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[Recall]

Arthur Gies, I really don't like you.

 

[Vire]

I am not sure Gies fundamentally understands that saying dumb shit on public social media reflects back on your company.

It doesn't affect him and that's about as far as his sense of perception takes him.

Unless he's blaming the internet, like, as a concept. Like this wouldn't happen if it weren't for that darn old internet letting someone tweet out defensive reactions to unannounced features! It's all the internet's fault!

Steps for world domination in the mind of Arthur Gies:

1. Try and form coherent argument.

2. Fuck it, blame GAF.

 

[GraveRobberX]

I don't get why people are celebrating a guy losing his job. Especially over a stupid internet rant

Who's celebrating?

Most of us knew those comments would come back and bite him in the ass

He had a chance to blow over the whole situation and humble himself by teweeting out a response

He acted like a dick, stayed that persona, he payed with his job, simple as that

No one forced Sweet Billy to comment at all on Twitter, he took that upon himself

Now hopefully he learned his lesson and to others in the Twittersphere stay the fuck quiet, or lose your job!

 

[Megasoum]

I like that it's backfiring in Gies face on twitter right now lol.

 

[Allonym]

I'm not too fond of MS nor their Xbox but this is a little too much, this guy was unjustly terminated and used as an example. It's sad that his comments made on the internet, in his own private life could cause so much trouble for his career. Regardless of if his comments were right, wrong or insensitive, he was defending his company and he's been sacrificed for it. I understand employees are supposed to embody their company's values but to be fired for his own twitter is stupid. How many people should then be let go because of their twitter, facebook and other things occurring in their personal lives? It's wrong. How many people would feel that the right actions were taken against him were they in his shoes? His comments weren't offensive and truthfully, his termination won't change the minds of those vocal in their concerns of the Nextbox. Dude just took a bad one for the team

 

[Demon Ice]

God I fucking hate his style of writing, sounds like a fucking pre-teen valley girl.

"So, like, congratulations, I guess? Like OMG"

Boo hoo, actions have consequences and Adam's unbelievable idiocy cost him the job he was clearly not qualified for in the first place.

They need to add an analogies section to the interview for creative director, those were just sad.

 

[VariantX]

Just another example of why Twitter is fucking stupid.

Twitter is Twitter. People are the ones who come in droves to bring the stupid to Twitter.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

I like that it's backfiring in Gies face on twitter right now lol.

Link?

 

[Chie Satonaka]

No sympathy from me whatsoever.

It's amazing how many completely stupid things happen to people who haven't learned not to post everything on Twitter yet.

 

[KoreanBarbecue]

Fact of life, you're responsible for the words that come out of your mouth (or what you type on the Internet),. especially when you work for an enormous corporation where you words could have a real financial impact on what they do.

There's no way he didn't know what he was doing was wrong. He probably just thought he was above the law. Lesson learned, I suppose.

 

[KojiKnight]

Twitter really does have an amazing propensity to get unknowing people in trouble in their professional lives. It affects careers in industries as disparate as gaming and MMA. I would say it's up to companies to keep a tighter leash on social media, but some of this shit seems like basic common sense.

"Don't say stupid shit in public if you like your job" is a pretty universal rule, yet when it comes to Twitter, people seem to struggle mightily with the concept.

I think a large part of it is, that Twitter is still so relatively new and most people are still used to the old internet where it was a lot harder to stick a name on the internet to a real person.

 

[Randolph Freelander]

It appear's that Microsoft....

dealt with it.

But seriously, though, best of luck to the guy. He mouthed off in the wrong place. He'll learn from it.

 

[VeryGooster]

Is it a requirement in games, tech, and writing about the former to be obtuse?

 

[Samir Sedlar]

I love how we 'gamers' who are here 'on the internet' are being blamed for every single thing.

 

[Jadedx]

I love Gies, he stands up to pissy whiney 'gamers'.

 

[Psykotik]

shinibi602, can you get arthur gies fired next?

 

[GavinGT]

How was this not justified Arthur?

An employee goes out of his way to antagonize potential customers/consumers of a major company.

This was the only sane outcome.

Don't bother trying to speak with Arthur Gies about proper Twitter decorum.

EDIT: Oh jeez now he's talking to Kevin Dent. Quick, everybody bail out while you still can.

 

[ElectricKaibutsu]

I don't believe anyone is celebrating, they are just saying it makes sense. Also while it may suck that this guy lost his job, Microsoft is now hiring someone somewhere to be a new creative director.

I'm backing down since I realized my points are in line with Gies's. That makes me think I must be wrong in some way.

He deserved to be fired but I'm not particularly happy that he is.

