She has seen all the financial statements.
3.She was in the inner circle.

Consider all that when you take into account she left with 0 job prospects. Not hard to connect the dots here; something's rotten in Morrisville, and Kya got out before the shit hit the fan.

I guess that is my point. She survuved the cuts, why not at least ride it out and collect those 6 figure checks

not terribly surprising although leaving a 6 figure job can't be easy.

she quit? curious move

No, she quit

Is Kya still there?

The media may be interested in the story of MSI/WebSourced/whatever - if anyone's interested in sharing, leave a post.

It was the best company I ever worked for...until they got sketchy as hell! But I agree Paul, I learned a hell of a lot while I was there and I am very glad I had the opportunity to work with and learn from some very smart people.

These days layoffs are pretty frequent, and you are lucky if you are with the same company for your whole career...so take what you learned and bring it to someone that actually gives a shit! :)

"Worst company you've ever worked for?" Wow, you should see my current job. I know I'm gonna piss off so many people, but WBS is by far the best company I ever worked for (granted I just graduated college in 2003). So WBS didn't pay me much, but fresh out of college, nobody wanted to hire me. I did random temp jobs till WBS. They jumpstarted my career, and I feel like I learned a lot from them.
--ppzhạọ@aol.com

Another victim of the purge here. Hope everyone is doing well. I have conflicted feelings in that I don't wish ill on the people still at MSI (or whatever they ewant to call themselves), but it is easily the worst company I've ever worked for.

I agree that this is not the time or place for personal insults. Instead of concentrating on the negatives, refocus the negative energy into going out and finding a better job(this should not be too difficult).

Like some of you, i suffered the indignity of being laid off while our company spokesperson never took his eyes off his Blackberry. Rather than taking it as a personal insult, i choose to look at it as an inexperienced leader in the unenviable position of having to deliver bad news to people with wives, children, mortgages, car payments, etc.

I agree with some of the other posters here: Start your own company. You have already seen how NOT to run one;-) Just do the exact oppostite and you'll be riding the gravey train.

In all seriousness, the skills we all have learned are very marketable. It's less than two weeks later and i have found my skillset very much in demand. Considering most of you are roughly 10 times more technologically brilliant than me, i feel confident you will all have no problem finding a fullfilling career at a company you can be proud off.

As far as the internal politics and restructuring of our old employer, like Earl and Carson Daly, i firmly believe in the concept of Karma.

If anyone wants to talk about the job leads i have uncovered or the way i have been marketing myself,messaging MSI's situation to prospective employers, or whatever check me out at http://brentbrandow.blogspot.com/

probity: complete and confirmed integrity.

"It is unfortunate that some of the ethical ones got let go and particually 2 did not!!?

George
Tom
Cord
Kya
Bill=

inexperienced, not unethical.

Is one of the 2 mentioned in the below post?
I would like to apologize on behalf of myself, bill howard and tommy d. I did leave a printout of the original email entiled "lunch with tommy d" on the printer. in my defense, i am not only an inept manager, but also an incredible jackass. My indiscretions should have not been a big surprise.

I choose to work from home yesterday because i am a pussy and refuse to take responsiblity for the decisions i make. I hope you all understand, that while i want you bottom-feeders to feel like you are an important part of this company, you aren't.

If you need to come and talk to me, too bad. My calendar is already full. Chris Doran and former-pornstache afficianado Ken McGee will be taking turns kissing my ass and competing with Cord for biggest Greatful Dead poser.

It is unfortunate that some of the ethical ones got let go and particually 2 did not!!

Now that I am officially no longer employed by MSI, I would like to say a few things. Up until this point, I have not posted on any boards, made any comments, or wrote on any blogs. I say.... The bashing has to stop. Yes, you may be bitter and I really do not blame you. I will NEVER forget that Thursday when many positions were "abolished" and my good friends gone. I seriously felt like someone close to me died. The people leaving were crying, the people staying were crying - just a mess. From 3pm on Thursday until about noon on Saturday was a blurr. However, we still have friends working there. They are your friends and they have families. Going on stock message boards and other places to bash MSI hurts your friends more than anyone else. If the company goes under, your friends are the ones that will be in the most trouble, not the officers of the company.

