Mathew's comments - Latest Comments in Will the real Dave Winer please stand up?

Re: Will the real Dave Winer please stand up?

Marc Fiszman — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 02:26:24 -0000

These spats between tech "heavyweights" are pretty embarrassing sometimes. Dave, grow up and stop crying (in public) about how mean and yucky Calcanis is. If you've got issues with him, send him an email or something. (Or would you lose out on traffic if you did it that way?)

It's just pathetic the way you lot do this stuff in public.

(No offence, btw. Most of the stuff you write is top-notch.)

Re: Will the real Dave Winer please stand up?

patricia — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:59:33 -0000

I like Techmeme. I don't think it's the only place people are manipulating traffic. There are all kinds of tactics. Other online media is more than likely also guilty.

I think this is going to become more transparent in the future. A recent report said advertisers are reluctant to spend money online because of the lack of metrics. If it holds true, metrics will probably quickly improve and narrow the gap where you can finesse page views, visitors, etc.

Re: Will the real Dave Winer please stand up?

engtech — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:29:07 -0000

(to be fair to techmeme, a large percentage of the blogs I subscribe to are the "edge" cases I discovered through TechMeme)

Re: Will the real Dave Winer please stand up?

Don Park — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 21:23:13 -0000

great mind

Re: Will the real Dave Winer please stand up?

engtech — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 21:14:24 -0000

I'll take reasons why I don't read TechMeme as often as my RSS feeds for $10.

Re: Will the real Dave Winer please stand up?

Shelley Powers — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:24:02 -0000

This is so bloody petty and embarrassing to even watch. Techmeme was a crap in the first place. Now, it's like taking crap, gold plating it, and calling it genius.

How much do you think it would cost us all if we all chipped in and paid these people to go away?

Re: Will the real Dave Winer please stand up?

Bob Warfield — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:13:29 -0000

The leaderboard is only moderately interesting, gamed or not. What makes it there is so pasteurized and homogenized that it's just a double check that the real blogs you read might have missed something urgent, or at least interesting.

What I want to access is all the stuff just off the edge of the leaderboard. It's in the dark, so it can't be gamed. Yet.

Re: Will the real Dave Winer please stand up?

Dave Winer — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:13:29 -0000

By who?

Re: Will the real Dave Winer please stand up?

Mathew — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:04:56 -0000

Dave, I think your points might be more likely to be taken seriously if you didn't call Jason an "idiot who says idiotic things just to get attention." Just a hunch. But I will take your word on the tinyURL thing.

And Tish, I think you are right -- anything that involves human beings can be "gamed" in some way.

Re: Will the real Dave Winer please stand up?

Tish Grier — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:52:56 -0000

I don't know...I find it all so very interesting.

Yes, there are ways of "gaming" Techmeme--as there are ways of "gaming" pretty much everything (and, apparently, of denying folks "link juice".) Do you recall, M., when a whole bunch of people got *very* upset at the 2000 Bloggers meme, saying it was "gaming" Technorati and "inflating" everyone's linkage? Yet there are tons of splogs created daily that add to the link counts of high-traffic blogs (yes, I've checked this out.)

Even Digg gets "gamed" by folks from various places that "digg" their own stuff. repeatedly.

We probably should look at the Leaderboard as *just* a barometer of a *particular* communiy (and not the entire blogosphere) at a particular point in time. Case in point: The Feedster 500.

Re: Will the real Dave Winer please stand up?

Brian Clark — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:40:34 -0000

This is all so ridiculous, I can't believe any of you spend time on it.

Re: Will the real Dave Winer please stand up?

Dave Winer — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:40:15 -0000

Actually I used the tinyurls in a vain effort to not be linked into the chorus under the Official Definition of Web 3.0 piece. Contrary to what Mike says, I would have been happy if my piece hadn't been picked up on TechMeme at all, but in the end I'm happy to get the flow and the attention. I think the points I make need to be considered. I certainly have heard from a lot of people who support my point. How disappointing to see that Mike wants it censored, as if TM were Gabe's personal blog, and as if the top spot were his exclusive territory. Talk about throwing your weight around! And I've been waiting for a chance to say: With friends like this... Heh.

Also consider that Calacanis's post may have been a dig at the Web 2.0 Summit, which is coming up the week after next. Jason and Mike both compete with it (they're having product showcases at Web 2.0 this year), so it's kind of tacky for them to be taking such cheap shots at a competitor. I don't know -- could just be me. And it may be that his piece was what it seemed to be -- another cheezy attempt to get people talking about his company.

Re: Will the real Dave Winer please stand up?

Tris Hussey — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:17:21 -0000

I agree Mathew. I read the post and just can't help tasting sour grapes.