 

[twinturbo2]

Wow, Wario out of the gate with no mercy.

 

[ido]

I'm in the camp that feels bad that the dude lost his job, but realizes he clearly fucked up.

I understand the firing even, but I can only imagine how shitty his life has become because of a few stupid fucking vague trolling tweets.

I look at this from the perspective that we all fuck up at work, except this guy fucked up in sight of everyone.

 

[KoreanBarbecue]

It appear's that Microsoft....

dealt with it.

But seriously, though, best of luck to the guy. He mouthed off in the wrong place. He'll learn from it.

I think that if a very studious, very investigate-y type person did their homework/research, they'd find that he's done this kind of thing before, albeit it probably in a much less public forum...this kind of crap isn't usually just a one-off type of occurrence.

 

[yami4ct]

Twitter really does have an amazing propensity to get unknowing people in trouble in their professional lives. It affects careers in industries as disparate as gaming and MMA. I would say it's up to companies to keep a tighter leash on social media, but some of this shit seems like basic common sense.

"Don't say stupid shit in public if you like your job" is a pretty universal rule, yet when it comes to Twitter, people seem to struggle mightily with the concept.

I don't really think they need to keep a tighter leash. What they're doing right now will certainly be ingrained in the public conscience before long. Fire people that do the dumb things. Eventually, people will learn not to say dumb things that may affect their employer. If they aren't able to do that, maybe you don't want them as an employee to begin with.

 

[DukeTogo1300]

I don't even understand how it's necessary. You work for Microsoft. You don't understand that (A) Twitter isn't a private forum and (B) You shouldn't openly antagonize your customers?

Was obviously being factious, but would it really be a bad idea? As a government employee I was trained about differing certain types of questions to some branch of PR, and obviously not everyone possesses common sense with stuff like this. It is less about expecting individual employees to be smart for their own sakes, and more a bit of profit-focused preemptive damage-control. Just because Microsoft might be able to do something more to avoid this stuff doesn’t mean it isn’t every bit the fault of the offending tweeter.

 

[TimeEffect]

I don't get why people are celebrating a guy losing his job. Especially over a stupid internet rant

He was a jerk to people. That's why. Nobody likes a jerk.

 

[Vire]

Real talk Shoe.

 

[twinturbo2]

This is why I don't talk about my job on social media. At all.

 

[RustyNails]

Apology accepted.

 

[Wuthering_Heights]

I wonder if they're hiring Gies to take his place.

I think it's safe to say that Gies is already on the Microsoft payroll.

 

[LAUGHTREY]

I don't get why people are celebrating a guy losing his job. Especially over a stupid internet rant

Because stupidity should be rewarded?

 

[entremet]

Getting fired sucks. He made a mistake. I can't kick a man when he's down.

 

[Rodhull]

Man, sad it came to this but the guy showed an alarming lack of common sense for someone at such a high-level position in their games division,

The fact it was picked up so widely across the net shows just how misguided he was. The thing is if the new Xbox doesn't have always online the guy's been fucked over by Microsoft's silence as much as anything.

 

[Duxxy3]

I love how we 'gamers' who are here 'on the internet' are being blamed for every single thing.

Gamers, terrorists and "the gays" are dragging down society.

 

[Quadraphonic]

I'm backing down since I realized my points are in line with Gies's. That makes me think I must be wrong in some way.

He deserved to be fired but I'm not particularly happy that he is.

Think about it this way.

Orth didn't just state his opinion.

He openly insulted those who disagreed AND did it in such a manner that put a negative light on his employer AND may have given the wrong idea on an UNRELEASED and UNANNOUNCED Microsoft product.

PR probably freaked their shit, because they have to be careful how they phrase the 720's always-on shtick, and this guy is going off on people months before they are ready.

 

[Zeouterlimits]

Getting fired sucks. He made a mistake. I can't kick a man when he's down.

Agreed.

 

[ido]

Because stupidity should be rewarded?

Well that's not fallacious at all.

 

[Wuthering_Heights]

This is why I don't talk about my job on social media. At all.

Yep.

They even told me when I got hired, if you associate yourself with us at all on Twitter or Facebook, then you better act right, because you can be fired if you act a fool.

Spoiler

Exact words.

 

[TheGreyHulk]

It's not the internet's fault. It's his own. You work for a mega corporation who has a product releasing this year that is unannounced. Hype for the product is through the roof at the moment and the moron chose to comment about an extremely hot topic, and when doing so, people assume he's representing MS and also indirectly confirming something that could ruin interest in their product... especially if it's untrue. The latest rumor, leaked with such great timing, says that always on is NOT required and that there is an offline mode for durango.... so... dude just started a shit storm for no reason and any sane company would have canned the guy too.