Again, I have my own opinion as to the future of the company and you should feel free to discuss with others and post on blogs like Ev's, but please re-consider before you post on boards and blogs that are seen by stock holders and others potentially interested in the company.

Peace out!!

Al

PS- Evan didn't get fired he handed me his to week notice, so we can put that rumour to rest.

wow, you weren't a copywriter were you? ;)

Well, well, well, it happened. Someone who administers the THK stock board has not only had my Yahoo email address deleted, but they went so far as to delete EVERY post I have made on the board. And the coup de gras? My IP adress has been blocked from posting again.

What we have here is a classic example of manipulating the facts by preventing people from speaking there opinion on this board.

Maybe THK should set up shop in China, where filtering truth on the Internet is the norm.

For the record, I did not said anything in my previous posts that were way out of line. But I guess what I said was so true that some folks are a little rattled by it. The gist: THK may be a good company and have many profitable divisions, but WBS is the albatross, the "Fredo" of the family.

Can someone please post this back on the THK Yahoo stock board?

http://the-joke-that-still-is-websourced.blogsp...

Thanks!

hopefully everyone has found a job by now and will leave this poor woman alone!

Wow. just wow. It's amazing how many people don't want to hear the truth. All I did was post a personal blog about a shitty thing that happened. I don't think that person's actions got me laid off. However, she obviously had a problem with me that probably would have been better served by just talking to me about it than by going behind my back.

Once again, I'm not hiding behind an "Anonymous" login because I have nothing to hide.

google word of the day...

i don't think it is based on her physical appearance! mental maybe...

JH, was a hard worker and knew her stuff, whether or not you liked her or not is your own personal problem, and it is very immature to attempt to insult someone based on your opinion about their physical appearance...grow up, or go away.

who hasn't had run in's with jh?

Like I said yesterday, I've had plenty of run-ins with JH, but there's no f#cking reason to say disparaging things about someone's appearance, looks, or ethnicity. What a sophmoric load of crap. Thanks for making it so clear that you can only communicate in the basest of ways: only a miscreant would talk about someone like that.

Job op:

NCFREE is seeking a webmaster/communications expert to provide IT support for web-broadcasting, website maintenance, and other online communications. Resumes and references can be emailed to lindsey@ncfree.com , faxed to (919) 829-3957, or mailed to 5 W. Hargett St., Suite 1110, Raleigh, NC 27601. Please forward to anyone who may be interested.

Laura C.

so who is this expat character? they seem to know a lot of details...hmmmm

ouch. When good jokes go bad. Evan fired? Please tell me that is what management was saying. Lord knows what they said about me. Anyway, I got the last laugh from them.

Sorry everyone got canned but realize that you all have a lot of experience in a very young field that needs employees. Hell, start your own company - contact your old clients and show them the light.

At least you'll have more time to eat fat ass!!

OK this is getting ridiculous. Quit trying to talk shit just because you are unhappy and lost the job you thought you were soooo good at. No one was "out to get you". you lost your job because no one there could work with you anymore and they did not have a place for you to be on a 1 person team. Trust me...it was not one person only that had anything to do with this...infact it was quite a few.

Maybe your friends are right about karma...what goes around comes around. And maybe this person will get it...I just think you are bitter cause it came back around to you first.

Jenny,

Why would someone randomly go into her email and pull up 4 random ass emails. You know you were snooping, don't be upset because NO ONE THERE liked you!

thats fucked up

does she have a nice ass and fucked up eyeballs?

she likes beer and CFOs

what does that mean?

WOW...sorry about that Jenny. With all due respect, you rubbed many folks at WBS the wrong way.

BUT this is excessive to go on a witch hunt. Regardless of any run-in's with a co-worker, I would never try to get somebody fired.

