DISQUS

StevenHodson · 1 year ago

I'm with you on this one Mathew. My gut reaction is that this a silly staged actions.

Shey · 1 year ago

Matthew you said it -- that's exactly how it felt to me, like a bad script.

Matik72 · 1 year ago

Seems just a wee bit publicity oriented but then again I have been accused of being jaded. I have to agree with you not that it really matters as I don't personally know him or anything.

sarahintampa · 1 year ago

Everyone's a cynic. Scripted or not, it made me think a lot about what blogging means to me today and what's wrong with it, too.

mathewi · 1 year ago

Nothing wrong with that, Sarah.

digidave · 1 year ago

I agree with Sarah here: It does make me think about where blogging is going, but it certainly doesn't make me think that "blogging is dead." That's the silliest thing I've ever heard.

Would Michael Jordan declare basketball dead after he retired?

Shaq and Kobe would certainly disagree.

Moreover: I understand Jason's complaints about the blogosphere needing to mature, but leaving won't help. In fact, it's stupid. I think he contributed to what he was complaining about (worrying about hype instead of content ala I'll give you a macbook air if you follow me on twitter).

The solution: Worry about content!!!

I guess what I'm trying to say is - he should "be the change" - not "be the guy running away."

I do want to see the blogosphere mature, that's part of why I'm working on spot.us - but blogging aint going anywhere.

Sean Percival · 1 year ago

Defiantly not true, I'm hoping to post about it tonight or tomorrow. Classic Calacanis!

Jim Kukral TheBizWebCoach · 1 year ago

He's been hanging around Feldman too much. The drama only works for some people. You're either in show business or you're not. I call b.s. too. The walls are crumbling.

sbspalding · 1 year ago

It does feel stagy, but if he is really gone -- I'll miss the laughs. All things considered, Jason adds a certain carnival barker flair to the blogosphere.

Karoli · 1 year ago

It was about this time in the last couple of years that Jason took a break. Maybe a little earlier. It was just before Mahalo launched. My first thought when I saw today's goodbye post was that Mahalo is on the verge of being acquired or else he's working on something new.

Since he's mostly been blogging Mahalo links lately, I'm inclined to think the self-imposed mailing list/blogger outage is really a way to black himself out before he moves to the next level. He's been at Mahalo for how long? People like Jason don't ever stay in one place very long. If Mahalo is stable and growing, he may be fixing to move on to the next project.

vanchau · 1 year ago

I am beginning to like you more Matthew Ingram. There needs to be more honesty out there. Jason Calcanis seemed to come off to me as a slick salesmen type... lots of fluff, no depth. Mahalo doesn't really help his reputation in my opinion...

centernetworks · 1 year ago

how could jason give up the blog - that's his main source of seo to mahalo - where's sean when you need him

PXLated · 1 year ago

"I refuse to care"
As should everyone :-)

leigh · 1 year ago

Yeah but you gotta admit, 'acoustic' was pretty poetic.

Mark Evans · 1 year ago

Calacanis is the master of online manipulation. Now you see me, now you don't. Like NFL quarterback Brent Favre, who now wants to unretire, Calacanis will be back because he's can't help himself.

daveevans · 1 year ago

What's Maholo, isn't that the company where the puppets live?

Jeff Crites · 1 year ago

Am I the only one who immediately thought of Bret Favre when hearing of this? That every time a Big Name athlete 'retires' (Jordan a great example), he can't stay on the sidelines for more than a few months (Clemens, thelist could go on) and 'un retires', only to retire again, and so on. Calacanis is mocking that, in my opinion, and playing it for some attention getting tunes.

John Furrier · 1 year ago

Dave Winer pulled the same stunt. Never retired. Publicity stunt. Jason is entertaining for sure.

ojbyrne · 1 year ago

I actually thought it was intended as parody.

Danny_Dover · 1 year ago

I felt the same way when I read it. I call a bluff. Thanks for the additional insight.

Scott Jarkoff · 1 year ago

All I have to say is that I hope he doesn't let the door hit him on his ass on the way out. Whether staged or reality, it's just beyond comprehension.

Why not just walk away without saying a single word? Oh, I know, he needs some form of self-fulfillment and gratification so he's assured his decision was the right one.

Bleh. Lame.

AGORACOM · 1 year ago

Mathew, love the post. Silicon Valley has turned into the tech version of Beverly Hills 90210. Integrity and ingenuity are gone, replaced by bling and poularity contests and stunts. Hence, why VC's are losing their shirts and IPO's have dried up.

Great work. Canada rocks!

George

Adam Metz · 1 year ago

Whatever keeps him off the interwebs is fine with me. I just pray that he never gets my email address.

Tish Grier · 1 year ago

There are so many bloggers out there who've never heard of Jason, and who really don't care whether he "retires" and goes back to email or not. They're too busy trying to keep their small businesses going, and blogging works for them on a lot of different levels.--and yes, sounds like a whole bunch of drama for sure.

iscatterling · 1 year ago

Damn! I was suckered in.

Thanks to Mathew and Jim my perspective has been refocused.

internet entrepreneur · 1 year ago

It is still unclear to me why Calacanis made his decision to quit blogging. What kind of ‘private’ topics does he want to discuss in his mail list? Personally I do not believe in email newsletters and often regard them as spam despite of their subject.