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Vulgar Online Comment Costs Man His Job

He posts dirty word, then gets tracked via his IP address

By John Johnson,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 20, 2009 8:40 AM CST

(Newser) – Commenters, beware. A St. Louis man who posted a vulgarity at a newspaper website soon found himself out of a job. When the St. Louis Post-Dispatch asked readers to weigh in with the strangest thing they've ever eaten, one guy responded with what the paper describes as a "vulgar expression for a part of a woman’s anatomy." The single-word post was quickly deleted, but just as quickly reposted. When website editor Kurt Greenbaum noticed in a WordPress email alert that the IP address came from a local school, he forwarded the info to officials there.

"About six hours later, I heard from the school’s headmaster," writes Greenbaum. "The school’s IT director took a shine to the challenge. Long story short: Using the time-frame of the comments, our website location, and the IP addresses in the WordPress e-mail, he tracked it back to a specific computer. The headmaster confronted the employee, who resigned on the spot."

A vulgar comment posted online cost a man his job.
A vulgar comment posted online cost a man his job.   (AP Photo/Ferdinand Ostrop, file)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 33 comments
thezenhaitian
Nov 24, 2009 2:18 AM CST
Fudge.
RufusT.Firefly
Nov 21, 2009 8:59 AM CST
Rule 1: Never use a work computer for something even the least bit sketchy. Rule 2: See Rule 1.
Snarfeh
Nov 21, 2009 4:47 AM CST
@robr - I *wish* that were true....:::sigh:::....sorry, but I get wordy at times and most here know that...one can read it or not read it...:::shrug:::

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