What a bunch of (W)BS...btw, that is my new term for all things that come out of Websourced. ;)

Does this person like hyphens and thunderbirds?

i think the group here needs a little backstory...who is NT? what happened? give us the scoop.

first, how would someone have access to her email in order to send them to you, and second, why would they do it on company letterhead etc. And how did they get your address, are you sure you weren't snooping in someone's email?

I just want to say that I bear no ill will towards anyone that did work at WBS or anyone who still does. To the poster who said they'd have a field day looking at my email; I'm not sure what you mean - I never did have anything to hide - and still don't. And to answer the other question, someone at WBS wants me to stay in the loop, because they mailed (postal mail with an MSI letterhead envelope) the emails NT sent. And I appreciate it. If the one who sent it is reading this, thank you.

Best of luck to everyone.

the url is actually different...slightly. so if you don't mind, please re-post.

http://the-joke-that-still-is-websourced.blogsp...

in time you'll know where i worked. ;)

yeah right, he is not going to say who he is, but I think we all have an idea...or at least I do!

expat i removed your last comment, that link is on here already and do not need to rehash it. Which blog is yours that you forgot the password to? I'm trying to figure out who you are, which department did you work in?

Tuche evan. Not only does the mgmt. suck, HR is a freeking figurehead of a department. I could exscuse Cherly for the first screw-ups due to Pat's Caligula-cum-Emporer attitude. But last week's debacle goes against EVERYTHING in the HR fundamentals playbook. Good for you and all other who post here and on all other blogs. Posting is cathartic for all involved.

And WBS/MSI is what it is. Its analagous to Esperanto: great in theory, horrible in application, behind the times, and a dead language. Keep on postinh people..and don't forget to post on the-joke-that-is-websourced. I too am a former employee who left in the last 6 months before all this shite and Tom (horrible pun, I know) Foolery commenced.

For the anon poster who wants people to stop bashing and blah, blah, blah, you need to GET OUT while you can!!! I feel more sorry for you than thos who were let go.

^Anon, I understand your frustration with they way people are acting but you are not looking at it from their perspective. Now I am not saying I agree with it, but I understand. I started this post b/c I wanted to know that I will help those who I can, if I can.

If you have ever been laid off or had a loved one laid off, you know it is a horrible experience. Work for a company loyally for X amount of time just to be disgarded and given no solid reason, it really stings when lay offs happen. It is natural for someone to be bitter, it will eventually pass, but you can not expect them to be concerned with your well being, when they are the ones out of a job and their lively hood is taken from them. (and then your company continues to have job postings up).

I do not think this type of reaction is abnormal for anyone at any company when being laid off. I think if any potential client was doing their research, they would find lots more compelling reasons to go with another company, and not just b/c of bitter fired employees.

The company, gave me my first intro into the industry and has helped get me where I am now, its a shame the way things have turned out for them but its not the fault of these employees or other bloggers, turn to the mgmt.

I'm still an employee and certainly not pleased with the happenings from last week across the board. I truly care about the company as means for my family, but also for every single person that was let go. I'm trying my hardest to understand what in the world is everyone getting out of trashing the people who are still there.(on this blog and the countless others I have come across) I know by all means this has affected each of you, but do you really wish the malice, hate, and utter disrespect you are showing for all who are still working for MarketSmart Interactive. Again....I'm sure this will spawn a million more juvenile remarks, but this bashing is overboard to say the least.

Expat since you really dont know the story, that post was not about Andy, it was about Andy's bosses who had straight lied to my wife, who worked for the company that started FI. That was my beef. It wasn't personal with Andy, and I took it down to as a favor to a friend, Ben Wills, not Andy who I don't know.

And notice in my post i said Personal about Somebody, i've got no problem criticizing companies, if people dont' question them who will?

Feel better?

Sorry I d/n spell check; I'm not stupid, just sloppy. ;)

Oh yeah, I guess your right about not posting anything disparaging or maligning about Fortune ( http://www.evankroberts.com/2005/11/big-fk-you-...).

