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Some things need to change

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Re: Some things need to change

#41

Post by hk »

dcminter wrote: post #36
hk wrote: post #15

Spitting in his face is going a bit far, but it's pretty difficult for me to feel sympathy for the guy. I struggle to think of a more dislikable, arrogant jerk. This belated plea for human-to-human sympathy falls on deaf ears, for me at least. In my group, Arrington symbolises everything we hate about the "Web 2.0" greed culture. He's relentlessly promoted himself as the gatekeeper to this bullshit world of easy VC m…

I dislike techcrunch and I dislike his writing, but I'm full of sympathy for the man . He should take the matter to the police and with any luck the contemptible coward who spat in his face will get a criminal record for their trouble.

Huh? You think that spitting on someone should be illegal!?

I don't understand what you mean, anyway. You don't like his business, you don't like his writing, but you have all sorts of cares for him? Er .. why? What would he have to do to make you finally relinquish your sympathy?

In my book, a man is but the sum of his actions. I can't stand Arrington's actions, therefore I can't stand him, ergo I have no sympathy for the hatred his actions have engendered amongst sum.

And one more thing - the man who spat in his face may be contemptible, but it doesn't doesn't fit my model of how "cowards" behave either. The coward would be writing spiteful comments anonymously on blogs. Walking up to someone and spitting in their face takes balls, IMO. Not exactly my preferred means of communication but it certainly got the point across.

Re: Some things need to change

#42

Post by jyothi »

This is a complete dishonor. Yes things have to change. Startups and people involved should show basic respect and honor for others even if they are competitors or so-believed goal makers - TC and other blogs, VCs or anyone who pump some fuel. At the same time bloggers, VCs and angels should show some respect and humility to ppl in startups who are slogging day and night to build something dedicating their personal lives and lot more.

Getting listed on very popular blogs as someone rightly commented have manifested themselves as a milestone, a psychological hurdle. Not just these but the arrogance of people in this circle is definitely making the startups disgruntled. A little amount of humility and humbleness (Mike if you are hearing) will make them so much more big and fond of.

Re: Some things need to change

#43

Post by hk »

dbrush wrote: post #30
hk wrote: post #15

Spitting in his face is going a bit far, but it's pretty difficult for me to feel sympathy for the guy. I struggle to think of a more dislikable, arrogant jerk. This belated plea for human-to-human sympathy falls on deaf ears, for me at least. In my group, Arrington symbolises everything we hate about the "Web 2.0" greed culture. He's relentlessly promoted himself as the gatekeeper to this bullshit world of easy VC m…

"He's relentlessly promoted himself..." How is that?

I don't really know how to respond to that in less than a thousand words, so let's just say:

1. because he obviously has 2. I consider this to be generally accepted as truthful 3. if you don't agree then we are probably not going to agree on anything, ever

and leave it at that. This is probably breaching some law of argument ("Fallacy of Call to Common Sense" or something?) but hey, who has the time.

Re: Some things need to change

#44

Post by tdavis »

zhyder wrote: post #2

This is terrible, worse than people speculating about Steve Jobs' health, as an example of how low folks in our industry can go. (I know they're unrelated but the 2 evoke the same emotions in me.) I desperately want Michael Arrington to cover my startup as well, but I still can't understand those that threatened or spat on him. Michael, I hope you return to regular writing after Feb, but if you don't, thanks for all…

I think it has very little to do with the industry and a lot to do with human nature when provided with the Internet. It's a terrible thing, though completely heard of and quite predictable once someone reaches a certain level of fame.

Sure, TC just covers start-ups, but actors just make movies and musicians just make music and people have been spitting on them and giving death threats forever. You just need considerably less fame to attract crazy people online because there are so many more of them.

Re: Some things need to change

#45

Post by mnemonicsloth »

I don't read TechCrunch, but I know exactly why some people hate Michael Arrington [1].

For various reasons [2], human beings tend to think about social groups in us-and-them terms. We're naturally suspicious of Them (whoever they are), while we tend to give Us (our own group) the benefit of the doubt.

