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TechCrunch Intern Admits To Asking For Compensation For Writing Posts

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Re: TechCrunch Intern Admits To Asking For Compensation For Writing Posts

#81

Post by pmjoyce »

dnsworks wrote: post #36
pvg wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're making it sound like it's some sort of minor slip-up that happened to get publicized. Say you make a habit of accepting expensive dinners from a source who is interested in you writing about them. Or embellishing a story a little. Or say you even take a MacBook Air from a source at their suggestion. Those are lapses in ethical judgment. Running around repeatedly asking for people to give you stuff so you write…

Maybe it was just a joke. Every once and a while I get called up by an especially annoying PR hack asking me to write about their latest iphone cozy (macworld being next week I get 5-7 calls like that per day because I'm somehow on the press list). When they're overly persistent I tell them to give me a Pony and I'll write about them (I'll write that they gave me a pony!). Maybe "give me a pony" is just a lot easier…

Unless they're from London, in which case you asking for a pony could be interpreted as asking for £25... you're selling yourself short.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_slang

Re: TechCrunch Intern Admits To Asking For Compensation For Writing Posts

#82

Post by astrec »

jacquesm wrote: post #74
astrec wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Some) Stupid stuff I did as a 17 year old: -> Deleted /var on a production system I had no right touching at a Fortune 500. -> Drove my dad's car into a fence. Unlicensed. -> Stole the street sign for Cobain St. -> Plagiarised a philosophy essay (Hegel). -> etc. etc. etc. Seventeen year old kids mess up. Seventeen year old kids grow up. Go easy tiger.

> -> Deleted /var on a production system I had no right touching at a Fortune 500. The 'you had no right touching' bit should have been 'you should have no possibility to touch'. Whoever administered that systems shares part of the blame, you have done it, but they should have never let you get within spitting distance of a terminal capable of doing that.

Too right. Production root passwords had a planetary theme - where planetary means one of the giants in our solar system - not hard for a nosey and curious kid to take a peek at any system they wanted.

Re: TechCrunch Intern Admits To Asking For Compensation For Writing Posts

#83

Post by ugh »

jakarta wrote: post #78

Considering he is just 1 year shy of being an adult, I don't buy the 'kids make mistakes' argument. The intern really must be devoid of ethics if he wants to extort laptops out of start ups that are hoping for press. The fact that it had also occurred one other time is more disturbing, it means that this was not some momentary ethical lapse but a real attempt to receive bribes. I don't really understand how anyone ca…

One year shy of being an adult? I've met 18 year olds and they are not adults.

Give him a break. And a second chance. Only call him a serial offender if he actually is one. Do you really believe that he should be punished for life ("no one will do business with him again")? What a fucked up attitude is that?

Re: TechCrunch Intern Admits To Asking For Compensation For Writing Posts

#84

Post by rythie »

patio11 wrote: post #12

In the full knowledge that this opinion will be unpopular: the crime here is not selling coverage. The crime here is selling coverage obviously while being an intern. The media, including Techcrunch, sells coverage as a matter of routine. Sure, we'd be happy to cover your new gadget, but we'll need an exclusive on that. The exclusive will be worth, at the margin, 50,000 uniques we won't lose to Endgadget (and the att…

Plus not telling the TechCrunch management and giving the gift to them, plus disclosing it in the post.

Re: TechCrunch Intern Admits To Asking For Compensation For Writing Posts

#85

Post by evansolomon »

patio11 wrote: post #12

In the full knowledge that this opinion will be unpopular: the crime here is not selling coverage. The crime here is selling coverage obviously while being an intern. The media, including Techcrunch, sells coverage as a matter of routine. Sure, we'd be happy to cover your new gadget, but we'll need an exclusive on that. The exclusive will be worth, at the margin, 50,000 uniques we won't lose to Endgadget (and the att…

Claiming an embargo is the same or even similar to cash-for-coverage is silly and immature. Is providing a press kit the same as paying for coverage? It makes the coverage cheaper for the reporter to provide, which has a monetary result.

Hating TechCrunch is certainly a popular opinion at times, and there are some reasonable stances to base that opinion on, but this is not one.

Re: TechCrunch Intern Admits To Asking For Compensation For Writing Posts

#86

Post by suhail »

patio11 wrote: post #12

In the full knowledge that this opinion will be unpopular: the crime here is not selling coverage. The crime here is selling coverage obviously while being an intern. The media, including Techcrunch, sells coverage as a matter of routine. Sure, we'd be happy to cover your new gadget, but we'll need an exclusive on that. The exclusive will be worth, at the margin, 50,000 uniques we won't lose to Endgadget (and the att…

It's more to do with the fact that the intern is selling coverage for his own personal gain--Techcrunch the entity gets nothing.

I see nothing wrong with exclusives. This happens regularly in business not just in news. For Techcrunch, it's simply an optimization and they are likely to not sell their news space for otherwise non-newsworthy items anyway.

Re: TechCrunch Intern Admits To Asking For Compensation For Writing Posts

#87

Post by silencio »

plinkplonk wrote: post #20
pvg wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're making it sound like it's some sort of minor slip-up that happened to get publicized. Say you make a habit of accepting expensive dinners from a source who is interested in you writing about them. Or embellishing a story a little. Or say you even take a MacBook Air from a source at their suggestion. Those are lapses in ethical judgment. Running around repeatedly asking for people to give you stuff so you write…

"You're making it sound like it's some sort of minor slip-up that happened to get publicized." I think his point was (EDIT: I am just clarifying what I think his point was, not endorsing it) not that it was a "minor slipup" but that the person who committed this is a kid and not an adult (17 is a bit borderline but still pretty young)and he is asking for some compassion and discretion. At least that is how I read it.…

For some reason, this "oh he's not an adult" line of thinking very much bothers me.

We should be looking at things like..how much experience does he have writing? with publicity and marketing? How many times has he admitted to doing something like this, and how many more people went up to Arrington and voiced their concerns about what he did? Where was the TC team while this was going on...or did he just not ask anyone for any advice and do it on his own, thinking that writing for TC would be a great leverage to get gear without anyone knowing?

Age does correspond with a degree of maturity, cynicism, experience and more, but this person so many people are jumping to defend because of his age of all things doesn't exactly have a lack of experience blogging for business, doing podcasts, organizing conferences and more. I remember seeing his sites about Apple and teens in tech years ago. Don't even know what was going through his head when he attempted to do this multiple times, and TC is far larger than anything he's ever done before, but he should have realized this was a really bad idea. Based on his experience. Not his age or lack thereof.

That being said, I think an outing on a site like TC is bound to hurt his reputation for a long time to come, and that's probably more punishment than he deserves.

Re: TechCrunch Intern Admits To Asking For Compensation For Writing Posts

#90

Post by noarchy »

ugh wrote: post #83
jakarta wrote: post #78

Considering he is just 1 year shy of being an adult, I don't buy the 'kids make mistakes' argument. The intern really must be devoid of ethics if he wants to extort laptops out of start ups that are hoping for press. The fact that it had also occurred one other time is more disturbing, it means that this was not some momentary ethical lapse but a real attempt to receive bribes. I don't really understand how anyone ca…

One year shy of being an adult? I've met 18 year olds and they are not adults. Give him a break. And a second chance. Only call him a serial offender if he actually is one. Do you really believe that he should be punished for life ("no one will do business with him again")? What a fucked up attitude is that?

That must be what they call "tough love" in the US. Plus, you get the added benefit of looking tough versus those naughty rule breakers. And who doesn't want to look tough?
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