Comments on: Blognation Meltdown: Writers Never Paid, Promises Not Kept

By: Our Friends From The Next Web Go International, Launch 8 Local Tech Blogs

Our Friends From The Next Web Go International, Launch 8 Local Tech Blogs — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:09:57 +0000

[...] in each country’s native language, which is the main difference between this network and the late blognation (which I also used to work for, [...]

By: boseheadphones

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By: The Notorious Sam Sethi Launches His Latest Venture, Twitblogs. | Fidicaro.net

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 11:13:53 +0000

[...] previous startup, Blognation, folded a year ago and left writers and employees unpaid for months of work. We’ve had our own unpleasant issues [...]

By: The Notorious Sam Sethi Launches His Latest Venture, Twitblogs. « Tech Test

The Notorious Sam Sethi Launches His Latest Venture, Twitblogs. « Tech Test — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 06:14:48 +0000

[...] previous startup, Blognation, folded a year ago and left writers and employees unpaid for months of work. We’ve had our own unpleasant issues [...]

By: The Notorious Sam Sethi Launches His Latest Venture, Twitblogs.

The Notorious Sam Sethi Launches His Latest Venture, Twitblogs. — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 15:53:52 +0000

[...] previous startup, Blognation, folded a year ago and left writers and employees unpaid for months of work. We’ve had our own unpleasant issues [...]

By: catalonia blog

catalonia blog — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:49:23 +0000

Sounds like they have good reason to have a bias against the founders of blognation. It sounds more like a deadpool company on its way down.

By: Sam Sethi V/S Arrington continues

Sam Sethi V/S Arrington continues — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:53:41 +0000

[...] all began end of last year when Techcrunch published Blognation Meltdown. It has been some time since I heard anything about it ! Although today out of no where read [...]

By: The Rise and Fall of Blognation — TechWag

The Rise and Fall of Blognation — TechWag — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:06:17 +0000

[...] the information had hit the blogosphere, and being an open system, the public debate took off once Techcrunch covered it . Hundreds of bloggers started forming sides as to who was most at fault over the failure [...]

By: Techcrunchで見たWeb 2.0 Start-upの苦難とbloggerのリベンジ、それによって得たものは？ « BEAUTIFUL LIFE -日本とカナダから見つめるWeb2.0事情

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:05:03 +0000

[...] 12月 6, 2007 · カテゴリー: Web 2.0 · Tagged オリバーさん, クレーム, スタートアップの苦難, チームの力, ビジネス, ブロガー, プライスレス, bloggerのリベンジ, 理想的なリーダー, 生計の立て直し, 真実, Dirty Laundry, 道は開かれる, 高い授業料, 起業, Overnight Success, TechCrunch, Web 2.0業界, 北米, 失敗から学ぶこと, 弁護士, 本人の将来と品格昨日、北米でWeb2.0関係のニュースで、私にとっては身近な問題が取り上げられた。日本語のTechcrunchでは内容も省略してあり、コメントも無かったがアメリカの記事では通常のコメントが20から30くらいのところ、24時間経っても増え続け、今では155のコメント数となっている。 [...]

By: Blog Network MyKinda May Be Pulling A BlogNation - Writers Going Unpaid | Xaby.com | Singapore Web Design Company Blog

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 02:24:46 +0000

[...] who watched the BlogNation implosion last year certainly doesn’t want to see a rerun of that particular debacle. But there are [...]

By: Bad Press 101 - How to deal with employees who screw everything up | Jessica Mah Meets World

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:08:42 +0000

[...] have already read, BlogNation really got dicked over today when the US editor Oliver Starr posted a public letter of resignation on the front page of the blog he was resigning from. It talked about how the CEO of BlogNation, Sam [...]

By: Zeitungen als Akteure im “parasitären Mitmachweb” « Amok

Zeitungen als Akteure im “parasitären Mitmachweb” « Amok — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:40:56 +0000

[...] (Der eine oder andere Blogger mag seine Lektion daraus gelernt haben: Never work for promises into the future.) [...]

By: Blognation končí? « David Čaněk - Blog

Blognation končí? « David Čaněk - Blog — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 21:37:28 +0000

[...] tisíc dolarů. Aspoň tak to píše Oliver Starr, jeden z bývalých autorů Blognation, ve svém otevřeném rezignačním dopise (je to asi nejdelší rezignační dopis, co byl kdy [...]

