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November 21, 2006

Blogger Wars: How Jason Calacanis Gets Even

Michael Arrington

91 comments »

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.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 21st, 2006 at 7:02 pm and is filed under Web 2.0 News & Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Comments

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  1. Dave

    November 21st, 2006 at 7:20 pm

    High School 2.0

  2. Joey

    November 21st, 2006 at 7:38 pm

    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.

  3. Michael Arrington

    November 21st, 2006 at 7:40 pm

    hey, its news about weblogs, inc. and gawker. we’ve covered both before. plus, sometimes we take a little detour to make a point.

  4. Joey

    November 21st, 2006 at 7:42 pm

    right on!

  5. Sean

    November 21st, 2006 at 7:48 pm

    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!

  6. Startups.in/India

    November 21st, 2006 at 7:50 pm

    “Blogger Wars” - Would make a good title/storyline for a Hollywood movie ;-)

  7. David Mackey

    November 21st, 2006 at 7:53 pm

    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.

  8. Mike

    November 21st, 2006 at 8:00 pm

    Shameless Mike. This post doesn’t belong on TechCrunch…. it belongs on CrunchNotes… if that.

  9. soxiam

    November 21st, 2006 at 8:01 pm

    Wow. I wonder how it feels to be accused of “fuzzy math” and “poorly researched” in a TechCrunch article.

  10. Moose

    November 21st, 2006 at 8:06 pm

    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.

  11. Andrew

    November 21st, 2006 at 8:19 pm

    “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?

  12. Ted

    November 21st, 2006 at 8:33 pm

    At the very least, Denton is making Valleywag matter for the first time… ever. At least people are talking about it.

  13. Don Wilson

    November 21st, 2006 at 8:45 pm

    Beautifully performed, Jason.

  14. Andrew

    November 21st, 2006 at 8:49 pm

    Have to agree with Ted here. The quality of Valleywag improved 10x since Denton took over. It’s back in my Bloglines.

  15. Josh

    November 21st, 2006 at 9:12 pm

    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.

  16. Wade

    November 21st, 2006 at 9:22 pm

    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.

  17. Hiptrigger

    November 21st, 2006 at 9:37 pm

    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.

  18. Pramit Singh

    November 21st, 2006 at 9:51 pm

    This is like the old media wars over ego and talent, in earlier times.

  19. jack

    November 21st, 2006 at 9:59 pm

    stunning

  20. ABCota

    November 21st, 2006 at 10:18 pm

    “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.

  21. Dale Dietrich

    November 21st, 2006 at 10:31 pm

    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!

    :) … Dale

  22. peter

    November 21st, 2006 at 10:34 pm

    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??

  23. Peter

    November 21st, 2006 at 10:34 pm

    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.

  24. anon

    November 21st, 2006 at 10:37 pm

    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.

  25. mike warner

    November 21st, 2006 at 10:47 pm

    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.

  26. Search Engines WEB

    November 21st, 2006 at 10:51 pm

    Lifehacker is truly a gem - :-D

    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!

  27. bdeseattle

    November 21st, 2006 at 11:18 pm

    What Dave said. This belongs on myspace.

  28. smith

    November 21st, 2006 at 11:21 pm

    It is a shame you get involved in trash like this….but I guess I am not surprised!

  29. Jawad (Shuzak)

    November 21st, 2006 at 11:31 pm

    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

  30. Victor

    November 21st, 2006 at 11:33 pm

    This most be a costly detour. however, I still find the story useful for a post at http://www.mediarati.com

  31. Victor

    November 21st, 2006 at 11:38 pm

    This most be a costly detour. however, I still find the story useful for a post on blogging at http://www.mediarati.com. thank.

  32. lemon obrien

    November 21st, 2006 at 11:45 pm

    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.

  33. Jon

    November 21st, 2006 at 11:46 pm

    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.

  34. Hiptrigger

    November 21st, 2006 at 11:54 pm

    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.

  35. Cam Cannon

    November 21st, 2006 at 11:55 pm

    “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!

  36. Todd

    November 21st, 2006 at 11:57 pm

    Leave Mike alone. It’s a blog and it’s Mike’s blog.

  37. Hiptrigger

    November 22nd, 2006 at 12:04 am

    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.

