5 ms·

Former TechCrunch Writer Spills the Truth about TechCrunch

95 points by moses1400 15y ago

badclient 15y ago
Longtime readers of TC may be saying "there is no way Arrington was calling all the shots the past few years." Bottomline: TechCrunch was many, many times better when Arrington was callign all the shots. It was apparent. The posts were better. The companies he was writing about were more interesting. In the past few years, that quality went downt he drain almost in parallel to him writing less. Mike's own posts became a small fraction of TC. There was little evidence of Mike in the TechCrunch of the past few years.
brackin 15y ago
Is TechCrunch more influential then Mashable? In my opinion yes. Mashable's audience includes geeks and entrepreneurs but they're branching out to entertainment, music and the internet in general. Meaning much of their audience today are more interested in Lady Gaga than Facebook's valuation, bad analogy as most are these days. TechCrunch readers are mostly employees of tech companies, startup founders, VC's and any job within this industry. Meaning if you get TechCrunch'd people expect more opportunities to come from the post (also the knock on effect) than just traffic. It really depends what your startup does too. Part of it is your name will be known to all of these influencers. Both of these are vanity uses, really. TechCrunch will bring you valuable, influential traffic (should do, at least). Mashable will bring you more traffic. If you need early adopters, maybe getting TechCrunch'd is useful but if you need to target a wider mainstream audience then it's probably good to get posted on Mashable. Saying that TechCrunch is no longer relavant is incorrect but in the end, press is far less important than building a product that users will love.
peterwwillis 15y ago
Is it just me? Or does reading articles written about articles written about infighting at a blog just.... not seem interesting at all?
- TomOfTTB 15y ago
  This one is actually kind of fun when you consider this: Most feel MG Siegler is the heir to Duncan Riley's TechCrunch writing style. So this is kind of like Future Siegler giving commentary on Present Day Siegler
- sunchild 15y ago
  ...on a blog by journalists covering the new media business.
- erikpukinskis 15y ago
  Totally. But comments in a discussion about an article written about articles written about infighting are fascinating.
untog 15y ago
I don't want to sound accusatory, but can anyone give perspective on why this writer left TechCrunch? It sounds like he was at the centre of it all for a while, there. I think it's important to know why/how he left if we want to make sure the whole article isn't biased.
- TomOfTTB 15y ago
  You can still hear the podcast he made when he left here: http://www.blogherald.com/2008/05/05/podcast-20082-an-exclusive-interview-with-duncan-riley-on-his-exit-from-techcrunch/ http://www.blogherald.com/2008/05/05/podcast-20082-an-exclus... As I recall he left under favorable terms but the relationship between him and Arrington quickly degraded (You can read Gawker's skewed to the negative account of things here: http://gawker.com/5019358/%7CcommentLink%7C http://gawker.com/5019358/%7CcommentLink%7C) The irony is Duncan Riley and Marshall Kirkpatrick remain the best proof that the TechCrunch authors and Arrington could move on to a new site and probably do quite well. The irony
- JacobAldridge 15y ago
  Duncan was based in Perth, Australia for most of the time he was writing for TC. I met him at a Brisbane conference around that time, and he was travelling a fair amount (Perth to San Francisco is a LONG trip, even if you only make it a few times a year). Since leaving TC he's started and sold one business (Inquisitor) and started another (Medacity), and also gone through a lot of personal stuff (which he's been open about on his blog, but I won't bother repeating). So I suspect leaving TC was about focusing on business opportunities and personal life much closer to home, rather than a fall out with Arrington or other causes for bias.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- ellyagg 15y ago