Wow, I guess I'm really confues,. You gave Andy the big-f bomb but then took the post down as a favor to a friend? And you would never say anything bad about someone you d/n know? Hmm, kinda seems to me that you must have said something pretty damming (the big F**k You to Fortune Interactive) about someone you d/n know. Man, too many non-sequitirs in your post. Oh well rock out e-rod.

haha, no i didnt get fired, i left on my own terms and I believe i did it as respectful as possible, despite my feelings for the company and the people that run it.

I took some time off and was lucky enough to given a great opportunity and i couldn't pass it up.

I don't really care what people there are saying about me, if they are my real friends then I will / have talked to them. I joked around a lot of them about my 'just woken up' and if people want to poke fun of me then so be it, if thats what makes them happy.

I never knew andy, andy probably never knew my name (before i started ranking for his new company name :)). I def wouldnt say anything bad about someone I didnt know (publicly at least).

Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

To tell you guys the truth, I personally want WBS to turn around. It's so much better for our future careers to put WBS on our resumes if it's a successful company. I'm currently am looking for a new job, and having "Keyword Rankings" on my resume opened a lot of doors for me.

After being mistreated by WBS, I currently no longer work hard like I did in WBS in my current job, or participated in meetings as much, or cared much between 8:30-5, but I'm still successful, learning new skills, and moving on with my career.

Evan, please Email me, I'm kinda confused on a career forked road and would like to ask you for some career advice.

Anyone else from WBS is more than welcome to Email me and keep in touch.

ppzhạọ@aol.com (Type out Email address, do not copy & paste)

wow, good choice of blog topic, bet you got a lot of traffic this week!

they are going to have a field day looking through jenny's email!!

hA Ha!

The big lay off sucks! A lot of great people really got mistreated. Everyone well end up in a better place though...and if MSI has to close the doors soon...then those who are out now will be the lucky ones! I read Jennys blog today. How did you get access to someones emails??? I got word today from someone who is still there that all of our hard drives and emails are public to the teams so they can see what we are working on!! Hope they dont find anything in mine!!!!

evan didn't get fired, he is too smart for those idiots. same with jen dennis and al...shit, same with everyone they are laying off. a bunch of talented people that will have no problem finding a job. the joke's on them, how the hell are KYA and BILL going to find VP positions somewhere else, come on!!!!!

They got lucky, sucked the right dick, and they are slowly losing ground. pack up folks, you are going to be gone soon too.

Look familiar? Chadd Lomoglio, Tom Roeder, and the rest of the wbs call center are a poor poor man's version of this flick.

http://www.angelfire.com/tv/ae/images/boiler.jpg

A word of advice for all of you who got laid off: consider yourselves lucky!!!!! I feel more sorry for those that are still there. Sure it's a paychek, but for how long? And how long can you sustain putting up with all of the incredible amounts of (W)BS going on there right now. You reap what you sow..and WBS's current managment are paying for the sins of the perverted "father".

THK will cull its corpoate herd in the next 3 - 6 months. And WBS will be put out to pasture for sure.

Enjoy your time off. Watch some Law & Order. Water your chia pet. Spend time with your family. And hey, why not start a blog? :)

e-rod: why did you leave websourced? of course it sucked and the decision making process was ocd at best...but rumore has it you were FIRED?! True or nnot ture? Just curious b/c a lot of folks are talking shite about you (not because you always look like you just woke up). Stand up for yourself!!! Did you or did you not make disaparaging comments about Sir Andy Beal, SEO snake-oil exrtaordianire? Sure he d/n know shit a bout seo, but he got the Golden SEO expert ticket and WBS let him have it. So what you gotta hate?

here is a job for you people!

http://jobsearch.monster.com/getjob.asp?JobID=3...

One more thing - they're required to give you two week's severance. Email me at jennyhalasz@gmail.com for more info.

There ARE jobs out there, so just get a head start on all of the employees that are still at wbs and who will be looking for a job in a few months.

