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Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

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Re: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

#161

Post by RyanMcGreal »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #48
martythemaniak wrote: post #17

It's tempting to dismiss this as just e-lebrity gossip, but I think that this kind of rottenness is probably more dangerous to the Valley than threats from Washington or talk of bubbles. If who you know and how well you can politic overshadows what you did and the results you got, then you're in trouble. If somebody is an unscrupulous douchebag, don't to business with them, don't read their blogs, don't upvote their…

If who you know and how well you can politic overshadows what you did and the results you got, then you're in trouble. For me its just another sign that 'tech' is growing up. Pretty much any industry creates an economic flow, and the flow is a source of power (some would argue the only real source in peace time), and one can harness that power by having influence over the flow. Back when the Homebrew Computer Club wa…

> For me its just another sign that 'tech' is growing up.

For me it's another sign that 'tech' has some serious growing up to do.

Re: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

#162

Post by RyanMcGreal »

Steko wrote: post #68
oldstrangers wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fanboys on either side of the aisle love to pat themselves on the back and reaffirm--almost daily--that yes, they did buy the best product imaginable. It's the same reason Gruber makes half a million a year writing snarky one liners. Some sort of subconscious need to find superiority in consumer purchases and brand loyalty. It's kind of disturbing.

The "fanboy dismissal" is here, as usal, a cop out. It's the same copout that 2/3 of the commentariat falls back on whenever the subject comes up of why Apple is so successful. Must be those fanboys, that pixie dust, that RDF... "Some sort of subconscious need to find superiority in consumer purchases and brand loyalty. It's kind of disturbing." Or maybe it's just a good blog? Despite happily not owning a Mac for alm…

> It's the same copout that 2/3 of the commentariat falls back on whenever the subject comes up of why Apple is so successful. Must be those fanboys, that pixie dust, that RDF...

It's the other way around: Apple isn't successful because of Gruber and Siegler, Gruber and Siegler are successful because they tied their fortunes to Apple.

Re: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

#163

Post by tucson »

patrickk wrote: post #159
tucson wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand your point and I am a big supporter of the free market, but I think consumers need a minimum protection against infomercials.

I think there would be something along the lines of would be what's required: "Disclaimer: [$thisBlog] is an investor in [$company]" ...right underneath the story headline involving a company they were involved with. It would force "journalists" to at least pretend to be somewhat objective.

Yes I think that is a minimum. Still the other concern is the kind of racket that is described: you pay or we won't mention you, or worse we will destroy your reputation (hitman).

"Or, don’t buy a subscription and I will bash you relentlessly.” Most big companies paid up and considered it a cost of doing business."

Re: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

#164

Post by tucson »

Clanan wrote: post #95
ChuckMcM wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If who you know and how well you can politic overshadows what you did and the results you got, then you're in trouble. For me its just another sign that 'tech' is growing up. Pretty much any industry creates an economic flow, and the flow is a source of power (some would argue the only real source in peace time), and one can harness that power by having influence over the flow. Back when the Homebrew Computer Club wa…

It's important to realize that this is how many industries work because it's practically human nature. The article basically boils down to "influential people in tech can be greedy/power-hungry." I often get the impression that those involved in tech are viewed as more advanced or more noble than in other industries. This is false, and a dangerous assumption. Tech is not full of angels - it's full of people. SV peopl…

I think it is more serious than you make it sound. This article describes a racket that resembles mafia behavior.

“Pay seven figures a year to buy a corporate subscription to my newsletter and I’ll say nice things about your company, and when the press needs a quote, I’ll be there to puff you up. Or, don’t buy a subscription and I will bash you relentlessly.”

Re: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

#165

Post by _delirium »

benologist wrote: post #4

Although this was a beautiful piece I can't help but feel Dan Lyons just gave Uncrunched, ParisLemon, TechCrunch and PandoDaily another million pageviews between them for the many rebuttals we're about to see.

HN already auto-deads submissions from several domains; wonder if it'd improve quality around here if those were added to the list, adding some friction into the game they're playing.

Re: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

#166

Post by brandnewlow »

ChrisNorstrom wrote: post #136

How about a few of us here get together, throw up a wordpress install, and start a self-serve tech/startup site. I've got RobotSays.com. Basically anyone can be an author, they create a guest post, upload their content and their picture, and submit the post for approval and we the editors fix up anything out of place and approve only the best content for the front page. A lot of design blogs allow guest post submissi…

People are too busy trying to make "product money," not "blog money."

Never forget, TechCrunch itself started as a sideproject to help Arrington learn about the startup space while he worked on one of his own.

Re: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

#167

Post by davidu »

justinlau wrote: post #106
davidu wrote: post #83

It's as if people think that any journalist is unbiased. At least MG, MA, and SL all share their bias so openly. You don't think Dan is biased in his reporting? Please.

I don't think Dan shares a direct financial stake in the targets of his punditry like MG, MA, and SL do. Money makes for a powerful conflict of interest.

MA already pointed out that Dan wanted to work for TechCrunch numerous times. How much more direct do you want?

Re: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

#168

Post by cbs »

gonehome wrote: post #131
seanp2k2 wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The mere suggestion that this story is true makes me want to just quit IT, go back to college, and go into a more honest industry. Is this seriously what we're all working at? A complex power play to get yourself rich at the expense of any morals or integrity? How much is /your/ soul worth? We have real problems in the world, but instead we have a bunch of boys with computers trying to rule the world through their co…

Every industry has people within it that are unethical or try to game the system for their own benefit at the expense of others. If anything the technology industry is unique in how much good it has done, relative to the bad.

If anything the technology industry is unique in how much good it has done, relative to the bad.

Every industry makes this rationalization.

Re: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

#169

Post by cbs »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #129
beedogs wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In other words, stop visiting TechCrunch. I'm way ahead of you.

The mere suggestion that this story is true makes me want to just quit IT, go back to college, and go into a more honest industry. Is this seriously what we're all working at? A complex power play to get yourself rich at the expense of any morals or integrity? How much is /your/ soul worth? We have real problems in the world, but instead we have a bunch of boys with computers trying to rule the world through their co…

Is the world seriously this disgusting and I just haven't realized it yet?

To some extent, yeah, it is. I don't just mean in tech, thats the nature of the world. Without some cognitive dissidence and rationalization, we'd all be neurotic messes. Or psychopaths.

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