Overwhelmed with pitches, Dave, say it isn’t so!
Dave Winer says he’s gonna give up his blog this year. That’s caused a lot of conversations here at SXSW. I’m still processing what that will mean for Dave. For me. For everyone.
Anyway, I totally understand why Dave would want to walk away. I’m staring at hundreds of emails and just don’t want to deal with my inbox right now. I’m gonna take the rest of the day off and hang out at SXSW. My sessions are over and now I just have to catch up with the email. I totally understand why Dave wants to take off from his blog. The pressure is just incredible to do more, more, more.
Who made me a gatekeeper? I don’t want that job.
Don’t send me more email pitches please. Don’t beg for me to try out your software. Don’t wait for me to blog about your company or your team or your product or you. That’s what comments here are for. You have direct access to anyone who is reading this post. Pitch in the comments! If your stuff is good, someone will try it out and say so. Maybe even me.
Shel Israel is to be thanked for this post since he wrote about how to pitch him. You know this world is getting nuts when even the ex-PR guys are getting pitched!
Blogging is authentic, and has power because of that, but the marketers have definitely arrived and now my inbox is full of people saying “pick me, pick me.”
Heheheh, the Kansas City Star says I should be my boss’s worst nightmare. The truth is, I’m not deserving of this praise anymore. I can’t even answer all my email anymore. I’m a week behind.
It’s time to rethink everything.
One thing I’ve enjoyed recently is just reading feeds and staying away from the Memetrackers (although, I’ll be honest, I’ve peeked at Memeorandum a few times, it’s a very hard addiction to break). But, I’m enjoying catching up on the lives of real bloggers. You know, the ones on the M list. The B list. The V list. The U list. The Z list. I don’t know what list Fred of A VC is on, but I just saw him talk about too much blogging.
I’ve realized that what got me here was listening. Listening to my friends talk about their lives. Listening to software developers complaining how hard it is to deal with Microsoft (or how hard our software is to use). Listening to people living their lives and noticing THEM.
I’ve gotten away from that cause so many people think that the secret to their commercial success is to get me to link to them or talk about their products.
No, the secret is to start a conversation. Here, let’s go. No, Evan Williams, I can’t figure out our branding either.
Why do I read blogs? To learn about my friends so that I have something to talk with them about. Garrett Fitzgerald, for instance, tells about loving to watch the C5s landing at an airstrip near his house. That brought back memories of seeing the same land at Moffett Field in Silicon Valley (my dad used to work at Lockheed so I had a few opportunities to visit the airbase).
You might say “who cares?” And you’d be missing the point. It’s the small things on blogs that matter to me. It’s the small things that make us human. Increasingly our blogs have lost their humaness. We’ve become marketing machines. Things to be objectified (yes, I did objectify Molly yesterday, we had a great laugh together, if you’ve never been around Molly to hear her laugh you’re missing out). If I hadn’t read Molly’s blog, we never would have connected yesterday. I hugged Zeldman yesterday and said “thank you for the full text feeds.” If I didn’t read blogs, I wouldn’t have known about Zeldman’s feeds. I would have missed an opportunity to say thank you. His kid is adorable, by the way.
Last night I heard Jimmy Wales speak. He told his secret. Why he started Wikipedia. He made me cry. You see, last night we were speaking as part of the 20×2 event. 20 speakers. Two minutes each on stage. To answer this question: what is the secret?
His secret? He was gonna be cute, he told us. Say something funny about how Wikipedia knew his secret. But, he thought he’d ask his five-year-old daughter. “I don’t have any secrets, dad,” she answered back. But, alas, she turned out to be Jimmy’s secret in the end. See, when she was born she was in a world of hurt. I forget the disease’s name. You know when you have something you can’t remember that you’re in a world of hurt. She was given 1 in 3 odds of living. Jimmy did some research on the Internet and learned everything he could about that strange disease and found one of the world’s leading doctors. He tried an experimental treatment. Only 50% had lived through that so far. The doctor put some new, experimental, protein-based fluid into her lungs and flushed them out. Turned out she lived, and the story ends happily. Jimmy told us that he wanted everyone in the world to be able to find information on things like his daughter’s diseases and find the world’s experts on them. The day he got his daughter home from the hospital is the day Jimmy started Wikipedia.
