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It turns out the folks at eROI do have a sense of humor, not to mention a sense of compassion that apparently prevents them from slapping idiots around.

After last week’s article ribbing them for making would-be job applicants comment on a blog entry, Dylan Boyd, vice president of sales and strategy for the marketing services provider, sent over a cheerful note explaining an obvious point I’d missed.

You know how sometimes people can point out that you’re an idiot, but not actually say it?

If they’re good at it, you know they think you’ve been an idiot and they never once uttered the word. And if they’re really talented, you walk away feeling happy about it.

The article that began the exchange—headlined: “eROI’s Novel Job Postings: To Apply, Applicants Must Out Themselves”—chided eROI for advertising two job openings on its blog and forcing applicants to comment on the post in order to be considered for the job.

“Um, guys?,” I wrote. “I think I can speak for many in the industry on this: When we’re looking for new jobs, most of us don’t want anyone other than prospective employers to know we’re on the market.”

After the article appeared, Boyd sent a nice note.

“Now note that I said post, but never said publish,” he wrote. “We got 12 new candidates out of that post alone that had no fear to post.” He also said how much he loved the article and how great it was to get coverage.

See how he did that? Boyd pointed out what should have been obvious—that comments to blog posts don’t necessarily have to be published—and then made me feel good about being stupid.

That’s a job skill not everyone has.

Moreover, eROI’s blog post apparently served the dual purpose of drawing highly qualified applicants while weeding out morons like me who clearly don’t understand how blogs work.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must go find a blunt object with which to bludgeon myself.