By: Terry

Terry — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 17:56:18 +0000

Looks like Sethi has a new Job (lol) – http://www.ok-c...s-unemployable-

By: Oliver Starr

Oliver Starr — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:37:33 +0000

For those following this drama, a few key items to update:

The 10th has come, gone and no funding announcement or announcement of any kind by “Scam” Sethi.

LeWeb3 Come and Gone. No apearance by “Scam” Sethi

“Scam” Sethi announces he is stepping down from Blognation (perhaps in an effort to avoid the litigation that is certain to come)

China editor David Feng officially suspends his Blognation efforts (contradicting his prior commitments to continue)

Japan editor Robert Sanzalone also suspends Blognation efforts (he too in contradiction of prior posted commitments to continue blogging)

“Scam” Sethi states he is auctioning off Blognation however one wonders exactly what he thinks he owns to auction? Not the content, the writers haven’t been paid so they own that. Not the code, the developer hasn’t been paid either so he owns that. Not the domain name, that belongs to Tristan Louis.

Him…maybe “Scam” is too appropriate…

PS: Sadly, Marc Orchant passed away a week ago Sunday for those that missed this tragic news more information can be found here: http://owstarr.com

By: Kai

Kai — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:18:48 +0000

I find this article more embarrasing for Techcrunch than for blognation. What is this blog? A cheap tabloid?

By: Overskrifts underskrift » Ballade i Blog-land

Overskrifts underskrift » Ballade i Blog-land — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:42:16 +0000

[...] er ogs� kraftigt diskuteret p� TechCrunch med nu mere end 150 kommentarer. Det sjove er at Sam Sethi blev fyret fra den engelske afdeling af [...]

By: It's very boring

It's very boring — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 21:36:21 +0000

the Sethi replies

http://updates....ght-sorry-team/

By: mobilejones

mobilejones — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:53:59 +0000

Sam Sethi and the Robert Scoble Smoking Gun…

An exchange on Robert Scoble’s blog regarding Blognation continues to demonstrate Sam’s difficulty with speaking the plain truth. Robert was informed by a friend that he was rumored to be joining Blognation as an employee and he reacted qu…

By: StartupEarth

StartupEarth — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 18:24:29 +0000

@147 “I heard in the grape vine the VC in question has pulled out due to the last fiasco.”

Truemors.com is thataway –>

By: Gabe

Gabe — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:46:20 +0000

Even if Sam eventually pays people, umm… isn’t it irresponsible and unethical to hire people and promise to pay them without the immediate means to do so. Put differently, it’s extremely unethical to make a 100% guarantee to someone when in fact, there is not that degree of assurance that the promise will be fulfilled. I don’t tell my friends I will definitely be somewhere if I know there is a 20% chance I will get held up in traffic. And I would certainly not take such liberties with the truth when it comes to people’s livelihoods.

By: Ed

Ed — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:49:41 +0000

Wow, just noticed Natali in the comments. Natali, you must be glad to be away from all of this.

By: Dario Salvelli

Dario Salvelli — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:15:22 +0000

I agree with #3: it’s bad advertising for a Nanopublishing network but i prefer tech news..

By: nothing new

nothing new — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:18:07 +0000

oh dear sam – looks like you’ve done it again! bad luck OS

By: wayforward

wayforward — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:05:50 +0000

Phew! I’d like to add a little bit about my experience of late. I’ve put 2 1/2 years into a startup receiving no income but having received equity properly signed over.

Now we’re at launch time, I’ve been asked me to give my shares back for nothing (and there are two sides to the story I admit), or they would simply liquidate the existing entity and I would have to go through an expensive and lengthy process to fight for what’s mine.

So after the initial anger period which I kept to myself, I faced up to the fact that business is business and no one ever said it was to operate on ethical lines, even though I hold certain business/personal principals myself.

The upshot is, rather than go to the courts to fight which would cost more than I have and probably take 5 years to get a result, I made the decision to swallow my pride and become the first licensed reseller for the entity I was involved in (in an amicable manner).

This may seem soft but there are a couple of key points that, Oliver, you might want to take on board for what they’re worth:

1. When shafted, keep your anger quiet and cool off for a bit.
2. Forget thinking people are ethical or judging them by your own standards, and
3. Before acting, maybe try and really think hard about the best way to get a result for yourself out of a bad situation.