You don't f around with product launches. Any bit a misinformation can have catastrophic consequences.

It's your damn employer. You need to have some restraint when talking about unreleased and unannounced products made by your employer. Do not speak on behalf of them and do not talk about it period unless it's through private channels of communication. The internet is not a land of zero repercussion anymore. It's time people start realizing this shit

 

[Revven]

I'm not too fond of MS nor their Xbox but this is a little too much, this guy was unjustly terminated and used as an example. It's sad that his comments made on the internet, in his own private life could cause so much trouble for his career. Regardless of if his comments were right, wrong or insensitive, he was defending his company and he's been sacrificed for it. I understand employees are supposed to embody their company's values but to be fired for his own twitter is stupid. How many people should then be let go because of their twitter, facebook and other things occurring in their personal lives? It's wrong. How many people would feel that the right actions were taken against him were they in his shoes? His comments weren't offensive and truthfully, his termination won't change the minds of those vocal in their concerns of the Nextbox. Dude just took a bad one for the team

If you put Apple or any other company in Microsoft's shoes in this same situation, they would have also chosen to fire Orth. Social media can get you fired, I'm shocked this is news to you. It didn't help he had listed himself as a Creative Director at Microsoft Studios right on his Twitter, ending any kind of personal Twitter he had; when you do that people get the impression you're representing the company at that point. When you have a personal Twitter, you DO NOT do what Arthur Gies does by having Polygon written all over his profile. You DO NOT explicitly state who you work for, otherwise your opinions could be taken as representing the company's opinion (as seen here).

Arthur's Twitter is the PRIME example of what you don't do with a personal Twitter.

 

[cpp_is_king]

I'm in the camp that feels bad that the dude lost his job, but realizes he clearly fucked up.

I understand the firing even, but I can only imagine how shitty his life has become because of a few stupid fucking vague trolling tweets.

I look at this from the perspective that we all fuck up at work, except this guy fucked up in sight of everyone.

I'd feel bad, except that if the stories are to be believed, and there's certainly lots of evidence to suggest that they should, he's been an ass for a really long time. So whatever, he can just #DealWithIt.

 

[slightconfuse]

say stupid shit on twitter , get fired.

seems about right

 

[koryuken]

Can someone please explain this sweet billy thing to me? pls... I feel left out.

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

Well deserved. If I did the same thing for my job and to my customers, I'd be kicked out the door.

 

[blitzcloud]

I dont know how your morals work people, but being assaulted for stating a stupid opinion is some sort of bullying, let alone spreading so others join the mockery. Congratulations to everyone that digged further into the wound to make sure he snapped, you proved worthy of the unnatural selection legion.

he should have known better? No doubt. Is there any depth of justice on this case? no. This wasn't ocean marketing fiasco, it was a guy being mildly dumb with some bad analogies. You know what that would translate if applied on GAF right? (lol).

 

[Log4Girlz]

I hope he's able to pay his ISP bill.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Because stupidity should be rewarded?

He's talking about people's reactions here not the outcome of the situation

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Other victims of the internet under Arthur Gies definition:

Judge Richard Cebull, a disgraced judge that was forced to resign after sending e-mails joking that Barack Obama's father was a dog.

The Steubenville Rapists, who recorded their crime on video which leaked on to the internet (at least Gies isn't alone on thinking this is someone else's fault?)

Anthon Weiner, former Representative who tweeted his penis to a young lady, which he absolutely would not have done if not for twitter existing and women on twitter being hot. Shame on you, internet.

 

[electro]

Apology accepted.

This is genius.

 

[GiantBreadbug]

Microsoft

Why would I work there?

 

[Petrae]

Real talk Shoe.

This is the truth. Right here. It doesn't matter what people think, or feel is right or just. Twitter is a public social media platform and thousands can read your thoughts and opinions. Once you tie yourself to an employer in social media circles, you represent that employer. 24/7/365.

Fake immunity like "my tweets don't represent my employer" is worthless. Until we learn that, more people will lose their jobs and "blame the Internet".

 

[cpp_is_king]

Can someone please explain this sweet billy thing to me? pls... I feel left out.

After the whole thing went down someone who worked with him a long time ago told a story about how he made everyone call him Sweet Billy, and if they didn't, he would just straight up ignore them to their face like they didn't exist.

After that, some GAF detective found a post from 2007 or something where he identified himself as Adam Orth, and his GAF name was sweet_billy or something.

The first event happened before the second, so the second basically verified that the first was almost definitely true.