Legal Luddites wrongly judged the Twitter quitter
By Davey Winder in Editorial
Posted in Twitter, Blog, Internet on
Twitter is many different things to many different people. For some it is a serious news distribution medium. For some it is the marketing medium of the moment. For some it is scientific research. For some, like myself, it is just a bit of fun and a chance to make new friends online. For others, it seems, Twitter is a misunderstood evil that must be defeated.
Well, that is the way it would appear in the strange case of Steve Molyneux, also known as ProfOnTheProwl to those who use Twitter. An IT consultant and former Microsoft Professor of Learning Technologies at Wolverhampton University, Molyneux was until very recently also a magistrate in Telford, Shropshire. A position he had served in for some 16 years.
The mistake that Mr Molyneux would have appeared to have made was to be an avid fan of Twitter, where he would tweet about what he was up to, like many of us. In his case, of course, this would mean messages which reported the outcome of cases to the online public. Tweets such as “Finished hearing bail. 3 refused for planning robbery of £480,000 from Tsb in Dawley, Telford.” However, these messages were few and far between, with most of his tweets being the usual mix of chat and travel reports.
But it was enough for some legal Luddites, who most likely have no idea what Twitter is and would not what a tweet was if it crept up and kicked them in the arse, decided that Mr Molyneux should answer for his crimes. And so it was that he resigned after, according to a BBC report “an individual within the court system lodged a complaint.”
In a tweet Molyneux noted “Resigned due to breach of trust. I could not serve the community thinking someone sitting with me on the bench was that person.” Being ordered before the Shropshire Advisory Committee with regards to his behaviour was the final straw it would seem. Quoted in The Telegraph Molyneux says “The powers that be have totally overreacted to this by about 300 per cent, they probably don’t even understand the technology.”
As part of an ongoing conversation on his Twitter feed, the ex-magistrate insists that the “Telford Bench is an excellent bench as is the Magistry. I was not forced to resign but did so as a mater of integrity” and goes on to confirm that he did “not tweet in court hearing the case but in the break and after the case. To tweet in court would be gross misconduct.”
Rated: 60% (6 votes)
Loading ...Comment by Lee - April 26, 2009 on 7:20 pm
For me Twitter is for twits.
Comment by Jennifer Clon - April 26, 2009 on 8:17 pm
What, all of them? Twit.
Comment by Simon - April 26, 2009 on 11:26 pm
Lee’s comment is perfect for Twitter. Short and sweet. Of course, if he was on Twitter I could elect to recieve all of his future thoughts too… Oh well, I’ll just have to subscribe to the Daily Mail.
Comment by Jack Bastard - April 27, 2009 on 8:02 am
This sounds a typical of the sort moron that twitter seems to abound with.
I can’t understand it’s attraction, but then I’m not an egotist, narcissist or sycophant.
Comment by richard the ghost - April 27, 2009 on 9:01 am
@ JB “I can’t understand it’s attraction, but then I’m not an egotist, narcissist or sycophant.”
So it’s just a happy coincidence that you reckon your opinions need posting on the interwebs too, eh?
Comment by - October 28, 2009 on 6:13 am
Really nice post! I am regular user of twitter. You have shared very nice information here. I would like to know more in this topic.Hope for know more in it.Thanks.
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