Nick Denton (pictured left) likes to use his blog Valleywag to take shots at competitors - his most recent attack was on Jason Calacanis (on right), who founded and then cashed out of the blog network Weblogs, Inc. Denton has always played second fiddle to Jason, never quite achieving the same level of success. Many say this is because he can’t handle it when his writers get more attention than he does, and he finds subtle ways of undermining them. His recent firing and public trashing of writer Nick Douglas certainly lends credibility to this rumor.
Yesterday Denton used fuzzy math and incorrect statements of fact to suggest that Jason’s most recent project, a relaunch of Netscape, is falling apart. It turns out Denton didn’t factor in the fact that Netscape moved millions of email accounts over to a new domain name, which resulted in the drop in traffic. Denton was wrong, but didn’t correct the post even after Jason left comment corrections. We have certainly taken our own shots at the new Netscape here at TechCrunch, but Denton’s post just reeks of a poorly researched hit job.
Jason fires back today by lobbing a subtle but potentially devastating bomb into Denton’s back yard. He writes a post about one of Denton’s top bloggers, Gina Trapani at Lifehacker. Disguised as a tribute to the blog, Jason notes that revenue must be $400k - $1 million/year and says Gina is the “one blogger I wished we had landed at Weblogs, Inc.” He also says “She’s grown LifeHacker from nothing to 7M pages last month–that’s big time.” He continues:
The one blogger I wished we had landed at Weblogs, Inc. was Gina Trapani from LifeHacker. I tried every two months for a year I think… no offer was good enough. Very, very frustrating.
This post should cost Denton - Gina is clearly going to be getting a flurry of attention and competing offers. At the very least it gives her significant salary negotiating leverage. Whatever the outcome, Jason has made one thing clear - take a shot at him and he’ll try to make it as financially painful for you as possible.
High School 2.0
wtf? I thought this was techcrunch not daysofourlivescrunch.
About: TechCrunch, founded on June 11, 2005, is a weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies. In addition to new companies, we will profile existing companies that are making an impact (commercial and/or cultural) on the new web space.
hey, its news about weblogs, inc. and gawker. we’ve covered both before. plus, sometimes we take a little detour to make a point.
right on!
Tell ‘em Michael … GO TECHCRUNCH! Do what you do best … cover internet news!
I liked the first dude’s comment - high school 2.0 - hilarious!
“Blogger Wars” - Would make a good title/storyline for a Hollywood movie
Lots of negative press about this, but I’d have to agree that I’m not too interested in this aspect, though I can see the perspective, since losing Gina could cost Lifehacker, a web company, significantly.
Shameless Mike. This post doesn’t belong on TechCrunch…. it belongs on CrunchNotes… if that.
Wow. I wonder how it feels to be accused of “fuzzy math” and “poorly researched” in a TechCrunch article.
Why can’t we all get along!!?? I think Mike and Nick and Jason are all so great and all serve such a great purpose and if they all stopped paying so much attention to one another and focused on what is going on around them, wouldn’t that be so much more interesting. Don’t make yourselves the story guys — and you do by making each other the story. Of course you are all going to react. Look at the bigger picture. WE WANT the bigger picture.
“Denton has always played second fiddle to Jason, never quite achieving the same level of success.”
I do not think this is true at all and I have nothing agaist Jason. He seems cool. If Denton sold Gawker Media who would be the top achiever? Ask random people on the streets of NYC if they know what weblogsinc or engadget is and they will look at you like you have three heads. Ask about Gawker and you’ll see who is on top.
If Denton sold out would that make jason second fiddle? I guess you are nothing unless you cash out.
Perhaps this post is just a crunch network shot a Gawker Media because you guys are now competing in this space.
BTW: valleywag doesn’t really need to fact check. Its a gossip blog. If the National Enquirer spent time fact checking would it still be a tabloid?
At the very least, Denton is making Valleywag matter for the first time… ever. At least people are talking about it.
Beautifully performed, Jason.
Have to agree with Ted here. The quality of Valleywag improved 10x since Denton took over. It’s back in my Bloglines.
Honestly, I would agree with those that say this doesn’t belong on TechCrunch. People that read this blog don’t come for Silicon Valley personal one-upsmanship. I come here to get news on start ups and information on emerging companies, not two bloggers with easily punctured egos and their cyber-fight.
Yes, as they say on digg….bury it.
This site has established a professional image for itself. This story looks awkward, out of place, and is better suited to a personal blog.
Well, like has been pointed-out before, Arrington is believing his own hype. He saw an opening to get back at Valleywag/Denton for all those shots they took at him. Hell, I learned about Vallywag on TC. All of this highlights how rather unprofessional these little sites are… There really is something called a Degree in Journalism, having quality skills (and ethics) to being an editor or at leaast having a sense of who your reader is. This whole TC blog is a sidebar marketing vehicle for edgeio and his other online vehicles.
This is like the old media wars over ego and talent, in earlier times.
stunning
“take a detour to make a point”? What point would that be? Seriously, this would be like Popular Mechanics publishing an article on Britney and K-Fag.
I’ve loved your blog since I first discovered it Michael. But using it in this way has left a bad taste in this readers mouth. Come on! You are classier than this!
Good comment Mike, we all need a bit of a detour here and there.. I don’t see why u should not have posted it… Jason is a smart guy lol, i wonder how much $ Gina gets paid? ANyone wanna take a jab in the dark??
ok so this is an interesting article and clearly taking a hit on jason has consequences. but mike i think you have your ways of attacking your enemies to. i just hope i never piss you off.
