I commented in a my previous blog entry that the controversy over ParAccel's TPC-H benchmark has become quite heated. This is especially true on Curt Monash's blog where at one point he made some personal comments about Kim Stanick, ParAccel's VP of Marketing. See this link for details.

This is the second blog this month that I have read where an analyst makes an attack, not only on the vendor, but also one of its employees. The other blog (and an associated article) was by Stephen Few entitled "Business is Personal - Let's Stop Pretending It Isn't." See this link for details.

The good thing about social computing is that it provides a fast way of sharing and collaborating about industry developments. However, these technologies have the same problems as e-mail and instant messaging, they enable people to react immediately to something that upsets or annoys them. With blogging, unlike email and instant messaging, everyone gets to see the results!

As analysts our job is to write balanced reviews of industry developments that provide useful information to the reader. My concern is that some analysts are behaving as though they are on cable television or writing for the tabloids. I believe we can critique a product without attacking a company, its products or its employees. Personal attacks by analysts are unprofessional, even if the company fights back against a review they take exception to. What do you think?