Do you have a story like that? Wow. It’s the small things in life that matter. Small diseases. Unknown experts. A rant on objectification.
I got another small story. I had drinks with Joi Ito the other night. It’s been a long time since I saw him last (before I worked at Microsoft). Today he links to another person I met and some cool video she and her boyfriend shot at SXSW. Merci is her name. During the conversation she dropped in that she had been raised in a new-age cult. “Really? My mom is in one of those.” Turns out it was the same one that my mom is in! Small world. A connection has been made.
What’s your small story? How about we do a contest? 100 things that you won’t read about on Digg, Memeorandum, or TailRank? Wouldn’t that be fun?
Powered By 
March 14th, 2006 at 8:33 am
Whoa, you’re almost gettin’ religion here…I like it. I’ve ditched a few blogs that got too big for me to handle but were small by anyone’s standards (a few hundred hits a day and a dozen or so comments and emails). I just don’t have time with a family, job, and school. Blogging was supposed to be a hobby, but the readers demanded it to be a part-time job.
March 14th, 2006 at 8:39 am
“Don’t send me more email pitches please. Don’t beg for me to try out your software. Don’t wait for me to blog about your company or your team or your product or you. That’s what comments here are for. You have direct access to anyone who is reading this post. Pitch in the comments! If your stuff is good, someone will try it out and say so. Maybe even me.”
The problem is that what you asked for is spamming. Obviously you can have whatever policy you want on your comments, I’m not arguing that. But that only means that people can pitch to you in their comments. I doubt Molly or Zeldman would appreciate it if I respond to one of their posts about web standards telling them to check out a new iPod accessory my company just made (disclaimer: I do not actually work for an iPod accessory company, just trying to come up with the most obnoxious pitch).
Right now, pitching can only be done to most people with real direct communication: email, phone, or in person. Pitching with comments is just spam unless you can somehow tie it in with a particular post.
Another worthy blog entry though would be if a pitch to a blogger is even worth it. When somebody tells me “Look, I have this great new product. Web 2.0. Ajax. Fantastic. Amazing. etc.” I’m tempted to just ignore them. If instead they say “I have this great new product. It isn’t ready for the public yet and I’d really like to get some feedback from respected people in your field. You can try it out two weeks before it goes public.” That isn’t a pitch so much as a direct invitation. It’s a car salesman letting you drive the car around for a while instead of showing you some commercials and telling you to buy it.
If you sent 100 normal pitches out or 100 exclusive invites out, I’d bet the invites would be at least twice as effective. And there’s nothing dishonest or unscrupulous about it. For instance, I (should hopefully) have two products/sites coming out this year. One I am going to invite you, Robert, to try out because I think you would actually use it. Another you don’t fit in the target audience. Would I like you to write about that one too? Yeah, but you would be more likely to do so seeing others using it than me trying to get you to use it.
Wow, I’ve rambled quite a bit here. I’m going to clean up these thoughts a bit and blog them tonight.
March 14th, 2006 at 8:48 am
Richard: agreed. But if you spam, are you really doing your business any good? On the other hand, if you read my blog regularly, and find a good story to tell my readers in the comments here, then that’ll help. Plus, I’d rather that this stuff be done in public anyway. That way if I end up writing about the product or company I can point to the comment and explain how he/she got my attention. Which will reinforce good behavior anyway.
March 14th, 2006 at 8:54 am
Oh, well, here’s my pitch. In a comment to Robert’s “resume vs. blog” post I promised to launch a “scientific” test soon. Here we go; except that it’s not just a test, it’s for real: I’m pleased to announce the limited, invitation-only launch of Zoli 3.0. :-)
March 14th, 2006 at 9:13 am
Whoa…I just had a vision of life slowing down a little…thoughts of a few meaningful connections…time to reflect…not the relentless on and on…sounds great.
For what it is worth, the personal aspect in blogging is nice. The individual aspect is refreshing. But I read for business and for work and I don’t mind that one bit. That said, who does not love a good story? So…
As for the contest: I’ll do it. Just bought the domain name http://www.storiesforblogs.com. I’ll try get some kind of message up there on the site ASAP. In the meantime, you can follow developments through my blog here:
http://www.michaelmcderment.com/article/Stories-for-Blogs.html
Robert: Will you take a place on the selection committee?
