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I seriously am considering swearing off TechCrunch because of this article. True or not, their hegemony gives them so much power, and to see it foolishly used i

I seriously am considering swearing off TechCrunch because of this article. True or not, their hegemony gives them so much power, and to see it foolishly used in this way was disturbing. The people she was claiming to know are big boys/girls. This should have been handled socially in the valley.

rhizome 14y ago
As someone who stopped reading them years ago, let me tell you an incontrovertible fact of the Internet: if it's worth reading, it will show up in every aggregator you still pay attention to, three times on the front page of HN if necessary. Propagation is a cue for importance, which is why TC (and RWW, and...) spend so much effort manually posting these stories all over the place themselves. They're faking it, too.
- shurane 14y ago
  But there are so many things that are propagated that aren't important. Consistently negative world news, for starters.
  - rhizome 14y ago
    While your second sentence is a non-sequitur and a pretty transparent dig besides, your first sentence is partly covered by "they're faking it." PR agencies, Digg-like upvote groups, all of them are corrupt attacks on organic popularity.
richardjordan 14y ago
Couldn't agree more. This kind of thing happens all the time and is handled easily by companies doing basic due-diligence on people they work with, and resultant embarrassment teaching the individuals a necessary lesson. Many come back from it chastened but better for it. This hounding of a nobody is disproportionate. Clearly this person pissed off one or more of the TechCrunch team so they decided it was appropriate to get them back in this way. But someone photoshopping themselves into pics with celebs probably has some psychological issues (at the very least self-esteem issues). They're not a threat to anyone. A few stern words from the right people could nip this sort of thing in the bud. Such a disappointing article from TC - and there have been many in recent months.
amorphid 14y ago
I stopped reading TechCrunch about a year ago. There seemed to be an increasing.number of junky articles that just didn't interest me. I don't miss what it became, but I do miss the old TechCrunch.

rhizome 14y ago

As someone who stopped reading them years ago, let me tell you an incontrovertible fact of the Internet: if it's worth reading, it will show up in every aggregator you still pay attention to, three times on the front page of HN if necessary. Propagation is a cue for importance, which is why TC (and RWW, and...) spend so much effort manually posting these stories all over the place themselves. They're faking it, too.

shurane 14y ago
But there are so many things that are propagated that aren't important. Consistently negative world news, for starters.
- rhizome 14y ago
  While your second sentence is a non-sequitur and a pretty transparent dig besides, your first sentence is partly covered by "they're faking it." PR agencies, Digg-like upvote groups, all of them are corrupt attacks on organic popularity.

richardjordan 14y ago

Couldn't agree more. This kind of thing happens all the time and is handled easily by companies doing basic due-diligence on people they work with, and resultant embarrassment teaching the individuals a necessary lesson. Many come back from it chastened but better for it. This hounding of a nobody is disproportionate. Clearly this person pissed off one or more of the TechCrunch team so they decided it was appropriate to get them back in this way. But someone photoshopping themselves into pics with celebs probably has some psychological issues (at the very least self-esteem issues). They're not a threat to anyone. A few stern words from the right people could nip this sort of thing in the bud. Such a disappointing article from TC - and there have been many in recent months.

amorphid 14y ago

I stopped reading TechCrunch about a year ago. There seemed to be an increasing.number of junky articles that just didn't interest me. I don't miss what it became, but I do miss the old TechCrunch.