6 ms·

Entrepreneurs Should Say No to Silicon Valley's Bully [Arrington]

79 points by Swannie 15y ago

pg 15y ago
I've had literally hundreds of interactions with MA and I believe he's fundamentally an OK guy. He's irascible, yes, but when he's harsh to someone it's not part of a calculated strategy to keep everyone in line. It's simply because he's mad.
- DevX101 15y ago
  To be fair, he has every reason not to piss you off. I found the Caterina Fake situation peculiar at best, and the GroupMe scenario (which I'm just reading about now) is really not cool.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
    - pvodsevhcm 15y ago
      Near the end of the article: "But there’s always the risk of winding up afoul of Arrington’s rules of the road. That’s what GroupMe did last month with news of a major acquisition. Arrington’s response was classic Tony Soprano. Speaking at a CEO summit in New York, he berated a GroupMe executive in the audience. “You fucked me over,” Mike said from the podium. He told everyone GroupMe was now cut off from his site, and threatened to do the same to anyone else who doesn’t let him dictate their press coverage."
- ianterrell 15y ago
  Whether rumor mongering is designed to have a chilling effect or not is nearly irrelevant as to whether or not it happens. Further, while I value others' personal opinions of him, looking at the data of the Caterina Fake article and the GroupMe comments it's hard not to come to the conclusion of the chilling effect being designed. Even beyond that, it's more than just venting anger. The rumor mongering in the Caterina article is just plain being an ass.
- rmah 15y ago
  IMO, the true test of a man's character is not how he behaves with his friends and peers, but how he behaves towards those with less power. Arrington's behavior makes me wonder.
- arthur_debert 15y ago
  Well, if you had your interestes aligned to Hitler's, I am sure he would seem a nice guy too. Apparently he was very loving to his dog. We tend to see people's worst side when they are feeling uncomfortable. I can't see how he's "coverage" of Catarina Fake makes him an OK guy. It's like the wife beating husband who's great when on a good mood.
- jdp23 15y ago
  by contrast I've had exactly one interaction with Arrington and he tried to bully me. http://www.talesfromthe.net/jon/?p=1552#comment-88361 http://www.talesfromthe.net/jon/?p=1552#comment-88361
- skmurphy 15y ago
  With as much influence as he wields "getting mad" in public is irresponsible, but this looks to me to be more calculated than spontaneous.
- boucher 15y ago
  He may very well be a nice guy, but as a journalist his behavior is pretty questionable. It isn't as if the Caterina Fake incident is the first. He's a professional, he ought to behave like one.
- tptacek 15y ago
  He's being accused of being more than "irascible" and "harsh".
Swannie 15y ago
How common in the press and PR industry is the "exclusive"? For UK national newspapers, an exclusive might be done for a front page, or page 2, 3, 5, story, but that's probably the exception not the norm. Now in magazines, I suspect exclusivity is the norm, you want something special for your readers, you don't want something that was in a competitor last month, or will be in more detail with better pictures in a months time. What ever happened to a good old press release and schmoozing one or two journos to cover it with decent background material - or is this just the logical conclusion of that in Silicon Valley?
S_A_P 15y ago
I personally think that most rational people could see the article as unprofessional and that MA kind of dug his own grave there. It just seems slightly ironic to me that she used her blog to attack him for writing an attack blog post.
- kapitalx 15y ago
  She is definitely using this attack to get attention for her own company. At least we now know that her PR firm will not be able to feature you on techcrunch.
jdp23 15y ago
I wonder how AOL feels about the acquisition these days? I've talked with a lot of people recently who feel that the "tech blogging" space is ripe for disruption ...
- michaelpinto 15y ago
  The minute that everyone feels that a space is locked up is the perfect time to get started. I think there's plenty of room to start a tech site at this point, the trick is to do something new and not reinvent the wheel.
ChuckMcM 15y ago
Ok, I laughed out loud, its Mike Arrington's Hollywood moment perhaps. Vanessa is complaining that Mike Arrington is mean. Seriously? I could not help but think I was reading something from the Hollywood Reporter rather than something technical. You don't like Techcrunch? Fine. Why the ad hominem on MA? That sounds like something a bit more personal but its not technology news.
zem 15y ago
how exactly did groupme "fuck over" arrington? i can't find anything on it.

