Born This Way
techcrunch.com
Born This Way
1–10 of 75 posts
Re: Born This Way
#2Heh. They can't all be winners can they? Based on this article, I'd say they jumped it, hired it, and now its writing articles for them.
Re: Born This Way
#3Once upon a time, TechCrunch was about start-ups and gosh they were killing it. I miss those days! Anyone else?
That said, I'm assuming their change in direction over the years has been a business decision. I will always respect that even if it means less TC for me.
Re: Born This Way
#4Heh. They can't all be winners can they? Based on this article, I'd say they jumped it, hired it, and now its writing articles for them.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around what the hell I just read.
So let me get this straight: the author of the article has an argument with his daughter about Lady Gaga, which leads to his daughter getting her iPad and hijacking his AirPlay, which leads to a "kids these days" type of commentary, which leads to him talking about how he missed his deadline.
Which startup is he "obsessively profiling?" Is this a metaphor for something? I feel like I'm the butt of a joke for even visiting TechCrunch.
Re: Born This Way
#5Maybe it is less that they jumped the shark and more that they tried and missed, thus being eaten alive by the shark.
Or they really believe that writing about anything is better than writing nothing.
Re: Born This Way
#6Long time ago. Probably 2008.
I am pretty sure most people are submitting techcrunch articles just for karma points. That and they come standard with aggressive linkbaiting headlines.
Re: Born This Way
#7Heh. They can't all be winners can they? Based on this article, I'd say they jumped it, hired it, and now its writing articles for them.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around what the hell I just read. So let me get this straight: the author of the article has an argument with his daughter about Lady Gaga, which leads to his daughter getting her iPad and hijacking his AirPlay, which leads to a "kids these days" type of commentary, which leads to him talking about how he missed his deadline. Which startup is he "obsessively profiling?" Is this a meta…
... which leads to people calling TechCrunch out for the useless article, which leads to him getting all creepy with those commenting, asking for their real names, and implying that finding out people's names is his homework for next week.
I, too, used to at least skim almost every article on TechCrunch back when it was all about startups as it was often the first site to highlight a new company or reveal mergers, acquisitions, key hires, etc. At some point, it crossed my personal "quality" threshold and got lumped together with Gawker Media type of sites where sensationalism trumps quality. I'm sure it's more profitable, but kind of a shame for the technical community.
Re: Born This Way
#8I think it is just weak writing, the story seems to be about new technology and how we interact with it, which is fair TechCrunch fodder. However the opening sentences provide no hook and no solid message as to what the article is about. On top of that the writing style is something out of a Sunday magazine, rambling, relaxed and undirected.
Though it was posted on Sunday so . . .
Re: Born This Way
#9I've seen a lot of bad writing online, even in reputable publications. But I've never seen ANYONE taunt their readers in comments like Steve Gillmor is doing now.
And I can say something like this since I'm the type of person that spends my weekends reading news and articles.
On the Business Insider, when readers ridicule Henry Blodget about his past, he responds politely with links and explanations about the accusations against him.
Re: Born This Way
#10Eh, it is just what happens when a tech site reaches a certain point of popularity. In the early days, a site fights to be unique and high quality to get the hits. Once a certain level of hits is assured, there is a weird switch where since every post is going have a certain number of views, the writers start to care less about quality and get into a feedback loop that tells them they still are doing well cause they are getting hits. And even worse, the outliers like Steve's strange ramblings and MG's flamebait are seen as better cause the novelty drives more attention to them than a normal, well researched and written post.
I still find it entertaining, but you just can't take it seriously. It is probably best if you never do.