March 14th, 2006 at 9:19 am
‘I’m enjoying catching up on the lives of real bloggers. You know, the ones on the M list.’
That’s me! Small budget, huge ideas, one-man IT dept. for 1200+ users.
I started the HelpdeskKB blog about a week ago, focusing on my quest to become the most advanced school district out there.
If there are any other IT guys who want to join HelpdeskKB as a writer, I’m open to it. All you have to do is be willing to use ingenuity to solve problems, not dollars.
And yes, I’m pimping the blog here, but my goal is to get people willing to aggregate knowledge beneficial to enable the average IT guy to do great things. :-)
March 14th, 2006 at 9:25 am
I like the small things too.
March 14th, 2006 at 9:37 am
“The first 20 seconds of a meeting are a true indicator of whether someone will buy from you or not” said a wise old sales manager to me a few years ago.
“The first 5 seconds are key when people visit your website” an even wiser marketing dierctor told me recently and the same rings true for emails too.
If a product is genuinely worthy, the email subject line will be attention-grabbing. The logic being, the same mind that made the product worth the hype will be able to come up with a great tag-line in the subject email.
Robert, have you considered setting up key pitch keywords as spam filters so that the obvious watse-of-time pitches don’t get through?
Harsh but fun to see how ingenious people become!
March 14th, 2006 at 9:52 am
i’ve been working on a news aggregator built for people who have lots of blogs they want to read and actually keep up with, for people who want to read their Raymond Chen and Scoble in peace instead of being bothered by ad/banners, pastel gradients and other garbage. no releasable code or website yet, i’m just experimenting.
is anyone here interested in that kind of thing? i know there are a million aggregators out there.
March 14th, 2006 at 9:54 am
“What’s your small story? How about we do a contest? 100 things that you won’t read about on Digg, Memeorandum, or TailRank?”
This blogger’s a little wordy (difficult and inconsistent I’ve found too), but I like his thank you note to an old teacher. . .definitely something you won’t find on the tech sites, and I like the authors he mentions too.
http://inappropriatelyspeaking.blogspot.com/2006/03/letter-to-english-professor.html
March 14th, 2006 at 9:58 am
Warren: I already have news aggregators that block all that stuff. What will make yours better than, say, NewsGator?
March 14th, 2006 at 10:03 am
Blogging is starting to cramp my world, that’s for sure.
Ever since I started criticising the state of Maine, I’ve been getting the crap kicked out of me by their PR company. Calls and emails to my clients, harassing my family, my wife at work, the whole Richard M. Nixon treatment.
One thing’s for sure though, this medium has their attention, and the way governments deal with dissent is something that we shouldn’t be staring all the way to China to analyze.
March 14th, 2006 at 10:17 am
Way to go Robert! But the problems are in some measure your fault, and you should be proud of that. People like you and Zawodny created a new form of corporate communication that was….non-corporate.
In the same way the big web went from info-centric to advertising-centric and now seems to be heading BACK to info-centric, so hopefully will go blogging.
March 14th, 2006 at 10:27 am
My small story: Oxfam sent me to Albania for two weeks. It was a very moving trip and I am now fundraising to build a bridge in one of the villages I visited. It will cost 14,000 british pounds. I’m doing this virtually alone. Anyone wanna help out? Click on my name…
March 14th, 2006 at 10:27 am
Winer the whiner quitting blogging is absolutely a win-win situation unless you are one of his fanboys.
As for pressure, it comes from within. If you think you have to answer every single email, and view every one of those 800 blogs in your feed, well that is all your own creation, Robert. No one should be losing sleep over whether you read their email or their latest blog posting.
March 14th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Jesus what’s with all the navel-gazing lately? Is there some hormone in the air that’s causing a-listers to get all misty-eyed or something?
It’s just blogging people. Just typing characters into a TextArea control. It’s not rocket science and it’s not curing world hunger. Get over yourselves for a minute.
Traffic ebbs and flows. There are other ways to get yourself seen (Digg, Slashdot, etc). You don’t have to be beholden to an a-lister to get attention, because as we have seen, they might just get stressed and drop off the grid anyway. :)
March 14th, 2006 at 10:34 am
Scoble: My aggregator uses machine learning techniques to cluster together and organize the content. The advantage over something like Memeorandum or Google News is that you choose what to show, so nothing is hidden.
