DISQUS

allen stern · 2 years ago

I would comment but this is CN's "mm" free week. :)

Mike (first one above) · 2 years ago

Everyone know that Kara lurrrves zuckerberg. She tries to slide some news in there but she *hearts* him.

She's annoying. Her videos are annoying. Her voice even annoys me now. Everyone in the valley is afraid to say they don't like her. Part of it is that she's a lesbian & strikes fear against anyone who doesn't want to appear un-PC (even in my gay hometown/ nothing against gays but you don't fear them b/c they are, and fail to stand up to them b/c you are.) She shuts down any comment that is even slightly critical. I have no respect for her.

Mathew · 2 years ago

From what I've read, Kara has actually been pretty hard on Zuckerberg and Facebook -- a lot tougher than some other mainstream journalists I could name.

And while you may find her annoying, she definitely gets in peoples' faces and says what's on her mind, which is part of what I like about her.

As for people in the Valley being afraid to say they don't like her just because she's a lesbian, I find that very difficult to believe.

allen stern · 2 years ago

My only comments would be that my emails to her were never answered, and she has a budget so unlike CN she can go to the places that you mention Mathew to get into faces.

Other than that, I don't know her.

Kara Swisher · 2 years ago

Um, Mike, the "I Heart Mark Zuckerberg" post was about how mean he thinks I am. The headline was sarcastic.

Secondly, what you need to do, given how annoying I am to you, is stop the madness and don't read or watch anything I do.

Thirdly, EVERYONE in the Valley is afraid to say they don't like me. Really? That's a lot of people!

Lastly, the scary lesbian thing! They must think I have one of those lesbian gangs Bill O'Reilly was warning us all about. (I do have one and my gang name is Dusty, in fact, but that is neither here nor there.)

Actually, let me say, I can't even parse your gay hometown sentence. I think you are saying people DON'T fear gays because they are gay, but you also fail to stand up to them because one is gay. Does that mean everyone is gay? I KNEW it!

Seriously, people can like me or not. But let's try not to drag the scary lesbian thing into it. Because, not to strike fear against anyone who doesn't want to appear un-PC, but that is simply a load of crap.

Mike (first one above) · 2 years ago

sorry Kara, I did go too far. I didn't mean to imply "scary lesbian". I said people are afraid to say anything back to or about you b/c they won't want to appear un PC when it's really they don't want you to come after them in your jornalistic style when talking back THEY get labeled unPC /as being anti-gay. I hope that is clearer now.

It's true that I don't like your style. Fair enough. What irritates me more though is that almost everyone links to you without comment as though whatever you say is not to be touched.

Your people remove comments from your site with the reason that "comments questioning the motives of people on this site will be removed." No one can question motives of someone who's job it is to go around and question other people's motives???

and it was obviously also exaggeration to say "everyone"

*I* also am gay, so that wasn't anything against gays and what I wrote came out terribly wrong, and I apologize. I don't care if you are or not. I also applaud that you stated it clearly so people didn't wonder or whisper as they're prone to do (whether you care or not). I do hear though that people are afraid to challenge you because they'll be perceived as biased. I certainly did not mean the misinterpretation of anything to do with you in that regard as "scary lesbian". It was that other people are afraid to stand up to you as they may be viewed as anti-gay etc. That's all. You don't have to believe me, that's fine, but I have heard it.

Kara Swisher · 2 years ago

Oh, that is just blather. I know people don't always speak up, but it is not a fear of being thought of un-PC even if they say so. And I never once have come back at anyone "in my journalistic style" by labeling anyone as anti-gay or labeling anyone un-PC.

And people smack me around all the time. Go look at the comments on iTunes about my and Walt Mossberg's interview posted there for free with Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. There is a whole lot of Kara-bashing going on there!

We do have a strict comment policy on ATD and it is due to the way a lot of comments move directly to the gutter and get personal. Calling me or any person we cover an "idiot" is not going to get on the site, pure and simple. And questioning motives without proof also will not. We give clear examples of this on the comment policy.

That said, we welcome folks debating technologies or products or our analysis on a company's strategy is fine.

Sorry to be long here, but here is the exact text from the site:

"We also will not tolerate comments that contain personal attacks or question the motives, rather than the views, of others. If you think we, or our guest bloggers, or the people or companies we write about, are wrong, feel free to say so and to argue why you think so. We welcome such critiques and alternate views. But we will remove comments that call people corrupt, or stupid, or contend that they are taking positions because they are evil or immoral.

For instance, if you think Walt is wrong to prefer the Treo to the Q, or Kara is wrong to predict that Yahoo might buy some startup she has discovered, please feel free to say so. But we won’t publish comments that say these views with which you disagree stem from bad motives or corruption. Civility is the rule.

The same thing goes for people we cover. There are plenty of places on the Web where you can accuse tech moguls of being greedy or vain. This isn’t one of them. But we’d be glad to publish your comments on why they are following the wrong strategy or why their products are flawed or great–even if we have written just the opposite.

And that also applies to other commenters. You are free to say another commenter is wrong, and why. But we won’t publish personal attacks on other commenters. So, feel free to say “I disagree with Jane that social networking will die…” but we won’t allow “Jane, you ignorant slut!”

We also won’t allow comments containing allegedly factual claims that we know to be wrong, or which we simply lack the time or resources to verify. If you think the security companies are spreading viruses to boost sales, or that Macs cure, or cause, cancer, post those theories to your own blog. And there may be other kinds of comments we will pull if we find them antithetical to the spirit of the site and to civil, on-topic discussion.

We also won’t tolerate comments that we consider racist or sexist or derogatory to any religion, sexual orientation or ethnic group–or that we believe promote hate or bigotry, or are offensive."

Lastly, I am sorry you are hearing people telling you that they don't challenge me because they will appear biased. But frankly, I suspect it is not true even if people say so to you, just an excuse and patently ridiculous on its very face.

So I welcome you to come on our site anytime and tell me my analysis of Yahoo is deeply flawed or that my commentary in videos is plain wrong. Just don't call me a scary lesbian when you do it!

signed,

A not-so-scary lesbian

Kara Swisher · 2 years ago

And Allan,

Email me again and I will email you back. I get a lot of emails (though not such a big budget).

allen stern · 2 years ago

Kara - if you mean me, allen, I got your email, thanks and replied about 30 minutes ago (8pm eastern.) Thanks for following up.