  It's a little hilarious to want to make sure an article about TC and Arrington isn't biased. If what he says here is true--and I'm certainly inclined to believe it given the flagrantly enjoyed conflicts of interest, lawsuits borne from shady dealing, opportunism (moving residence to Seattle), and egomania--that alone would be just cause to depart, and probably on less-than-friendly terms. Thinking about Arrington reminds me of the story arc on House where the cop goes hard after him for illegal narcotics. At one point he shows up with a warrant at House's residence and finds bags full of Vicodin. He tells House something along the lines of, "Egotistical people think they're smarter than everyone else. I've already seen you willing to skirt the rules. It's reasonable to conclude you skirt other rules too, like writing your own prescriptions." Given the public, documented things we know about TC and Arrington, it would beggar belief that he did not use his power to trade favors and influence.
swombat 15y ago
> Siegler repeats the classic Arrington line that sometimes we criticize our “friends,” but that’s all part of the show. It is, and always has been the veil of legitimacy TechCrunch has traded on. But I know that at my time at TechCrunch, biting friends was only ever ordered, and only when what they were doing was so blatantly bad it needed calling out. > TechCrunch has never ever once had editorial independence. What Arrington means by independence is he calls the shots. That’s not real independence. If that's true, TechCrunch basically has zero journalistic integrity and is a puppet rag. Can anyone credible substantiate or dispute this?
- msredmond 15y ago
  http://www.businessinsider.com/arrington-told-a-room-full-of-ceos-that-he-would-maniuplate-techcrunch-coverage-in-return-for-favors-2011-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/arrington-told-a-room-full-of...
sl4yerr 15y ago
This article should be titled "Former TechCrunch writer drafts poorly-written inflammatory post to draw pageviews to his new venture"
- oldstrangers 15y ago
  Is that you Siegler?
- necenzurat 15y ago
  oh, c'mon he has a point there...
- rhizome 15y ago
  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, in other words.
- fleitz 15y ago
  The best part about the title is that if you remove the words former and writer the title works for any TC post as well. It appears the young Padiwan has learned much from his master.
tormentor 15y ago
Arrington seems like a jackass. Why anyone should really care about techcrunch is beyond me. Sure it gets you exposure but there are plenty of much more respectable blogs out there. Also its AOL, they're shit. Not sure if anyone remembers this http://www.thefastertimes.com/news/2011/06/16/aol-hell-an-aol-content-slave-speaks-out/ http://www.thefastertimes.com/news/2011/06/16/aol-hell-an-ao... I'm sure we'll be better off without gossip on Arrington or techcrunch.
gyardley 15y ago
You know who should run TechCrunch - if he's at all willing to take the job? Saul Hansell. Former technology editor and reporter for the New York Times, left a couple of years ago to join AOL's seed.com (so he's already in-house) - in general, an old-school newspaper guy who's absolutely committed to high ethical standards. I could not say enough nice things about him. Hell, I might actually read TechCrunch again.
S_A_P 15y ago
You know, I come to hacker news and sometimes tech crunch to read about trends in tech, programming, hacking, and the like. For some time now, TC has read more like a soap opera. Between stories of being snubbed for a scoop by founders, to tangles with Arianna Huffington, I cant take them seriously at all. Get over yourselves people...
- rhizome 15y ago
  It may help alleviate your pains to think of Techcrunch as the TMZ of tech.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
oldstrangers 15y ago
Siegler is a manchild. Look at his subtle shot at Mashable recently: http://parislemon.com/post/9951081147/hope-everyone-enjoys-the-new-world-order http://parislemon.com/post/9951081147/hope-everyone-enjoys-t... Translation: Arrington is out, this is what you can all expect to enjoy now! (not translated: Siegler crying into his iPad plushie.)
- timjahn 15y ago
  His post is 100% true though. Mashable has become TMZ, pumping out low quality content every minute to get the traffic they do.
  - oldstrangers 15y ago
    Its not as if TechCrunch is above the tabloid crap. Look at this story, and every past TC drama, as evidence.
biznickman 15y ago
Duncan Riley went out on a bad note from Techcrunch. While he may be accurate with this post, I'd be careful b/c he has always had a bad taste about leaving Techcrunch. Regardless, there's no doubt that there are "Techcrunch friends" and "non-Techcrunch friends".
dave1619 15y ago
Summary: the author doesn't like MG. No need to read article in full. :)