Score after round one:
Jason: 1
Nick: 0
I’m not sure Nick is anything more than a fly on Jason’s back that he finally noticed. Nick keeps heckling him, and then Jason just goes for the jugular. jesus.
Arrington’s thin skin is self evident. Earlier this year he went into a snit over Nick Carr and the Twit bunch. This post is also of the same genre.
I don’t have a problem with Arrington busting on some one. Just do it with gusto Michael. When you see someone in the industry that needs bitch slapping just do it man. Quit being so defensive.
Lifehacker is truly a gem -
It is very fascinating to find the common denominator among the FEW, NEW webblogs that somehow capture the public imagination and become classic successes in under one year - out of thousands of debuts.
http://technorati.com/pop/blogs/
Whether she had anything to do with the design - you will notice how attractive, fast loading and readable it is to be so minimalist (like techcrunch and Digg)
It should not be underestimated the amount of EXTRA traffic and publicity it gets by appearing daily on Yahoo News - it seems Gizmodo has also been helped tremendously.
It is important that excellence and creativity be recognized, and publicized, in a world where only a handful ever reach the top!
What Dave said. This belongs on myspace.
It is a shame you get involved in trash like this….but I guess I am not surprised!
It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on - Sun Tzu
This most be a costly detour. however, I still find the story useful for a post at http://www.mediarati.com
This most be a costly detour. however, I still find the story useful for a post on blogging at http://www.mediarati.com. thank.
you guys are such fags.and i live in san francisco, its like watching a bunch of bitches cat fight. This is just too funny.
Mike-
I think we all read it as “devastating”, but it shows up in the last paragraph as “devasting”.
Tom-ay-toe. Tom-ah-toe.
Two things:
One: Now that Arrington has a bit of soapbox, instead of legitimizing it –he appears to be showing his L.A. Lawyer, Domain-name snake-oil sales side… Why mix it up in the affairs between Jason - a true internet entrepreneur and a flimsy gossip rag? I think Arrington is reaching on this one. Why not do a write-up on the new Google Pages features with image editing, etc. - oh did we miss those?
and Two: Let’s remember that Jason started Silicon Alley reporter in *1996* …9, 10 years before anything was crunching or wagging.
…and he probably had to stay at AOL for some contractually-determined period to get at that $25M ..seems like he made the best of it. No one likes AOL (the net for babies) but hey, he probably figured that his ship had come in - he better take it and hang as best he can. Wouldn’t you? I, myself - should I have been so lucky, would have been waiting for the first chance to not have to ever fly in to D.C. again. Quitting AOL right now is a prime move. And I am sure Jason won’t be tracking Web too.0 or scraping together the utter bullshit that is valleywanker.
Okay three things.
“Denton has always played second fiddle to Jason, never quite achieving the same level of success.”
Do you really think Calacanis’ WeblogsInc($25mil)+SiliconAlleyReporter($?mil) have been greater successes, in money or social/tech/business impact, than Denton’s FirstTuesday(£33mil)+Moreover($30mil)+Gawker($TBDmil)?
Both Calacanis and Denton are effective publicity farmers who appreciate the value of a good public feud.
If a year of ever-escalating concrete offers from Calacanis weren’t enough to peel Trapani from Gawker, why would some idle speculation about her site’s revenues cause trouble now?
This article reads like an audition for a new Arrington-Denton feud, to fuel a mutually beneficial publicity bonanza. If that’s what it was intended as, bravo!
Leave Mike alone. It’s a blog and it’s Mike’s blog.
WTF Todd. That’s right it’s his blog and he’s writing what he wants. And we, the readers (at least some of us) are responding to his “detour”. In case you forgot where we are - this is more or less a democratic and two-way enterprise. And some of us feel that Arrington has overstepped his bounds.
Okay so don’t read it you say. –well that’s what we do with “old-skool” media.
It’s a different game now. We respond. And it’s not always favorable.
So grow some hair, Toddler.
And if the authors are smart, they take into account the protestors inthe street.
Yep, that’s why I have comments.
You know, Hiptrigger, the reason you are posting here is because it is controversial. This is the same reason most others are posting here. It is always good to have some controversy to spark things up a lil’.
There would be no Paris Hilton without it.
I’ll stop posting if it will make Ms. Hilton disappear.
There’s nothing more tragic than nerd on nerd crime.
handbags at dawn alert.
Ouch! Good post Mike.
Ah, the stakes/decisions get higher at a certain level, don’t they Mike?
In defense of this post, it is net related and contains net news such as the reason for drop in Netscape traffic, and notes on multiple sites.
A reason I like TechCrunch and feel it has a leadership edge is because it’s not stale and formulaic, but seems to try to capture all of the goings on in the Web world - even if only a handful of readers appreciate some of the less mainstream content, and the price is simply skipping down - as long as you don’t need to skip far.
My favorites so far:
“High school 2.0″ - hilarious!
“Nerd on nerd crime” - Hey! I resemble that remark.
Oh wait, “daysofourlivescrunch” was pretty good, too!
thanks Jerome!
Clearly gossip, rumors, exposés, tit-for tats and click-bots is the formula for success, so why do so many of us waste our time learning about technology?
Jason Calacanis and Mike Arrington vs. Nick Denton is like Rosie O’Donnell and Clay Aiken vs. Kelly Ripa with a little more sublimated homosexual yearning.
I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but Bravo Jason.
Celebrity Tech Death Match!