I'm really sorry to hear about the layoff situation. From having worked with many of you, I know many of the people who were let go really worked hard for the company. The good news is that companies are really interested in the skills you've gained at WBS/MSI. If you guys need anything, feel free to let me know. I am sending you all positive thoughts!

Laura C.

Bitterness can fuel some people.

I say be bitter and try and make these evil motherfuckers pay. They Deserve no less than Jail time for all the shit they have pulled.

Don't listen to people who probably own a big portion of stock tell you to just move on. Shame on you telling people to take being bent over like this just because you have big chunks of stock to sell.

Employees and x employees
Take care ofof yourself and your families ... but you know what these people deserve to be punished. Get Mad Get even. Spread the word.

Why let them get even more rich by shitting all over a new group of people.

Hey Kids,

Jen H here. Yesterday was sucky, but it's a new chapter in our lives. We have incredibly marketable skills, so get your butts onto Monster and others and give me some worthy competition!

Email me for more (I already have a few leads, and can't use them all). jennyhalasz@gmail.com

Best of luck to all of you and keep in touch!

Couple words of advice to those of you affected by this layoff.

1.) Don't become bitter by it. Learn from it and learn from all the mistakes you were exposed to on a daily basis. Now you know how not to run a company and how not to treat employees. That is valuable information.

2.) There's always a place for highly motivated and talented people with search marketing experience. Use your experience to find the right fit to do what it is that you love and do it well.

I can honestly say that I've been in the same position as you and can say that I didn't let it ruin me or my attitude. So get those heads up, get the aggression out and move on to the next chapter knowing you can only go up from here.

Good Luck,
Jason

^No posting during working hours...

ps. nice grammar

Go look for another job instead of crying and talking nasty language you whole bunch loosers

If they get in a plane crash and survived , they could live off xavier for awhile. unless he eats himself first....

It really sucks to see a group of employees in a company that had so much potential crash and burn. A lot of people really worked hard and believed in wbs (or whatever they want to call themselves now) and I feel mismanagement from the top down destroyed what could have been the most successful company in search.

Good luck to those that were let go, and I hope CGI boardmembers get in a horrible plane crash. Maybe the next hurricane can hit Xavier.....

why the hell did they fire jen den? she knows her shit and was the best one on that team! glad al got out when he did!

I didn't stick around to hear what the morons had to say...so whats the deal? so we get 2 weeks pay or just paid for today?

http://the-joke-that-is-websourced.blogspot.com/

and

http://websourcedmoroncoo.blogspot.com/

The site for the insurance is www.bcbsnc.com. Do your unemployment TODAY! It takes a week to kick in.

Everyone is better off without this place and I wish you all the best of luck...I promise you will be so much happier.

What up Ev-rock! Hope things are going well.

We were laid off for 4 reasons in my opinion - the company just lost almost all of our million dollar clients (Lowe's, Black and Decker, and Motorola), we didn't play politics or kiss ass, most of us had less than a year senority, and most of us made too much - ironic because I was UNDERPAID at $36K, but still more than a lot of techs.

I don't kiss ass, but I will promise that I'll work as hard as I can. If 50 hours a week isn't enough, fuck 'em. We'll be alright - as 2Pac once said, "The underground just don't stop for hoes"

- "Hurricane Romeo"

shitty day to say the least. it says a lot abut the people you work for when one of the VPs decides to work from home the rest of the day rather than face the music.

As the company floundered, we all saw this coming so no big surprise. Wish i hadn't worked so hard the past few months...it was clearly unappreciated

not putting my name on this till i get my 2 weeks severance...i don't trust those dipshits any farther than i can throw them.

Thanks Ev. I got axed today. Man they do not know what they have done. So many smart people, and they just dumped us without even saying, "thanks for working your ass off". I understand that a sinking ship needs to unload some weight, but the way they did it was so wrong.

And don't even get me started on the worthless stock options they gave us a week before they lay us off.

We are all so much better off without them and I wish everyone the best!