I’m also working on modules that try to recommend/discover possible blogs you’d like based on your current subscriptions, ones that extract keywords and do summarization, and so on. It’s also extensible and scriptable. There’s a lot more to it than most aggregators.
March 14th, 2006 at 10:36 am
Ben: it’s not just blogging anymore for many of us.
Have you ever talked to 17,000 people? If you have, you wouldn’t say what you just did.
I’m talking with Graham Hill. He runs the http://www.treehugger.com/. That’s my pitch for the day. Get environmental, nice blog!
March 14th, 2006 at 10:44 am
[...] I liked Scobles post today about blogging. I like the small things in blogs. [...]
March 14th, 2006 at 10:50 am
That’s just my point Robert. It’s ONLY 17,000 people, but it’s you that have made the choice to respond to every single one. As Mike said, the pressure comes from yourself. There are plenty of blogs out there that are one-way streets (hell, BoingBoing is one of the most popular and they just let the discussion happen through linkage in the ’sphere)
Take these comments - it’s a discussion, and you don’t have to participate if you don’t want to. If this blog didn’t exist, the discussion would be going on elsewhere.
If someone complains about you not reading their pitch, or not responding to an email, they need to get a life, and realise you have one too.
March 14th, 2006 at 10:53 am
Great post, Robert: little stuff is good and real, and memoreandum misses out on the little stuff. Yep. Last night I was clicking on blogger’s Next Blog button for a half-hour, and you know what? A good chunk of humanity is actually quite intelligent and interesting. BTW, please describe us as “omega-listers” rather than “z-listers”, because Greek letters are cool.
March 14th, 2006 at 11:13 am
Blogs have long been called disruptive technology…personally I find them to be a highly “distracting” technology.
Said another way, your post is speaking to the struggle to achieve blog/work balance…it is not unlike trying achieve a work/life balance…I can only imagine how being a gatekeeper tips the balance. Some of my blogging buddies here in Toronto are technology journalists for National newspapers…it’s actually their job to keep up on the tech news…blogging fills the void for all they have to say that does not fit within the editorial guidelines at the papers. I sometimes forget that being a news junkie and blogging are their FULL TIME occupations for them…that that is exactly what they get paid for…
March 14th, 2006 at 11:26 am
Maybe you need to stop answering all your e-mail. I remember when Jeffrey (Zeldman) announced that he couldn’t keep up anymore and that he therefore would not answer all his mail in future.
Until then, he had been a pretty radical “write-to-me-and-I’ll-answer” guy. I think at some point it’s not viable anymore. Maybe there are better uses of your time (for you and for us) than answering every bit of pitch-mail that lands in your inbox.
March 14th, 2006 at 11:29 am
As a side note, Stanford’s Donald Knuth (who writes books so hardcore even most hardcore algorithm nerds usually haven’t read significant portions of his books) doesn’t use email, period.
March 14th, 2006 at 11:36 am
“Who made me a gatekeeper?”d
Your readers. Flacks are interested in anyone with readers. But your posts confirms my long held theory that flacks are better off pitching the low traffic blogs and then letting nature take its course.
As for your email burden, you may have to get an assistant.
March 14th, 2006 at 11:41 am
Did you ever look at your photos after a vacation? Notice how the ones that hold your attention are the ones with people in them. The lovely views end up just being pale imitations of your memories but the pics with people remain really interesting.
I think you’re seeing the same effect with what you read.
March 14th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
I could tell that you were experiencing a moment of crisis when you wrote “It’s time to rethink everything”. Climb into that sensation and look around. It all begins to open up for you when you start to question your assumptions - what the *&$&@ are we doing with software, and why, and who cares?
Ovid has something to say about this, curiously.
March 14th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
[...] 9 interesting things I didn’t see on a Memetracker. These are mostly from the weekend. [...]
