Comments on: Fred Wilson – Hypocritical, Wrong and Conflicted

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By: Visual search engine Like.com blasts ahead — raises double digit millions » VentureBeat

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 22:52:11 +0000

[...] about how Like.com’s progress is a sign that image search can work. That piece help spark a minor controversy when investor Fred Wilson said I’d gotten some things wrong. I argued back, however, saying [...]

By: Peeps

Peeps — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 05:17:37 +0000

I have word that Fred was slapped down by his firm. Consider his public profile nipped in the bud.

By: Larry Larrikin

Larry Larrikin — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 02:43:18 +0000

MA wrote “do you think that, maybe, we got to a position of influence based on the quality of the writing we do?”

Yeah, and you’re losing it with the quality of the writing you do too. Take a look at GigaOM for quality, Mr. I-wanna-be-the-Perez-Hilton-of-the-tech-blogs Arrington.

By: what

what — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:17:49 +0000

Arrington, people like you talking about conflict of interest makes no sense.

By: Kid Mercury's Blog

Kid Mercury's Blog — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 02:26:57 +0000

Anarchy in the Technology Blogosphere (Or Three People All Afraid of the Truth)…

Oh boy! I woke up this morning to see that the web/tech blogosphere had exploded into an ALL OUT WARFARE. The warriors: A-list blogger Fred Wilson vs. A-list blogger Michael Arrington. The issue? Well……

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 02:26:45 +0000

I have to comment here. Fred is highly conflicted, and he is also a VC. In general, this should be making him fearful of bloggin, as the risk of events such as these might effect LPs in some way and also might damage credibility. Setting aside the LP risk, Fred operated very poor judgment in attacking these bloggers, which in this case should be referred to as “Reporgers”, as they are producing quality and fact-driven content which many eyeballs are tracking and reading. Fred, if anyone noticed his blog, is tracking and reporting some false-driven information – which is fine, so as long as he won’t be bashing others who reports to higher standards than he is. For Fred, I would hope that this is not the product of trying to help poorly performing portfolio companies.

By: Tequila Al

Tequila Al — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:10:14 +0000

The article is a direct stab at the mentioned. I call it behind the screen mean. I used to have a business partner that was so nice in person but put him on a keyboard and wow, what an asshole. I figure he wasn’t very popular or social as a child so this was his way of trying to get even. What he really needed was a good ‘ol Texas ass kicking. My wife is a journalist and she’s the first to admit that journalists know a little about alot. Bloggers know alot about a little and simply write their “opinion” you have to take it with a grain of salt. To this day, i’ve not met the perfect person and don’t plan on it. MA had to call him on his post, that’s what you do when you get old and experienced. The young guy would just bitch about it. Brush it off, sip some tequila and move on. Life is good.

By: Ian Knox

Ian Knox — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:22:37 +0000

Once a blog is too professional (i.e. sanitised) it becomes boring. Thats what newspapers are for. It is the rough, honest edges that makes blogs worth reading. As an Australian (not sure if it goes for other countries) I find it constantly amusing to read articles in a newspaper that have obviously been sourced from blogs that I have read not weeks, but usually months earlier. If TechCrunch improves its standards it will be time to read something else!!

By: Digidave

Digidave — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:54:56 +0000

@Michael

I agree with you in general – but I do think Wilson still brings up a few good points that you have to recognize.

TechCrunch and other super-blogs (VentureBeat, GigaOm, etc) are well beyond personal blogs. In that sense – they have a responsibility to get things right and produce quality content.

But as you noted: So do all journalists. For me “blogging” isn’t about WHO is behind the words, blogs are just a CMS – a really easy one that anyone can use.

Your bloggers are journalists (they get paid a professional salary). The problem is – as you noted – you guys cover a very fast moving space: Technology. It’s understandable that you have to use anonymous sources, tips, etc. But you have to recognize that you are taking a risk whenever you do that – and if people call you out on it, take that criticism.

On a side: One project I work for is called NewsTrust.net: Think Digg meets Poynter – ie: You don’t just “digg” articles – you rate them based on journalistic integrity. Perhaps Techcrunch could get some good feedback with this tool on where you can improve (and that’s not a potshot at Techcrunch… as you noted: All journalists can improve).

By: Michael Arrington

Michael Arrington — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:47:51 +0000

Blake – do you think that, maybe, we got to a position of influence based on the quality of the writing we do?

