When I was heading out to the office this morning, I glanced at the 12for12k Twitter stream and saw a response from Danny Brown to a  blog post that had been written by someone called Barbara Talisman.

Knowing that there is nothing like a good fight to start the day, I felt compelled to read the posts by both parties – Ms. Talisman first.

To say I was surprised was an understatement. You can read her contribution to American literature here. I had no idea at all who this person is, but there was a rather rude person on the weekend 12for12k conference call and I believe it was her. Check out Danny Brown’s much more dignified response on his blog here.

My first assumption was that she must have been drinking when she typed the post – I can imagine anything more bizarre. As a supporter of 12for12k and Danny Brown I was also somewhat offended by what she said.

Anyone that has connected with Danny knows that her accusations are a long way from the truth. Yes, there are quite a lot of social media “experts” that take every opportunity to promote themselves and their businesses, but Danny Brown isn’t one of them. I don’t ever recall him even mentioning his marketing business at the same time as 12for12k, I don’t see him trying to flog his latest book and I don’t see his blog full of affiliate links (well, other than the Headway theme one, but I have a Studiopress theme link so I can’t complain about that).

I often can almost feel the embarrassment of Danny when he responds to those “oooh you are soooo great @DannyBrown” Tweets and he always makes a point of highlighting the fact that 12for12k isn’t Danny Brown, it is a team of dedicated people.

Is 12for12k perfect? Heck no! I don’t believe Danny had any non-profit experience when he came up with the idea and the whole thing is a work in progress – albeit with some expert guidance from people such as Jon Aston, Rich Marti, John Haydon, Mickey Gomez, Sarah Robinson and the unique (but totally crazy) Henie Reisinger.

So why to I love Barbara Talisman?

For a couple of reasons.

First, while she timed her attack for her own reasons, she has done nothing but make Danny Brown and 12for12k look good. A lot of very influential people have come to Danny’s defence and pointed out the gaping holes in her argument.

Second, with the launch of the big Go Global 24 hour event to support Doctors Without Border, 12for12k needed every possible bit of attention on the blogs and social media sites. Barbara made sure we got it.

Thirdly, Ms. Talisman had the good sense to apologize. See this later post on her blog. She is even offering to help – we’ll see if it happens.

Finally, there is one point she made that I do agree with. Where were all these supporters of Danny Brown when they were needed to support the charities? There should have been more raised than there has been and I’m hoping that the 12for12k team (including Barbara, if she is serious about helping) can get to grips with this. The great ideas being put forward for next year are going to make a huge difference so the future looks good!

Oh, one more thing – I was reminded of the huge value there is in thinking before clicking on the Publish button  – thanks Barbara, no wonder I love you!

Anyway, what is much more important right now is Go Global 24 hours. Please check the 12for12k Events page for info of how you can help!

Would you like to leverage your social media experience to help others? Support 12for12k!!