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Svbtle Funding

blog.svbtle.com

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Re: Svbtle Funding

#61

Post by neya »

There is nothing wrong in running an invite-only network. But claiming to be a genuinely 'quality-oriented' network[1] when your are not is tricking your readers and is plain wrong.

For example, there are a lot of shitty blogs[2] on this network. Even shitty posts[3]. It's just like any other blog network with some extra-hype and a minimalistic design mixed and matched from theme sites (Trust me, I've seen a dozen themes like this before Dustin came up with this and dismissed anyone trying to create a similar design[4])

A really good quality-oriented network would be something like Quora, but for blogs. The readers, people, us should rate what is good and what is bad,what is ethical, what is unethical, what is right and what is wrong. Not at the mercy of some clown advocating minimalism to emphasize elitism and branding for himself.

[1] This was SVBTLE's pitch initially.

[2] massivegreatness.com [An arrogant, unethical Apple fanboy, writer at Techcrunch who supports anything Apple without proper logic]

[3]http://influencehacks.com/the-stunning-hypocrisy-of-ventureb...

[4]http://howells.ws/posts/view/93/svbtle-vs-obtvse-and-on-copy...

Re: Svbtle Funding

#62

Post by steveklabnik »

brown9-2 wrote: post #52
steveklabnik wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is explicitly no directory. There is a feed: https://svbtle.com/home But it's only for 'featured' posts.

I'm curious what the rationale of this is if one of the ideas behind this network is it's "exclusivity" and curation of authors. Why be cautious of who you pick to be in your network yet not promote who you've picked to be in your network?

I'm speculating, but: the best of the best. Everyone has off days.

Re: Svbtle Funding

#63

Post by nodesocket »

pg wrote: post #53

Svbtle is probably one of the most misunderstood companies we've funded. Partly because what they're doing is hard to understand, and partly because Dustin has alienated a few people along the way, who now in the usual way with haters want to misunderstand what Svbtle is. One of the reasons Svbtle is hard to understand is that it's a work in progress. At its current fairly fuzzy resolution, it's what I'd guess a trad…

> being controversial is actually a good thing for a publication.

Very true. I am sure Dustin has a vision which obviously we don't fully see yet. Still, it seems a bit absurd for a blog to raise. But hey, let's all wait and see what comes. After all, the investment was probably in Dustin and team, and not necessary in Svbtle.

Re: Svbtle Funding

#65

Post by glomph »

oinksoft wrote: post #58
pg wrote: post #53

Svbtle is probably one of the most misunderstood companies we've funded. Partly because what they're doing is hard to understand, and partly because Dustin has alienated a few people along the way, who now in the usual way with haters want to misunderstand what Svbtle is. One of the reasons Svbtle is hard to understand is that it's a work in progress. At its current fairly fuzzy resolution, it's what I'd guess a trad…

Can we all agree to stop calling critics "haters"?

Especially when many of them are making quite long and thought out points. Haters seems appropriate to me only when applied to the most vacuous of comments. Real points deserve real responses or at least the respect of being called comments or criticisms not hate.

Re: Svbtle Funding

#66

Post by geuis »

oinksoft wrote: post #58
pg wrote: post #53

Svbtle is probably one of the most misunderstood companies we've funded. Partly because what they're doing is hard to understand, and partly because Dustin has alienated a few people along the way, who now in the usual way with haters want to misunderstand what Svbtle is. One of the reasons Svbtle is hard to understand is that it's a work in progress. At its current fairly fuzzy resolution, it's what I'd guess a trad…

Can we all agree to stop calling critics "haters"?

@teej No, but it makes you into one too.

Re: Svbtle Funding

#67

Post by calinet6 »

waxjar wrote: post #36

> The future of journalism I can't help but laugh at this. All Svbtle does is slap a pretty, unified design on the articles of people that have interesting stuff to say. It's very good at doing that and I appreciate it for doing that. Like Curtis intended, when you see the Svbtle design you can expect something interesting. Most of the articles I've read on it were indeed interesting. However, these articles would al…

The container and the medium is surely important for content, especially now when (as you imply) there's such a confusion about what container your content comes in.

I just don't think Svbtle is that container. At least not yet.

Re: Svbtle Funding

#68

Post by jspthrowaway2 »

pg wrote: post #53

Svbtle is probably one of the most misunderstood companies we've funded. Partly because what they're doing is hard to understand, and partly because Dustin has alienated a few people along the way, who now in the usual way with haters want to misunderstand what Svbtle is. One of the reasons Svbtle is hard to understand is that it's a work in progress. At its current fairly fuzzy resolution, it's what I'd guess a trad…

I don't like Dustin Curtis as a person, based on prior history (i.e., American Airlines, presumption in his articles bordering on know-it-all after accomplishing little, and so on). You might find that the majority of the haters you're talking about feel the same; there's been discussion about this recently linked elsewhere in the thread that I won't rehash here. If he's genuinely confused by the hate, that'd be surprising to me. I'm willing to be corrected on my opinion and come around, for what it's worth.

That said, I couldn't care less about Svbtle, frankly, though I certainly understand what it is. Good luck with Y Combinator's investment is my sole commentary on this news: I'm smart enough to divide between Dustin Curtis and Svbtle and realize that my thoughts on and the trajectory of one don't necessarily impact the other.

Re: Svbtle Funding

#69

Post by kmfrk »

oinksoft wrote: post #58
pg wrote: post #53

Svbtle is probably one of the most misunderstood companies we've funded. Partly because what they're doing is hard to understand, and partly because Dustin has alienated a few people along the way, who now in the usual way with haters want to misunderstand what Svbtle is. One of the reasons Svbtle is hard to understand is that it's a work in progress. At its current fairly fuzzy resolution, it's what I'd guess a trad…

Can we all agree to stop calling critics "haters"?

It's just baffling to see a public response so low on the taxonomic scale of debate. I couldn't agree more.

It reminds me of pg's response to the Airbnb case.

Re: Svbtle Funding

#70

Post by kami8845 »

pg wrote: post #53

Svbtle is probably one of the most misunderstood companies we've funded. Partly because what they're doing is hard to understand, and partly because Dustin has alienated a few people along the way, who now in the usual way with haters want to misunderstand what Svbtle is. One of the reasons Svbtle is hard to understand is that it's a work in progress. At its current fairly fuzzy resolution, it's what I'd guess a trad…

I think a lot of the initial dislike stems from the svbtle/obtvse thing, where Dustin went into all-out-rage because someone cloned what amounted to not-much-more than a Wordpress theme.

That and the air of superiority within the announcement: svbtle would only be used by people who are "intelligent and witty" implying that everyone who couldn't, wasn't.

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