Breaking News: Jobster Tries To Shut Down RecruitingBlogs.com

I guess it had to happen eventually, but Jobster, the owner of Recruiting.com, has decided that rather than compete in the online employment space, they're going to try to shut down Recruitingblogs.com, the new site started by Jason Davis.

Last Thursday, I received a letter from Lawyers representing Jobster letting me know I had to shut down RecruitingBlogs.com immediately or Jobster would take action. They say that RecruitingBlogs.com is causing damage to their business and that I am in violation of my non compete.

For those not aware, Jason Davis was the founder of Recruiting.com (I was one of his writers, added later in the process), and he sold the property to Jobster last Spring.  When it happened, everyone was full of excitement that Jobster, who in our minds was the first Web 2.0 employment company, was going to take Recruiting.com and build on its success.

Jason worked for Jobster for a year on contract, a year that saw Recruiting.com turn from a group recruting blog to a Digg-type site.  Users could submit stories, and readers would vote on them.  The site was given very little attention from Jobster, and improvements were rare, so when Jobster decided that it wasn't worth it to renew the contract on the same terms, they brought on John Sumser of Interbiznet.com to run the place.

Cue the evil music.

John is a well-known industry figure, but he spent the months before taking the reins bashing bloggers in general, but specifically calling out the people who kept the recruiting community vibrant.  In other words - he trashed his users - repeatedly.

John has been at it a couple of months now, and traffic has been plummeting.  It's been falling from its peak since December, but it's gotten worse since John came aboard.  An unofficial boycott, created by people like me who stopped submitting, commenting, or reading Recruiting.com when John came aboard, is the most likely reason.  We protested his arrogance and his insulting words

But that's not how Jobster and Jason Goldberg see it.  The failure of Recruiting.com is a failure of Jobster and their staff to use the website correctly.  So what is the answer?  Do they ask for help? Do they reach out to the people who were responsible to the success in the first place?  Do they apologize?

Nope.  They try to sue Jason Davis - sending a Cease and Desist Letter to him, when only the most twisted and torturous logic would show how Jason's not-for-profit community built on a Ning platform is damaging the Recruiting.com website.

Well, they just made a huge mistake.  Wait until Ning, a darling in the Web 2.0 space, finds out one of their communities is being sued because they compete with a company that has $50 million in venture capital.  It's the perfect moment for Ning.

Their social networking platform is so powerful, companies feel the need to sue to prevent Ning-sites from competing with large companies.

Expect much more on this.  If JL Kirk and Associates can't push bloggers around, what makes Jobster think they can? 

Disclosure:  I own Jobster stock, as a result of the purchase of Recruiting.com last spring.  I was listed as on contract with them for one month, last June.

---

Find thousands of Bilingual jobs at LatPro.com.

Comments

[Recruiting Animal]

Jimmy you were the only one with "writer" status. JayDee, Anthony J Meaney and I were equal partners. And I always considered you to be a virtual partner. Because Rdc didn't really take off until we started cranking the postings out in the spring and summer of 2005.

[Craig Silverman]

This is an interesting development. I must first disclose that I am not a Jobster sotckholder.

In the early days of recruiting.com I worked closely with Jason Davis to help drive traffic by including mentions and links in the HireAbility.com Recruiter Newsletter that goes out to 35,000 staffing professionals. As we can can see the site has changed since Jobster took them over and not for the better.

The new Ning site for Recruitingblogs prouldy promotes Recruiting.com on the homepage. This move seems to be premature but depending on the what the terms were of the sale could be enforced.

I also started a Ning site for Recruiters @ http://independentrecruiters.ning.com and we already have nearly 500 members. The Ning platform has been fun and easy to work with.

Best of Luck to Jason in his effort to change the world and spread the good word of recruitng blogs. We will support your efforts.

Word to the folks at Jobster is that you get more for giving out candy than sour grapes. Sure, protect your investments but look inside at what you can do to improve things.

Craig Silverman
www.hireability.com - The Recruting Network

[Rob]

John who?

[Robert Wilson]

"An unofficial boycott, created by people like me who stopped submitting, commenting, or reading Recruiting.com when John came aboard, is the most likely reason. We protested his arrogance and his insulting words"

Exactly right! Well said!

[Dennis Smith]

...I never thought I'd see the day.

Guess I'd better think again.