  38. Michael Arrington

    November 22nd, 2006 at 12:33 am

    Yep, that’s why I have comments.

  39. Jawad (Shuzak)

    November 22nd, 2006 at 12:44 am

    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.

  40. Hiptrigger

    November 22nd, 2006 at 12:47 am

    I’ll stop posting if it will make Ms. Hilton disappear.

  41. Todd

    November 22nd, 2006 at 1:15 am

    There’s nothing more tragic than nerd on nerd crime.

  42. carl rahn griffith

    November 22nd, 2006 at 2:24 am

    handbags at dawn alert.

  43. Alexander Muse

    November 22nd, 2006 at 5:18 am

    Ouch! Good post Mike.

  44. Jerome

    November 22nd, 2006 at 5:28 am

    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.

  45. Jerome

    November 22nd, 2006 at 5:37 am

    Oh wait, “daysofourlivescrunch” was pretty good, too!

  46. Joey

    November 22nd, 2006 at 5:57 am

    thanks Jerome!

  47. paul

    November 22nd, 2006 at 6:58 am

    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?

  48. Rogers Cadenhead

    November 22nd, 2006 at 7:00 am

    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.

  49. Drew Olanoff

    November 22nd, 2006 at 7:43 am

    I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but Bravo Jason.

  50. Drew Olanoff

    November 22nd, 2006 at 7:43 am

    Celebrity Tech Death Match!

  51. Brandon

    November 22nd, 2006 at 7:50 am

    I happen to read Techcrunch and Valleywag on a daily basis. I’ve seen Valleywag take shots at Techcrunch and I’m glad to see Michael make this post. Valleywag supposedly changed directions from Silicon Valley gossip to more of the business focus behind Silicon Valley companies but I haven’t seen much change. Valleywag is still into the gossip but now they’re just throwing in numbers in random blog postings.

  52. David

    November 22nd, 2006 at 8:03 am

    Obviously Michael can write what he wants. It’s his blog and it’s up to us whether or not we want to read it.

    As with any blog, people leaving comments gives the author direction on what the audience wants to hear. So, either way I believe people should leave comments that don’t fall into the kiss-{insert author here}-ass category if they want to.

    As for me, I agree w/ the the critics on this one. Reading the clearly personal-bias from our “source of all things Web 2.0″ undermines author credibility IMHO. Claims that the companies were ‘previously covered’, while true is a mere justification.

    I guess in the end who really cares that much?

  53. Erik

    November 22nd, 2006 at 8:59 am

    Juvenile all the way around. This is a very small tempest in a very small teapot. Yes, yes, controversy proves that the article did what it was supposed to (generate interest), but it would be a shame if Techcrunch devolved down to the level of c. 1998 star-tracking.

  54. Patricia

    November 22nd, 2006 at 9:04 am

    Lots of media has op-ed articles, I see this as no different, though I do think there was something to this story, maybe just not put in a way where everybody can get it.

  55. Cale Bruckner

    November 22nd, 2006 at 9:15 am

    Dave, a Techcrunch commenter, has it right - the cat fighting between Jason Calacanis and Nick Denton is High School 2.0 and the related Techcrunch post by Michael Arrington reads like an article out of the student-run school paper. On the other hand we’re all reading it so doesn’t that just make us a bunch of High School students? I appreciate Mike’s coverage of the spat and enjoy reading about the more colorful side of the business sometimes. The comments associated with Mike’s post are even more colorful ; ) - locker talk.

    Messing around with Jason, IMO, isn’t smart. He’s well connected, visible, smart, and rich. Andrew Baron crossed him (listen to this TWit podcast) once and I think that might have marked the beginning of RocketBoom’s trouble. RocketBoom.com Flame-out.

    Related:
    Nick’s post “Netscape: The Calacanis Effect” gets it started
    Jason starts firing back with “My favorite blogger/blog of the moment…“

  56. dave mcclure

    November 22nd, 2006 at 9:16 am

    “when blogs are outlawed, only outlaws will have blogs…”

    keep it coming mike :)

  57. Jackson

    November 22nd, 2006 at 9:25 am

    Posts like this continue to marginalize TechCrunch and waste readers’ time. I hope you guys clean up soon. Not only is this juvenile, its uninteresting.