95 points by moses1400 15y ago

Longtime readers of TC may be saying "there is no way Arrington was calling all the shots the past few years." Bottomline: TechCrunch was many, many times better when Arrington was callign all the shots. It was apparent. The posts were better. The companies he was writing about were more interesting. In the past few years, that quality went downt he drain almost in parallel to him writing less. Mike's own posts became a small fraction of TC. There was little evidence of Mike in the TechCrunch of the past few years.

brackin 15y ago

Is TechCrunch more influential then Mashable? In my opinion yes. Mashable's audience includes geeks and entrepreneurs but they're branching out to entertainment, music and the internet in general. Meaning much of their audience today are more interested in Lady Gaga than Facebook's valuation, bad analogy as most are these days. TechCrunch readers are mostly employees of tech companies, startup founders, VC's and any job within this industry. Meaning if you get TechCrunch'd people expect more opportunities to come from the post (also the knock on effect) than just traffic. It really depends what your startup does too. Part of it is your name will be known to all of these influencers. Both of these are vanity uses, really. TechCrunch will bring you valuable, influential traffic (should do, at least). Mashable will bring you more traffic. If you need early adopters, maybe getting TechCrunch'd is useful but if you need to target a wider mainstream audience then it's probably good to get posted on Mashable. Saying that TechCrunch is no longer relavant is incorrect but in the end, press is far less important than building a product that users will love.

peterwwillis 15y ago

Is it just me? Or does reading articles written about articles written about infighting at a blog just.... not seem interesting at all?

TomOfTTB 15y ago
This one is actually kind of fun when you consider this: Most feel MG Siegler is the heir to Duncan Riley's TechCrunch writing style. So this is kind of like Future Siegler giving commentary on Present Day Siegler
sunchild 15y ago
...on a blog by journalists covering the new media business.
erikpukinskis 15y ago
Totally. But comments in a discussion about an article written about articles written about infighting are fascinating.

untog 15y ago

I don't want to sound accusatory, but can anyone give perspective on why this writer left TechCrunch? It sounds like he was at the centre of it all for a while, there. I think it's important to know why/how he left if we want to make sure the whole article isn't biased.

TomOfTTB 15y ago
You can still hear the podcast he made when he left here: http://www.blogherald.com/2008/05/05/podcast-20082-an-exclusive-interview-with-duncan-riley-on-his-exit-from-techcrunch/ http://www.blogherald.com/2008/05/05/podcast-20082-an-exclus... As I recall he left under favorable terms but the relationship between him and Arrington quickly degraded (You can read Gawker's skewed to the negative account of things here: http://gawker.com/5019358/%7CcommentLink%7C http://gawker.com/5019358/%7CcommentLink%7C) The irony is Duncan Riley and Marshall Kirkpatrick remain the best proof that the TechCrunch authors and Arrington could move on to a new site and probably do quite well. The irony
JacobAldridge 15y ago
Duncan was based in Perth, Australia for most of the time he was writing for TC. I met him at a Brisbane conference around that time, and he was travelling a fair amount (Perth to San Francisco is a LONG trip, even if you only make it a few times a year). Since leaving TC he's started and sold one business (Inquisitor) and started another (Medacity), and also gone through a lot of personal stuff (which he's been open about on his blog, but I won't bother repeating). So I suspect leaving TC was about focusing on business opportunities and personal life much closer to home, rather than a fall out with Arrington or other causes for bias.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
ellyagg 15y ago
It's a little hilarious to want to make sure an article about TC and Arrington isn't biased. If what he says here is true--and I'm certainly inclined to believe it given the flagrantly enjoyed conflicts of interest, lawsuits borne from shady dealing, opportunism (moving residence to Seattle), and egomania--that alone would be just cause to depart, and probably on less-than-friendly terms. Thinking about Arrington reminds me of the story arc on House where the cop goes hard after him for illegal narcotics. At one point he shows up with a warrant at House's residence and finds bags full of Vicodin. He tells House something along the lines of, "Egotistical people think they're smarter than everyone else. I've already seen you willing to skirt the rules. It's reasonable to conclude you skirt other rules too, like writing your own prescriptions." Given the public, documented things we know about TC and Arrington, it would beggar belief that he did not use his power to trade favors and influence.

