My Comments on the NetworkWorld/CertGuard Article
The outpouring of support I have received from the CCIE community has left me awestruck. I received e-mails, phone calls, and other messages of encouragement that helped keep my spirits up. Although the existence of this blog might imply otherwise, I’m not a person that craves attention. I’ve found all of this very embarrassing.
I took this site down as a direct result of the article; it was a knee-jerk reaction. With that article in print, I didn’t want to think about this stuff anymore. By blogging about the CCIE candidate experience, I made myself a target. I felt like I’d killed myself for 16 months to finally pass the lab, only to have that effort desecrated because of an ignorant couple of comments I made. The feeling I had about the article was sickening, as I’m sure you can imagine; the only way I could avoid that sickening feeling in my gut was to just not think about CCIE-related things.
The last few days have been amazing to watch. As the CCIE community got wind of the article, bloggers started posting about what was going on. The next thing I knew, there was this attitude of collective outrage against CertGuard. You folks are calling for CertGuard to make a public apology to me. I even read tonight that there’s a petition going around to get Robert Williams banned from posting on NetworkWorld. This thing took on a life of its own; I didn’t ask for anyone to go after CertGuard. In all fairness, I know this wasn’t about me, not exactly - it was more about how the article attacked someone, and how folks sensed the injustice of it and reacted. And wow - what a reaction!
So where do things stand now?
- NetworkWorld has removed the article content and comments, based on my request to CertGuard that the article be removed. The link is still hot, but the text of the article has been replaced with a mild apology, although not to me specifically.
- CertGuard contacted me via phone and e-mail and has apologized to me, both verbally and in writing. We had a decent, civil conversation, simply trying to work it all out. There was no yelling, screaming, or other drama.
- My understanding is that there will be a public apology addressed to me posted in NetworkWorld, and possibly another trade publication. From many of the comments that I’ve read, it seems that nothing less will satisfy the CCIE community. I do not know if CertGuard will go that far. I’ve not made a request to them to publicly apologize to me, but I believe that their decision regarding a public apology will ultimately affect how they are perceived by the CCIE community, and possibly others in the IT world.
I want everyone to know that I have no angst or bitterness towards CertGuard about any of this. The soap opera ends here, as far as I’m concerned. I hope we can all get back to writing and studying now. 
Again, thanks to all of you that helped bring about this outcome.
19 Responses to “My Comments on the NetworkWorld/CertGuard Article”
June 17th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Welcome Back my friend!
I am glad you are here to stay. I will refrain from flame wars and just again say, thank you for being here.
Roger Oliver
June 17th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
[...] Ethan’s back… [...]
June 17th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Great to have you back Ethan! You’ve been an inspiration to so many, including myself. It just wasn’t the same without you.
June 17th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
It is certainly nice to see you back… It’s kinda funny, ’cause whether you like it or not, I think your stock just rose a few hundred points with your, dare I say, fans. And you’ll probably pick up some more.
It’s a bit of a funny twist recalling Mr. Williams referring to your site as having a kind of “cult following”. I think this whole debacle just made that statement even more true as more and more of your “fans” came out of the wood work to speak up on your behalf. It really was beautiful to see how these people stood up besides you and for you.
Continue your good work of sharing valuable knowledge to us and providing us inspiration for working towards our goals to reach the pinnacle of our profession. Welcome back!!!
June 18th, 2008 at 2:47 am
Welcome back Ethan!
This was a great relief for me (and for you I can imagine).
During the downtime I have come to realize how hard it is to navigate your blog using cached Google pages. Those people at Google need to improve things for sure.
June 18th, 2008 at 3:42 am
[...] Ethan Banks is back in action, his blog post can be found [...]
June 18th, 2008 at 3:43 am
Welcome back Ethan!
Justice has prevailed
Richard
June 18th, 2008 at 4:10 am
Dear Ethan
I cannot tell you how glad and relieved I am to read this news and to see your site online again!
Matthias
June 18th, 2008 at 4:20 am
Good to see you back in action Ethan
June 18th, 2008 at 6:05 am
It concerns me that CertGuard have not apologised. They only “regret” what they did.
Given that they have made serious and false accusations , who is going to be next ? They claim to speak our behalf, but they do not act like people that I want to be associated with.
I admire Ethan’s forgiveness of the people, but who will CertGuard accuse next ? And what recourse will they have if they are not a public figure ? To be biblical, who will defend the weak ?
What procedures are they going to use to investigate ? Who will review their accusations ? Where is their code of conduct, or even morality.
If they cannot apologise in this case, Certguard are not be trusted.
Greg Ferro
June 18th, 2008 at 6:32 am
[...] phone to Robert Williams at Certguard and told them what to do, they have contacted Ethan Banks. Ethan has returned to the web and indicates that all is [...]
June 18th, 2008 at 6:49 am
Well it is good to see that your site is back online.
Sorry for all the drama that was inflicted on you.
Glad to be of some small service to you.
Thanks for taking the time to chat yesterday.
Good Luck!
Enjoy the time with your family. Great to see your employer supported you fully through all of this.
Later
Darby
June 18th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Word.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Welcome back Ethan! I was seriously panicky for a while there … a CCIE blogosphere without “CCIE Candidate” is not a CCIE blogosphere as we know it.
I am really relieved to know that is is all blowing over. Whatever Mr. Williams may think about BrainDumps (and I think most of us agree with him on his overall objectives) he simply did not do his research before he posted.
I am looking forward to reading your blog for may years to come.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:11 am
[...] Ethan is back! Filed under: Uncategorized — dorreke @ 17:11 http://www.cciecandidate.com/?p=473 [...]
June 18th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Ethan, its good to have you back online. I am glad that to see that the Cisco and CCIE community stood up for a fellow brother and blogger.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Welcome Back Ethan!
I’m almost kinda sad they took the post down (Google cache still has a copy of the article) because it was amusing to see Darby go nuclear in the comments section. Darby, man if I am ever in a pickle I want you on my side. lol.
June 19th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Thanks for the compliment Arden, I’d much rather go “nuclear” once I get my own digits. I did not like the idea of seeing someone of Ethan’s character getting taken off into the bushes. Ethan is one of the most humble and decent CCIE’s I’ve ever met and he did not desrve that kind of treatment. I’m glad things are now resolved and that apologies are made. And I’m glad Ethan’s Blog is back online like everyone else is.
Keep up the good work guys.
July 17th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
[...] uproar and all of a sudden Ethan was MIA. Â Well, his blog was anyhow. But here is the good news: Ethan is back and gives his thoughts on the issue as well as some insight as to what CertGuard has done, claims [...]
Leave a Reply