There's another reason people "dislike" Arrington: they love participatory righteous indignation, and Arrington is willing to play sink to it. The ability to bear that, and even revel in it, is something many great people share, and makes me think TC isn't the biggest thing he'll accomplish.
Persuade xor Discover
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Re: Persuade xor Discover
#32Reading this reminded me of Ellis and Harper's concept of Core Irrational Beliefs, from their book "A Guide to Rational Living" (http://books.google.com/books?id=3JB9sLEV-SoC&dq=isbn:08...):
"Everyone I meet must treat me just the way I like; otherwise, they are completely worthless!"
The key, of course, is to recognize when you're reacting to those kinds of mental triggers and change your attitude and manner accordingly (which is easier said than done).
Re: Persuade xor Discover
#33Good piece but it neglects another category of writing to its own detriment, that on the opposite end of the spectrum of "pleasing everyone", namely, writing which exists for no other reason than to provoke a response (aka the Ann Coulter school of writing).
My personal experience is that this sort of writing is far more common than the ingratiating kind when you get out of the school/professional environment.
Re: Persuade xor Discover
#34I disagree on the orthogonality of being ingratiating and discovering things.
Sometimes discovery must be done collaboratively. When this is the case, it can be more effective to mind one's social graces. Otherwise, productivity relies on other people ignoring negative social cues. I wouldn't take that bet.
Re: Persuade xor Discover
#35I've never met Arrington, so whether he's nice or not doesn't really apply to me. I also don't own a startup, so there's no conflict there. My personal beef is that TechCrunch is a 'serious journalistic entity' when they get documents leaked to them, but the second people start trying to hold them to the standard of real journalism suddenly it a blog. It's difficult to pinpoint, but there's something two-faced about…
I agree with you on the general principle about TechCrunch having far too low standards, but that article you linked was incredibly useful. It gave significant insight on how to game a system that can be very lucrative, from someone who has done it. It highlights the flaws in YouTubes counts and display methods that can be taken advantage of.
That's actually the sort of thing I want to see on a blog or in a tech-focused newspaper. I could totally see that being a Wired Article (though copy-edited to be less like a how-to and more like a story).
Re: Persuade xor Discover
#36I've never met Arrington, so whether he's nice or not doesn't really apply to me. I also don't own a startup, so there's no conflict there. My personal beef is that TechCrunch is a 'serious journalistic entity' when they get documents leaked to them, but the second people start trying to hold them to the standard of real journalism suddenly it a blog. It's difficult to pinpoint, but there's something two-faced about…
The thing that bothers me about TechCrunch is that the comment section is a cesspool. Every time I scroll down there I regret it immediately.
You know what Doctor Vinnie Boombatz would say about that one right?
Re: Persuade xor Discover
#37I like Michael Arrington because he's pro-Israel and sees the evil in Holocaust deniers, and calls them out on it. That takes balls and brains, especially if you're not Jewish.
-discovery version
edit: I'd better tack on my favourite quote from the essay:
"I'd rather offend people needlessly than use needless words"
Re: Persuade xor Discover
#38[deleted]
Re: Persuade xor Discover
#39I dislike Arrington primarily because of his attitude and verbal tactics I've heard when he's been on various podcasts - largely Gillmor Gang, IIRC.
He reminded me strongly of a salesman, in that he used simple yet insidious verbal tricks to "wind people up", as we say in these parts, though less self-serving - more in an idly sadistic and demeaning way. He was a negative and arrogant force in the conversations, and they improved when he left.
Techcrunch just seals the deal - it's not a site I have in my reader, I just see it occasionally here or other links.
Re: Persuade xor Discover
#40This is a strawman defence. PG is defending Arrington's curtness when you meet him in person and accepting the facts as presented (since I have no personal knowledge), the defense sounds reasonable. However, as many others mention below, most people dislike Arrington because Techcrunch has no journalistic scruples. The way they attacked Last.fm without even bothering to properly check into facts was yet another examp…
When people dislike something intensely, the reason is not always what they claim, or even believe themselves. Try this thought experiment: if Arrington seemed like the nicest, most self-deprecating guy in the world-- like Father Mulcahy, for anyone who remembers MASH-- would people be so angry about his supposed lack of journalistic scruples?
I'd still object to his publishing of the stolen Twitter memos under the pretense, contradicted by Ev, that he had permission, no matter how ingratiating he were about it. Other conduct, such as his baseless attack on Last.FM and his recent T-shirt gaffe, simply could not be formulated or carried out by the personality that you describe.