MG Siegler has keyed up a self-righteous rant about the deplorable state of technology coverage and, well, who can argue with that? Let’s find out.
Content Everywhere, But Not A Drop To Drink (foul language alert)
What set Siegler off is a New York Times piece calling out the iOS app and social network Path for having been caught uploading iPhone users’ entire address books. Not fair, says Siegler, as other applications are still doing that (Path has deleted all user address book data). Then he launches into a tirade about low-information, time-and-pageview sensitive journalism; the Macalope brooks no argument on that topic, but it’s a bit odd, considering that Path really was doing something it shouldn’t have been.
Or maybe not that odd, according to Dan Lyons. As Lyons chimes in, Siegler and his ex-boss Michael Arrington (who Siegler defends for also attacking the Times piece) are both partners in CrunchFund, which invests in Path.
Oooh, a slap fight between serial jerk Michael Arrington and serial has-been Dan Lyons? There is not enough popcorn in the world.
Still, despite the questionable motives, the horny one agrees with Siegler’s basic point, which is practically the Macalope’s raison d’être.
The only thing I can offer is the advice to take everything you read in the technology press with a grain of salt. Perhaps several. The likelihood that at least part of it is nonsense is very strong. And stronger by the day.
Well, maybe not that last part. Is it really any worse than it’s ever been? It’s been ridiculous for years. The Macalope would argue that people are just noticing it more now. He hopes so, because he’s certainly tried to “raise awareness,” by which he means call a bunch of people names.
The Macalope’s not here to claim he’s perfect and above it all. He makes mistakes himself (see: Saturday column). The difference, he hopes, is that the Classic Mac head, the horns, and the hooves make it apparent that he takes himself less seriously than your Henry Blodgets and… well, pretty much everyone else in tech coverage.
He is proud to say that he has no idea what his traffic numbers are, other than decent enough that Macworld keeps dropping off bales full of sweet, crunchy alfalfa on his doorstep.
He’s a little uncertain where a tech journalism site gets alfalfa, but he doesn’t ask questions that he’s afraid to know the answers to.
“Hey, it fell offa truck, you know what I’m sayin’? Don’t you worry your furry little head about it! Just go back to writin’ the funny stuff and don’t be pokin’ your nose where it don’t belong.”
(Also of concern is why Macworld editorial director Jason Snell talks like a stereotypical Italian mobster, but that’s getting even further off the track.)
The point is, if there are just five of you out there reading and enjoying the Macalope’s particular brand of knee-jerk Apple fanboi religious zealotry LOL-ism, that’s OK.
The Macalope doesn’t know specifically what it’s like at ZDNet, or Gizmodo, or Angry Arnold’s Apple Bashing Supersite, but several years ago, when he was at CNet, it paid a base monthly fee with a bonus for traffic over a certain amount. He expects that’s not uncommon.
The Macalope frequently didn’t get the CNet bonus because he failed to FREEly embed traffic-jacking keywords when posting from his IPHONE WHITNEY HOUSTON BREADED CATS HOT COLLEGE NYMPHOMANIACS.
Anyway, if there really are only five of you reading this, maybe we should rent an apartment together somewhere if this gig ever falls through.
No weirdos.
[Editors’ Note: Each week the Macalope skewers the worst of the week’s coverage of Apple and other technology companies. In addition to being a mythical beast, the Macalope is not an employee of Macworld. As a result, the Macalope is always free to criticize any media organization. Even ours.]