twitter fail blog

There’s an old saying, “telephone, telegraph, tell-a-woman.” Telephones have become cellphones, telegraphs are a distant memory, and the women (and men) are all on twitter. There’s nowhere to hide. Like a fart in church, if you post something stupid on twitter, everyone will know, and you won’t be able to take it back.

As the Boulder fire made its way through thousands of acres, a hashtag #boulderfire was created to get news out, and provide help to the victims.

While firemen continued to fight the blaze, @agripundit posted what we’re hoping is the stupidest tweet of his life. It’s hard to get more insensitive in 140 characters, but he really worked it. As homes are lost, and people are displaced, the “interim director of Colorado’s Farm & Ranch Future,” who should have his finger on the pulse of the mountain community, wrote:

Everyone thought it was funny. Except for practically every single person who actually read it.

Once something is posted on the internet, it never, ever really goes away, no matter what you do. Before @agripundit could hit the delete button, we had a screenshot in our mailbox from an anonymous Honorary Fail Bird Handler who used to live in Colorado. Being the helpful sort we are, we posted it on Twitpic.

To be fair, after deleting his tweet, he did post an apology.

The difference between his tweet and an actual joke? That was rhetorical.

We heard through the back channel that people were calling his office to complain. We don’t think @agripundit should lose his job over this. We do think, however, he should maybe think twice attempting to make another joke online.

Twitter is a tough room. Even people who are funny on stage or TV have a hard time getting laughs on twitter. (Yes, we’re talking about you, @PaulaPoundstone. You’ve let us down.)

A little advice then, @agripundit: Don’t quit your day job. If you still have one.