Twitter Hall Of Shame

Panther Racing owner John Barnes let his Twitter mouth run faster than the race cars his company owns, and it will cost him $25,000. IndyCar hit Barnes with a fine for that amount for tweeting “improper or disparaging language” about the organization. He’s also on probation for the rest of the year.

The tweet that landed Barnes in trouble read, “Today is the day to resolve TURBOGATE! I hope @indcar gets their act together. It has been embarrassing.” After being fined for the outburst Barnes said he “should have chosen a more private forum to voice my opinions” about IndyCar’s decision regarding car engines.

The penalty is a pittance compared with the Twitter fines imposed by the National Basketball Association, but Major League Baseball still sent a message to Cleveland Indians Pitcher Chris Perez about proper online decorum by fining him $750.

Perez’s transgression: “a reckless disregard for the safety of the players on both clubs.” After a game against the Kansas City Royals that included a bench-clearing scuffle, he tweeted: “You hit us, we hit you. Period.”

Although the fine is minor, Perez said he may appeal it on principle. “I don’t want to just lie down and let them have full reign because right now there are no guidelines, so how are we supposed to know?” he said. “That’s what I want to get out of it. If I crossed the line, fine, but what’s the line?”

Tweeting profanity is not what the doctor ordered to treat teenage insomnia. Austin Carroll, a 17-year-old senior at Garrett High School near Fort Wayne, Ind., tried it and his attempt at late-night vulgar humor earned him expulsion.

Carroll’s punishment made him an online celebrity as critics of the school rushed to defend his right to free speech, even if, as the school alleges, he used a school-provided computer or the school’s network to send the tweets. (Carroll, who had been reprimanded before for misbehaving on Twitter and at school, said he used his own computer.) Police were called to the school because of the outcry.

But one school official tweeted a pointed reminder about the bounds of free speech: “Freedom of speech is our right, but it doesn’t (always) make it appropriate. Think before you type people. #austincarroll.”