March 14th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
Thanks for the linklove, Robert! :-) Do you have an LJ account? I have a nice friends-locked story about getting punched on the bus last night if you’re interested…
March 14th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
When the vast majority of your posts are about how great blogging is, how folks should check out some blog du jour/blog more, or someone’s come out with a grassrootsy-type software product that folks should check out, I would think the end result wouldn’t be unexpected, really (I can’t even keep track of the new products, and I don’t even go beyond reading the first page on their summary sites). It’s almost self-satirical in a way to read this post as it’s almost a 180 on what I’d expect here even a week ago…kinda the Memeorandum flip.
March 14th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Oh, drat, that wasn’t supposed to link to _that_ blog. :-)
March 14th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
OK, fair enough. I’ll ask the world at large: can anyone recommend a blog devoted to the discussion of how small businesses (in particular) can use web-based applications to get more efficient, more reach, etc.?
March 14th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
I’m down with pulling away from trackers. I’ve been reading them for a month or so now and they wear me out. New posts every 5 minutes and I’m not learning anything that new. With the right setup Google News gets me all the news I want to read. I’ll let everyone else spend their days reading the same things over and over.
March 14th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
Welcome to the world of journalism. We get those pitches in email an on phone and in person ALL the time. Professional journalists are in such “conversations” constantly but now we also get to have conversations with our readers–which is great. But there is only enough room in the day for a certain amount of conversations. That’s because we live in the Conversation Age and conversation overload is worse than informatin overload…
BTW, I feel the same way about my inbox–I can’t keep up with it–I’d rather go take a walk too :-)
March 14th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
What I wouldn’t read on Digg?
“Dell acquires Alienware” yawn
Pros and Cons of Hybrids
Mold your plastic parts for projects under hot water
University of Wisconsin deploys nearly 200TB of Xserve RAID storage
AMD surpases intel in valves latest hardware survay
10 Best Security Live CD Distros (Pen-Test, Forensics & Recovery)
Google Buys Sketch Up
Happy Pi Day!
Wired Magazine: Digg.com - Man vs. Machine in Newsreader War “Oh God!!! Blech!”
Anything blog technology related I would not read.
March 14th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
Some ideas for the gatekeeper problem.
Recruit an assistant (or five) to screen submissions. Use voluteers, kind of like a guest blogging system. Post the results on a seperate site — same way Pete Cashmore created Weblist to take the pressure off Mashable.
Send candidate products to all of your volunteers to review. If any of them find it interesting, allow any/all of them to post their thoughts (but without collaboration). One topic — mutliple viewpoints.
Trackbacks and comments on each product post would flesh it out. Each product post would become like a URL for that conversation.
FWIW- Sid
March 14th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
“New posts every 5 minutes and I’m not learning anything that new.”
Thanks Jonathan. That’s the heart of the matter.
Blogs are interesting because they tempt you into believing that you’re learning something from somebody who knows something you don’t.
But, the blog format only leaves you with the “feeling” but not the “result” because it stops about halfway toward being actual journalism. There are no journalists. Nobody to select the most articulate among those speaking their mind. No pruning. No research. No collation of comments into a cohesive article.
Above all, no conclusions.
It’s like reading the teaser paragraph of an interesting article over and over.
March 14th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
Bob, while you’re at SXSW, if you have some time tomorrow night, you might check out Michael Fracasso on the Hilton 406 stage (1AM).
This isn’t a completely off the wall post — Bob has shared some of his musical tastes not only on this blog but on internal discussion lists at Microsoft, and Michael seems to fit.
Disclaimer — I’m an old musical colleague of Mike’s from when we were both kicking around Greenwich Village 25+ years ago. He stuck to music (and cooking, but that’s another story) while I play a lot more with software than with my guitar these days.
March 14th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
I dont understand this at all.. Why dont all your Guys stop bloging for a change and really engage in conversations ?? I heardly see your comments any where other then here Robert. Likewise– for all them “a” listers too. What stops you all from commenting on other blogs , (rather then just blogging)
Another point, how many new feeds do you connect too in a week and how many do disconnct ?? Just go and take a feed for a week , just another persons blog..enter into their echo chamber interact and then move one.. make a single connection..yes a new connection which is outside your own turf of techie-landscape !!
March 14th, 2006 at 2:16 pm
Lie! Dave Whiner lied. He is NOT going to stop blogging. This is big lie. Don’t you see through it?