swombat 15y ago

> Siegler repeats the classic Arrington line that sometimes we criticize our “friends,” but that’s all part of the show. It is, and always has been the veil of legitimacy TechCrunch has traded on. But I know that at my time at TechCrunch, biting friends was only ever ordered, and only when what they were doing was so blatantly bad it needed calling out. > TechCrunch has never ever once had editorial independence. What Arrington means by independence is he calls the shots. That’s not real independence. If that's true, TechCrunch basically has zero journalistic integrity and is a puppet rag. Can anyone credible substantiate or dispute this?

msredmond 15y ago
http://www.businessinsider.com/arrington-told-a-room-full-of-ceos-that-he-would-maniuplate-techcrunch-coverage-in-return-for-favors-2011-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/arrington-told-a-room-full-of...

sl4yerr 15y ago

This article should be titled "Former TechCrunch writer drafts poorly-written inflammatory post to draw pageviews to his new venture"

oldstrangers 15y ago
Is that you Siegler?
necenzurat 15y ago
oh, c'mon he has a point there...
rhizome 15y ago
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, in other words.
fleitz 15y ago
The best part about the title is that if you remove the words former and writer the title works for any TC post as well. It appears the young Padiwan has learned much from his master.

tormentor 15y ago

Arrington seems like a jackass. Why anyone should really care about techcrunch is beyond me. Sure it gets you exposure but there are plenty of much more respectable blogs out there. Also its AOL, they're shit. Not sure if anyone remembers this http://www.thefastertimes.com/news/2011/06/16/aol-hell-an-aol-content-slave-speaks-out/ http://www.thefastertimes.com/news/2011/06/16/aol-hell-an-ao... I'm sure we'll be better off without gossip on Arrington or techcrunch.

gyardley 15y ago

You know who should run TechCrunch - if he's at all willing to take the job? Saul Hansell. Former technology editor and reporter for the New York Times, left a couple of years ago to join AOL's seed.com (so he's already in-house) - in general, an old-school newspaper guy who's absolutely committed to high ethical standards. I could not say enough nice things about him. Hell, I might actually read TechCrunch again.

S_A_P 15y ago

You know, I come to hacker news and sometimes tech crunch to read about trends in tech, programming, hacking, and the like. For some time now, TC has read more like a soap opera. Between stories of being snubbed for a scoop by founders, to tangles with Arianna Huffington, I cant take them seriously at all. Get over yourselves people...

rhizome 15y ago
It may help alleviate your pains to think of Techcrunch as the TMZ of tech.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

oldstrangers 15y ago

Siegler is a manchild. Look at his subtle shot at Mashable recently: http://parislemon.com/post/9951081147/hope-everyone-enjoys-the-new-world-order http://parislemon.com/post/9951081147/hope-everyone-enjoys-t... Translation: Arrington is out, this is what you can all expect to enjoy now! (not translated: Siegler crying into his iPad plushie.)

timjahn 15y ago
His post is 100% true though. Mashable has become TMZ, pumping out low quality content every minute to get the traffic they do.
- oldstrangers 15y ago
  Its not as if TechCrunch is above the tabloid crap. Look at this story, and every past TC drama, as evidence.

biznickman 15y ago

Duncan Riley went out on a bad note from Techcrunch. While he may be accurate with this post, I'd be careful b/c he has always had a bad taste about leaving Techcrunch. Regardless, there's no doubt that there are "Techcrunch friends" and "non-Techcrunch friends".

dave1619 15y ago

Summary: the author doesn't like MG. No need to read article in full. :)