79 points by Swannie 15y ago

pg 15y ago

I've had literally hundreds of interactions with MA and I believe he's fundamentally an OK guy. He's irascible, yes, but when he's harsh to someone it's not part of a calculated strategy to keep everyone in line. It's simply because he's mad.

DevX101 15y ago
To be fair, he has every reason not to piss you off. I found the Caterina Fake situation peculiar at best, and the GroupMe scenario (which I'm just reading about now) is really not cool.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
  - pvodsevhcm 15y ago
    Near the end of the article: "But there’s always the risk of winding up afoul of Arrington’s rules of the road. That’s what GroupMe did last month with news of a major acquisition. Arrington’s response was classic Tony Soprano. Speaking at a CEO summit in New York, he berated a GroupMe executive in the audience. “You fucked me over,” Mike said from the podium. He told everyone GroupMe was now cut off from his site, and threatened to do the same to anyone else who doesn’t let him dictate their press coverage."
ianterrell 15y ago
Whether rumor mongering is designed to have a chilling effect or not is nearly irrelevant as to whether or not it happens. Further, while I value others' personal opinions of him, looking at the data of the Caterina Fake article and the GroupMe comments it's hard not to come to the conclusion of the chilling effect being designed. Even beyond that, it's more than just venting anger. The rumor mongering in the Caterina article is just plain being an ass.
rmah 15y ago
IMO, the true test of a man's character is not how he behaves with his friends and peers, but how he behaves towards those with less power. Arrington's behavior makes me wonder.
arthur_debert 15y ago
Well, if you had your interestes aligned to Hitler's, I am sure he would seem a nice guy too. Apparently he was very loving to his dog. We tend to see people's worst side when they are feeling uncomfortable. I can't see how he's "coverage" of Catarina Fake makes him an OK guy. It's like the wife beating husband who's great when on a good mood.
jdp23 15y ago
by contrast I've had exactly one interaction with Arrington and he tried to bully me. http://www.talesfromthe.net/jon/?p=1552#comment-88361 http://www.talesfromthe.net/jon/?p=1552#comment-88361
skmurphy 15y ago
With as much influence as he wields "getting mad" in public is irresponsible, but this looks to me to be more calculated than spontaneous.
boucher 15y ago
He may very well be a nice guy, but as a journalist his behavior is pretty questionable. It isn't as if the Caterina Fake incident is the first. He's a professional, he ought to behave like one.
tptacek 15y ago
He's being accused of being more than "irascible" and "harsh".

Swannie 15y ago

How common in the press and PR industry is the "exclusive"? For UK national newspapers, an exclusive might be done for a front page, or page 2, 3, 5, story, but that's probably the exception not the norm. Now in magazines, I suspect exclusivity is the norm, you want something special for your readers, you don't want something that was in a competitor last month, or will be in more detail with better pictures in a months time. What ever happened to a good old press release and schmoozing one or two journos to cover it with decent background material - or is this just the logical conclusion of that in Silicon Valley?

S_A_P 15y ago

I personally think that most rational people could see the article as unprofessional and that MA kind of dug his own grave there. It just seems slightly ironic to me that she used her blog to attack him for writing an attack blog post.

kapitalx 15y ago
She is definitely using this attack to get attention for her own company. At least we now know that her PR firm will not be able to feature you on techcrunch.

jdp23 15y ago

I wonder how AOL feels about the acquisition these days? I've talked with a lot of people recently who feel that the "tech blogging" space is ripe for disruption ...

michaelpinto 15y ago
The minute that everyone feels that a space is locked up is the perfect time to get started. I think there's plenty of room to start a tech site at this point, the trick is to do something new and not reinvent the wheel.

ChuckMcM 15y ago

Ok, I laughed out loud, its Mike Arrington's Hollywood moment perhaps. Vanessa is complaining that Mike Arrington is mean. Seriously? I could not help but think I was reading something from the Hollywood Reporter rather than something technical. You don't like Techcrunch? Fine. Why the ad hominem on MA? That sounds like something a bit more personal but its not technology news.

zem 15y ago

how exactly did groupme "fuck over" arrington? i can't find anything on it.