March 14th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
I’m soaking it all in Robert. I just read your book while on vacation in the Domincan Republic. After Siping sex on the beach with sun sand and Scoble, I’m ready to jump into the blogoshpere. Now if I can only get my first comment…
March 14th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
Popularity is an evil that always follows fame. This blog is your personal blog and yet you have a very latge following with it. Your job blog (Channel 9) does not appear to have as large a following as this one does. Robert in case you did not know it, your famous now and you have the bloggers version of Paparazzi - e-mailers. Sorry folks I know this sounds harsh but everybody that demands attention (I have sent Scoble e-mail myself) is gulity of having the Scobilizer light turn on them.
You can only get more famous or hid somewhere.
March 14th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
Motor Neurone Disease - enough said.
March 14th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Steven, thanks, unfortunately I’m on my way home from SXSW. I wish I could stay for the music, but I’ve been away from home too much lately.
March 14th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
Thanks for the message. I remember calling you about 6 months ago, it was a couple of weeks before you quit blogging for a week.
You were in this state of panic, despair. I recall your concern with the way the world was changing. You watched the Seattle Police fairy escorts with sorrow.
I called becuase I was concerned about Microsoft and their China implementation. I was concerned about the future of democracy and the role your country took in it.
I live in the Ozarks though I feel more connected to my fellow Netizens of old. I plan on taking this back - Remember Dave?
Blogging is taking on a new meaning to me today. I’ve been able to meet local politicians, business leaders and men I would never have had the opportunity to meet. I get to ride on the backs of you guys and the development we do together. I get to capitalize on this brainpower. That’s what’s cool about this revolution - access to massive amounts of world brainpower.
I bet you wouldn’t remember me today. But, I remember you asking the concerns I raised to you personally to Bill Gates.
I read about your condemnation of those within Microsoft who fail to support democracy and the sacred nature of a free press to creating a free world.
I feel vindicated.
Dave Winer wrote me an e-mail almost a year ago. I was reading a book on RSS and couldn’t get it. He let me know…the inventor..that the book was making it more complicated than it needed to be. That meant a lot. It still means a lot.
I just wanted to let you know that I’m sharing this technology here in the Ozarks. I’m helping our government open dialogue and communicate. I’m beggining to make a Vlog which is nothing less to me than my own local TV station.
Just wanted to say thank you to you and to Dave and wanted to let you know, your work has meant worlds to me and my community.
Tonight a website goes online as a gift to our local Salvation Army. They’ll be blogging for goodwill and that could mean the world to someone else.
Sincerely,
Darin Codon
No time to edit Laptop will die
March 14th, 2006 at 5:01 pm
Darin, I think you said it all……. thank god for the common people who are bringing back democracy one piece at a time.
March 14th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
let’s not underestimate mr. winer. if he says he stops blogging, he is probably about to change blogging alltogether, once again. so he puts his focus on the mother (and metalevel) of all text forms: lists. and again comes up with a potential killer format. btw, small details, what was the original function of live.com?
who said that it has to be always people reading rss? people love to watch tv. if you want to change someting, change big broadcast media, radio and tv, and don’t boil yourself in your own soup (as we say over here)..
March 14th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
Build Bridges, Not Pitches
When a blogger reaches a certain critical mass, they get besieged with email pitches. Some of these are on target, others aren’t. Regardless of their value, bloggers are not journalists who are used to receiving so many pitches. They did…
March 14th, 2006 at 6:22 pm
People are the ultimate vessels for life energy in the world. Whenever we are connected to a story, a photo, a bunch of text, a piece of music or something that strikes a chord, it is generally because we are sharing a real experience with another human that holds meaning for us to. In a very real sense it is finding meaning in life in the small things that connect us to one another - that connects us to ourselves.
I still don’t use a feed reader because I dont have time to be that committed to reading any one thing or person. Sure, I have missed important conversations as they emerged, but with time and perspective I was able to get to the stuff that really mattered in it all rather than being wrapped up in it. But I have never missed the life I am in while I am living it.
