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Yesterday, I Went to the American Idol for Startups. It Made Me Want to Die.

slog.thestranger.com

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Re: Yesterday, I Went to the American Idol for Startups. It Made Me Want to Die.

#21

Post by ianstallings »

polyfractal wrote: post #3

Really enjoying the author's prose. This had me rolling: >> It’s like watching some sadist work over a baby lamb with a rusty crowbar and a broken gin bottle. The names of these startups sound like the products of an aggressive brain tumor on the frontal lobe. Crowdegy, Placeling, Kouply, QuoteRobot, Appthwack, Makegood, Onthego, Nickler, Kahal, Tanzio, Taskk. They’re all whimsical and unique in exactly the same way.

And he gave us a term we can use - "linguistic nihilism"

>>It’s linguistic nihilism, in which everything means nothing and nothing means anything at all.

Re: Yesterday, I Went to the American Idol for Startups. It Made Me Want to Die.

#22

Post by luiperd »

trevelyan wrote: post #15
polyfractal wrote: post #3

Really enjoying the author's prose. This had me rolling: >> It’s like watching some sadist work over a baby lamb with a rusty crowbar and a broken gin bottle. The names of these startups sound like the products of an aggressive brain tumor on the frontal lobe. Crowdegy, Placeling, Kouply, QuoteRobot, Appthwack, Makegood, Onthego, Nickler, Kahal, Tanzio, Taskk. They’re all whimsical and unique in exactly the same way.

Actually, I quite like the name Appthwack.

I don't mind it, but it sounds like someone with a lisp is trying to say Aflac.

Re: Yesterday, I Went to the American Idol for Startups. It Made Me Want to Die.

#23

Post by yajoe »

polyfractal wrote: post #3

Really enjoying the author's prose. This had me rolling: >> It’s like watching some sadist work over a baby lamb with a rusty crowbar and a broken gin bottle. The names of these startups sound like the products of an aggressive brain tumor on the frontal lobe. Crowdegy, Placeling, Kouply, QuoteRobot, Appthwack, Makegood, Onthego, Nickler, Kahal, Tanzio, Taskk. They’re all whimsical and unique in exactly the same way.

The slog is awesome. To those outside of Seattle, the Stranger is Seattle's alternative "magazine"/"newspaper"/"culture digest".

My favorite choice line:

> This world of business, these job creators, have specialized to the point where they have developed their own language. This is normal, but the problem is that their language is as tepid and lifeless and dumb as any language that ever existed.

This is true whenever MBAs or marketing people get involved, no matter if it's at a small or large organization. They (We?) keep trying to invent "brands" and buzzwords because fresh coats of paint at least get first looks.

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-05-18/

Re: Yesterday, I Went to the American Idol for Startups. It Made Me Want to Die.

#25

Post by polyfractal »

ojbyrne wrote: post #12
polyfractal wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He went to Startup Riot, saw a bunch of consumer internet startups pitching their product. Complained about the names, the language used to describe the ideas ("content" vs "text", "consume" vs "read", etc) and the ideas themselves. Half of the article sounds like sour grapes, half is legit criticism.

I don't see how you get "sour grapes" out of this unless you know some backstory.

Ah, yeah, sour grapes was probably the wrong phrase. I was paraphrasing quickly.

I just meant a certain amount of pre-conceived, baked in "anti tech startup" mentality. It didn't seem like this guy was going in with a very open mind.

So what I meant is basically, half the article is legit criticism (ridiculous names, using ridiculous buzzwords and generally untenable startup ideas) - and half just sounded like some guy going being angsty against tech startups "just because"

Re: Yesterday, I Went to the American Idol for Startups. It Made Me Want to Die.

#26

Post by polyfractal »

bradleyland wrote: post #17
polyfractal wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He went to Startup Riot, saw a bunch of consumer internet startups pitching their product. Complained about the names, the language used to describe the ideas ("content" vs "text", "consume" vs "read", etc) and the ideas themselves. Half of the article sounds like sour grapes, half is legit criticism.

Eh, I don't know. I think it's wise to take a step back and listen to yourself from time to time. When you set out to do something, you start by learning, then by doing, then you recyle that process over and over. You entrench yourself with like-minded individuals, and everything starts to become second nature. This is the exact moment that you should take a step back and read a piece like this. In the process of try…

Yep, I'm right there with you. I enjoyed this piece, and that's why I said half was legit criticism.

If I hear a startup unironically use the term "leverage" or "pivot" one more time...

Re: Yesterday, I Went to the American Idol for Startups. It Made Me Want to Die.

#27

Post by ktizo »

dinkumthinkum wrote: post #4

Not to be that guy but it's like the author is writing a novel. What's the tl;dr here?

Come on, is about ten short paragraphs. In the time taken to post that and then go through the summaries, you could have read it.

Re: Yesterday, I Went to the American Idol for Startups. It Made Me Want to Die.

#28

Post by jboggan »

"These women and men have come together to do brutal violence to the English language, to leave the spoken and written word bloodied and victimized on a cold cement floor, wishing for the sweet relief of death."

I will read anything this author writes. Thanks for spotlighting this blog.

Tip: if you want your blog READ instead of skimmed for buzzwords and facts, make sweet love to the English language. Then worry about your content.

Re: Yesterday, I Went to the American Idol for Startups. It Made Me Want to Die.

#29

Post by sukuriant »

trevelyan wrote: post #15
polyfractal wrote: post #3

Really enjoying the author's prose. This had me rolling: >> It’s like watching some sadist work over a baby lamb with a rusty crowbar and a broken gin bottle. The names of these startups sound like the products of an aggressive brain tumor on the frontal lobe. Crowdegy, Placeling, Kouply, QuoteRobot, Appthwack, Makegood, Onthego, Nickler, Kahal, Tanzio, Taskk. They’re all whimsical and unique in exactly the same way.

Actually, I quite like the name Appthwack.

How do you spell it? (no really, say it to someone on the road and see if they can tell how to spell it)

Re: Yesterday, I Went to the American Idol for Startups. It Made Me Want to Die.

#30

Post by sp332 »

jboggan wrote: post #28

"These women and men have come together to do brutal violence to the English language, to leave the spoken and written word bloodied and victimized on a cold cement floor, wishing for the sweet relief of death." I will read anything this author writes. Thanks for spotlighting this blog. Tip: if you want your blog READ instead of skimmed for buzzwords and facts, make sweet love to the English language. Then worry abou…

I think you should figure out what content you want to convey first; throwing pretty descriptive words at a page with no content is a good way to get garbage.
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