Arrington's problem is that he wants to provide information to Us. That means he's One Of Us, because he's helping Us and because we don't listen to Them. A lot of the information he's providing is about a particular group of Them we'd like to join: successful Silicon Valley people. This is a valuable service, and on a rational level we know he has to work hard at it. Even so, when he describes TechCrunch as a startup, associates himself with other successful startups, and even takes credit for some of their success, our emotion-driven social circuitry hears: I am an insider describing to you outsiders what it's like to be inside.

If Mr. Arrington knew about this dynamic, I'm sure he'd spend less time talking about being "battered for three days straight with product pitches from entrepreneurs desperate for press."

[1] In case it's not clear, I'm ambivalent about him. It should go without saying that spitting in the man's face is too much, and threatening his family and business is beyond the pale.

[2] http://www.overcomingbias.com/2009/01/a-tale-of-two-tradeoff...

Re: Some things need to change

#46

Post by vaksel »

stuff like this is why you need to keep your personal life and your business life separate.

Sure its nice to save the few grand and work from home...but is that really worth putting your family at risk?

Hell, the least Arrington should have done is get a P.O. Box and used that as his address for techcrunch whois.

Re: Some things need to change

#47

Post by colinake »

hk wrote: post #41
dcminter wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dislike techcrunch and I dislike his writing, but I'm full of sympathy for the man . He should take the matter to the police and with any luck the contemptible coward who spat in his face will get a criminal record for their trouble.

Huh? You think that spitting on someone should be illegal !? I don't understand what you mean, anyway. You don't like his business, you don't like his writing, but you have all sorts of cares for him ? Er .. why? What would he have to do to make you finally relinquish your sympathy? In my book, a man is but the sum of his actions. I can't stand Arrington's actions, therefore I can't stand him, ergo I have no sympathy…

I think technically that spitting in someone's face would be considered assault. Not 100% sure on that, though.

Re: Some things need to change

#48

Post by robfitz »

axod wrote: post #8
zhyder wrote: post #2

This is terrible, worse than people speculating about Steve Jobs' health, as an example of how low folks in our industry can go. (I know they're unrelated but the 2 evoke the same emotions in me.) I desperately want Michael Arrington to cover my startup as well, but I still can't understand those that threatened or spat on him. Michael, I hope you return to regular writing after Feb, but if you don't, thanks for all…

I agree, it's a sad state of affairs, but "I desperately want Michael Arrington to cover my startup as well" I don't really get this... startups don't fall or succeed based on tc coverage. It might spike traffic for a day with some geeks. That's all at the end of the day. Seems like some of this is TC's own doing - they have made people believe you have to get techcrunched, or you won't succeed - which is completely…

if you want users, techcrunch is not much help. if you want adventurous corporate clients or investor awareness, it's top notch.

Re: Some things need to change

#49

Post by dbrush »

hk wrote: post #43
dbrush wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"He's relentlessly promoted himself..." How is that?

I don't really know how to respond to that in less than a thousand words, so let's just say: 1. because he obviously has 2. I consider this to be generally accepted as truthful 3. if you don't agree then we are probably not going to agree on anything, ever and leave it at that. This is probably breaching some law of argument ("Fallacy of Call to Common Sense" or something?) but hey, who has the time.

Okay

Re: Some things need to change

#50

Post by palish »

hk wrote: post #41
dcminter wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dislike techcrunch and I dislike his writing, but I'm full of sympathy for the man . He should take the matter to the police and with any luck the contemptible coward who spat in his face will get a criminal record for their trouble.

Huh? You think that spitting on someone should be illegal !? I don't understand what you mean, anyway. You don't like his business, you don't like his writing, but you have all sorts of cares for him ? Er .. why? What would he have to do to make you finally relinquish your sympathy? In my book, a man is but the sum of his actions. I can't stand Arrington's actions, therefore I can't stand him, ergo I have no sympathy…

You think that spitting on someone should be illegal!?

Yes, spitting on someone is illegal.

Fun game: stand on a busy street corner and spit on everyone who walks by. If you're arrested before you're crippled, you win.

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