I love gadgets, tech and toys - but only in so far as they enhance my lilfe. Once, during the downturn in 2002, I did not check voicemail for almost 6 months. The people who needed to get a hold of me got a hold of me or I got in touch with them. Not something I will be able to do with the new committments in my life, but it was fun while I had my freedom to do so…
Then to think that half of the people I know cant say what they really mean out of fear for pissing off (or causing legal harm to) an organization they represent. That just sucks. I had to deal with some political BS with a client once where I had to recheck each email 8x before sending it, then even after clicking send, I was paranoid that I had one of the wrong people on the cc list…
One of the things we hope to do with BrainJams is to help the disenfranchised centrist majority to find ears for their great ideas to hear. The power of knowledge is not limited by any Power Law, though the ability to gain wide distribution might be. I think we can fix this somehow and hope we figure it ouot soon. Long live the M-listers!
Nuff rant for now.
People matter. Good technology is a tool that enhances what matters most to us in life, not those that suck life from us.
March 14th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
hey robert - my take on dave potentially giving up his blog is that he’ll be lonely - he uses his blog the way most folks talk to their neighbors, co-workers and friends - he is a nomadic soul, so the blog ends up being his way of staying in touch and connected…
he really shouldn’t give that up - maybe he should just blog less and take a break from time to time is all…
March 14th, 2006 at 8:57 pm
[...] Rob Scoble joins Dave Winer, venting his frustration with fame and celebrity. Be honest, most folks think, “boo hoo,” when they read posts like these. Everyone wants to be famous, and those that “make it” spend the rest of their days complaining about a lack of privacy. The truth is, a lot of people don’t handle fame well. Why do you think half of the actors and musicians are strung out? Aside from the culture of those occupations, drugs become a means of escape from the stresses of everyone always wanting something from you. [...]
March 14th, 2006 at 10:11 pm
This is a great post. Transparent and honest.
March 15th, 2006 at 1:42 am
[...] Interesting read about the general state of blogging over at Scobleizer. [...]
March 15th, 2006 at 3:12 am
Blogging is hard work - from A-list to Z-list
Robert Scoble - one of the best known bloggers - wrote yesterday about how much…
March 15th, 2006 at 6:18 am
Robert, I think it sounds a little like you’re trying to have your cake and eat it. Actually, that’s a little strong: but you’ve spent many long hours talking UP the impact and influence of bloggers and blogging in general. You’ve contributed to the hype around blogging. Unfortunately for your inbox, there’s a price that comes attached to that - you will gain the attention of people who want to reach your readers through you.
You’re an opinion-former, Robert, whether you like it or not! :)
As for Dave’s decision, I think it will make precisely zero difference to anyone outside his circle. Dave is no more responsible for the popularity of blogging than Gutenberg is responsible for the popularity of Vogue magazine. Dave made some tools that people have used to make great stuff, and that inspired other people to make better tools than his, but claiming that him deciding not to blog (and personally I’ll believe it when I see it) will have some impact on the wider blogging space is silly.
Blogging grew beyond the point where Dave Winer could have an impact on it years ago. I suspect that 90% of the people who use LiveJournal or Blogger or TypePad barely know who he is, let alone care if he blogs.
March 15th, 2006 at 6:24 am
[...] I read that Winer says he’s going to quit blogging this year. Scoble says he likes the sound of that notion too. I’m having my quietest blog month in years. [...]
March 15th, 2006 at 7:04 am
I dont understand this at all.. Why dont all your Guys stop bloging for a change and really engage in conversations ??
Or have the stones to set a date? I did - TVT has been terminated this morning. Compare that to empty threats of stopping “someday”, or “later this year”.
Want conversations? Want community? Take a gander at Vision Monthly. Real people, 100% community supported, no ads, ever.
March 15th, 2006 at 7:58 am
Robert - my small story is how furious I am that Hotmail deleted all my old mails - going back years - just because I didn’t log in in the last 30 days.
How stupid a policy is that? Do any of hotmail’s competitors have similar policies?
March 15th, 2006 at 8:13 am
@55. As far as hotmail goes.. well, you get what you pay for.
March 15th, 2006 at 10:06 am
I assume the date he’s giving up his blog would be sometime in April, possibly the 1st?
March 15th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
Maybe Dave just needs more time off to sue all his ex-colleagues?
March 15th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
Tom, I forwarded this to the Hotmail team. Sorry about that.