  58. robert kim

    November 22nd, 2006 at 9:27 am

    Jason is a sharp guy. He’s gotta lotta patience too but this was too much. Nice use of innuendo Jason. - bob

  59. Lock

    November 22nd, 2006 at 9:32 am

    Mike: no disclosure that, as you talk so openly about in that Gillmor Gang podcast earlier this month, you’ve made “repeated” offers to hire Gina away from Lifehacker yourself? Sneaky!

  60. ePrep

    November 22nd, 2006 at 9:40 am

    pathetic

  61. Joel

    November 22nd, 2006 at 9:56 am

    I agree…more web 2.0 analysis, less gossip. I have a valleywag feed for a reason.

  62. SpecialOne

    November 22nd, 2006 at 10:03 am

    You got to be kidding me, TECHCRUNCH Is about covering startups and internet companies and the web 2.0 world

    Why the F*** do we give a S*** about this BS high school drama.. Let them deal with there own situations and stick to what you do best…

    Come On M!

  63. Calvin

    November 22nd, 2006 at 10:13 am

    C-

  64. Jim Kukral

    November 22nd, 2006 at 10:55 am

    Now this is back to a real blog again. So what’s it gonna be? Write reviews as a business and stick to your model, or blogeriffic content like this?

  65. Silly Girl

    November 22nd, 2006 at 11:35 am

    I read Jason’s post, along with his sordid review of old newspaper clippings (”I coulda been a contender!”) as coming from someone who just lost their little media empire and is jealous of his old rival - Nick Denton - who is still in business.

    Sure, Jason sold Weblog’s Inc. a year ago, but he’s been peripherally connected to it while at AOL. Now that he’s no longer at AOL, he’s lost all of his blogs and his little media empire.

    Jason is JEALOUS of Nick Denton. He’s the kind of person for whom money isn’t everything - it’s being in the game that counts. Nick Denton is still in the game, which is saying a lot.

    Jason’s going to have to start from scratch all over again. Not that he hasn’t successfully done this before.

  66. doug

    November 22nd, 2006 at 1:59 pm

    All this bluster makes me wonder:

    Will the Web 2.0 Conference/Summit/Holy Gathering of Masonic Net Wizards eventually have a “pissing contest” booth?

  67. pir anha

    November 22nd, 2006 at 3:08 pm

    juvenile claptrap. if i wanted to read nerd gossip i know where to go (and frankly, i care as little for it as i care about paris hilton). that’s most assuredly not what i come here for. get over yourself, or at least keep your internecine bickering to a personal blog if you want to retain a reputation for professionalism.

    as to “we’re all reading it” — don’t be ridiculous. of course we’re all reading it — how is one to know an article in an otherwise pretty reliably decent blog is complete crap unless one reads it first?

  68. Netscapee

    November 22nd, 2006 at 6:19 pm

    Eyeballing comscore numbers, it looks like in the period post the Netscape redesign NS PVs tracked from 731m in June to 405 in October.

    In the same period AIM.com PVs tracked from 89m to 71m.

    You would expect this to go up by several hundred million PVs instead if it was the move of the email accounts that caused the drop in PVs.

    Its possible that Comscore isn’t tracking the URL’s for the email accounts shifted from Netscape to AIM domains.

  69. Robert Scoble

    November 22nd, 2006 at 8:27 pm

    I notice t hat most of the negative commenters here are using made-up names and aren’t real people. I suspect they are all written by the same person, given the writing style.

    Personally, if I were Mike, I’d say hell to the lot of you and do what I want on my own blog.

    Geesh, so many “blog experts” who aren’t even willing to sign their own names…

  70. Spider-Man

    November 24th, 2006 at 7:55 pm

    Hey, I invented the whole web log thing back when I had an accident in my Spidey suit after seeing the previews for the new SpiderMan 3 and it came out solid.

    So if anything, all you pissing and moaning ninnies owe me a debt of gratitude.

  71. Michael

    January 7th, 2007 at 9:52 am

    Wow, this is some serious fucked up shit.

    A polemical lambast using Bushite rhetoric to attack publicly what is inside industry pettiness? Blogs are on their way down…

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