By: KM

KM — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:45:25 +0000

Fred Wilson is nauseating. His opinions are often so wrong, yet he’s so arrogant, who would want him as an investor?

By: Blake

Blake — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:40:05 +0000

I side with Wilson, who has a good point. TechCrunch and other sites have tremendous power and influence and should do fact-checking and other information quality assurance activities.

By: McD

McD — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:52:09 +0000

Michael,

Fred should fund a company to meet his “standards” for blogging about start-ups. Would it be a good investment? Or does controversy help the bottom line?

By: Evprator

Evprator — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:48:56 +0000

Pot calling the kettle black. You guys never learn.

By: S

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:25:26 +0000

He is right, about TechCrunch at least.

The writing on this site is filled with errors, typos, and many times, just opinions instead of facts for the sake of saving time.

Get higher quality writers and pay them more.

By: Preston

Preston — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:59:17 +0000

What I can’t figure out is why Fred thinks he’s just a blogger. Is it because he donates his earnings? He’s been doing this since 2003. He’s probably in top 100 technorati (although I haven’t looked). That’s about as problogger as it gets and he failed to follow the rules.

In the end, the companies he was trying to pump up get more PR than they would otherwise, so the VC wins, even though he loses.

By: MMG

MMG — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:14:38 +0000

There is so much absurdist irony in this whole affair, that I had to join the fray and blog about it: http://rapspace...rely-journalism

Peace,

MMG

By: MikeT

MikeT — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:00:01 +0000

A blog is a blog and if it wanted to be part of MSM it would give a clear message about it.
Otherwise, it is an opinion of a certain person or group of like-minded people that may be biased (it’s a blog, remember?), may be a rant against some person or company, may not follow the MSM rules of article writing, may be just a bunch of random thoughts etc.

These differences from MSM makes a blog something special that will be visited by people who are interested in its content. These differences make the blog popular and keep it alive.

As soon as a popular blog will change its style, direction, things/events it covers, it risks losing part or all of its audience because this would be a change of its fundaments. The way a blog is keeps people coming back to it – this is what made the blog popular (if it is popular).

If TC or any other tech blogs I visit daily was to switch to the dry MSM style, I am not sure if I would visit it as often as I do it now…

By: Saagar

Saagar — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:41:38 +0000

Classic display of egos hiding facts, Fred points out at Erick probably wantedly or just citing an example, and Mike does what he is best at, use his hugely popular techcrunch to get down to personal abuse, naming him hypocritical, wrong and conflicted. I guess you need some counseling Mike before your ego becomes too big for you to carry around. I guess staying out of all attention for some time would help you. Think of the days when you started TC and the humble attitude you used to carry around, correcting yourself when pointed at. Hope that helps

By: StartupNewz.com

StartupNewz.com — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:35:57 +0000

Fred Wilson – Hypocritical, Wrong and Conflicted…

The daggers are out. VC Fred Wilson came out with a blog post that criticized bloggers and singled out Matt Marshall of VentureBeat and Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch for this. And now, Michael Arrington takes exception to this and fires back his salv…

By: Theman

Theman — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:35:02 +0000

Please get some educated scientists in here. This post is annoying and just meant to drive traffic. I am tired of these Digg-made posts, that Michael and his 10+ Digg accounts love so much.

The real problem is somewhere else: the not standardized way we measure success of a startup. Just follow the discussion about Myspace and Facebook. While Myspace is worldwide growing at an incredible speed (with incredible revenues)…Facebook solely makes the news at Techcrunch (with a few exceptions).

I think Wilson made a good point: At one point you have to decide whether you turn Techcrunch/Venturebeat into a NYTimes or if you rather direct it into a yellow press paper.

Second one certainly drives more traffic…and it seems that Michael and some of the writers prefer it that way. (would be interesting to see if Techcrunch pays their writers by generated traffic )

By: P

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:10:14 +0000

“But instead of simply disagreeing with and rebutting the points made in the posts, he went after the reputation of the writers themselves.”

Ah, yes the joys of intelligent, reasoned, online discussion. Never seen that happen before.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:04:40 +0000

Erick is like the best writer ever.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:01:22 +0000

I just read some of Wilson’s blog posts. Appears to be a VC-blogger power-broker wannabe, a la Graham, and going through his growing pains (e.g., defensive about being based in NY).

Too bad his cred=nil now.