March 15th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
[...] I was reading a post over on Scobleizer about how the “A list” bloggers are getting worn out. Its a telling statement about what has been going on with blogs recently when you realize he’s talking about the bloggers being tired of the never-ending flood of people/products/companies asking to be featured in a blog entry. [...]
March 15th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
[...] Robert Scoble admitted here yesterday that he’s getting a bit overwhelmed with the volume of digital traffic – e-mails, comments on his blogs, etc. — hitting his in-box. [...]
March 15th, 2006 at 9:30 pm
Scoble. if you do decided to follow Winer’s lead, I suggest checking into the Betty Ford Clinic first. Going cold turkey is usually not successful.
March 16th, 2006 at 12:14 am
Dmad, Gmail is free also and they don’t have this policy. Furthermore, they allow POP access which means my mail client logs in to my Gmail account every 30 minutes, so even if Gmail did decide to institute such a ridiculous policy, I wouldn’t fall foul of it.
March 16th, 2006 at 8:48 am
@66. But, again, the point is you get what you pay for. Gmail chooses to offer those services for free. Hey! How about that! Good for them! Hotmail does not. When you aren’t paying for something the level of service you get is what it is. Where your expectations set going in that Hotmail would not delete your mails if you didn’t use the service for 30 days? Did they say “for no money this is the level of service you get?”? When you signed up for Hotmail did they say you get POP for free? What you expected to get for free is not necessarily what the provider chooses to offer for free. Until you start paying there is little reason to complain.
March 16th, 2006 at 9:08 am
The irony of pitches is that they miss the whole point of the social web. Power is now in the hands of the information seeker (or at least is heading that way) not the information provider. Pitches are just old school “push” marketing. Maybe some day they will get the joke.
March 16th, 2006 at 10:33 am
I think your life would be easier and better if you didn’t let people like me make comments like these.
March 18th, 2006 at 1:43 am
Dmad I understand that. My point is that for the same price (free) I get a whole lot more from Hotmail’s competitors (Gmail and Yahoo!).
March 18th, 2006 at 5:08 am
[...] There’s been a note of gloom in the blogosphere for a while now, mainly coming from the old tech A-list, which sees itself being usurped by a younger crowd and the commercial set. Robert Scoble and Dave Winer have been blogging 24/7 since the blog stone age. They’re all blogged out. [...]
March 18th, 2006 at 11:36 pm
I haven’t followed you long enough to understand why you and Winer are so strongly linked in people’s minds. I’ve said some nasty things about him, but you’re a really interesting guy and I appreciate getting a little glimpse at just how smart Microsoft folks can be, even though I despise Microsoft.
Your honesty and openness help cut through a lot of the nonsense, including making you responsible for everything that Microsoft has done wrong.
Hang in there.
March 19th, 2006 at 10:41 am
[...] Earlier this week, Robert Scoble wrote about being overwhelmed with pitches: [...]
April 25th, 2006 at 12:17 am
[...] It strikes me how many bloggers have announced recently that they’ll discontinue their blog: Dave Winer, Xooglers, Russell Beattie. Some of them have been blogging for years! At least Scoble took only a break and is back now. [...]
May 9th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
[...] I just wrote two comments on Scoble’s blog. Having done that, I realized what a poor comment writer I am. [...]
July 12th, 2006 at 9:17 am
[...] I just wrote two comments on Scoble’s blog. Having done that, I realized what a poor comment writer I am. [...]
July 12th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
[...] Just read Scoble’s post about being overwhelmed by the blog slog. He mentions stories towards the end and how the human interest aspect of blogging is getting muscled aside by the relentless grind of blogging about everything that is going on every second in the blogosphere. [Note: that grind would make good fodder for the Web 2.0 Toronto conference this May…I’ll pass it on]. Anyhow, here is the deal. Robert mentioned a contest for stories and I’m going to make it happen. I just bought the URL: [...]
August 6th, 2006 at 8:02 am
Seems like after a point blogging is more hassle than it should be…
March 27th, 2007 at 7:49 am
Media outlets are overwhelmed with pitches and news release and, as we know, they respond to only a handful of them. Sending a breaking news release to the media and expecting to go from being a complete stranger to being a trusted source with one email or phone call is ridiculous. You’ll usually make multiple attempts to contact your reporter and pitch the story.