Butcher Bites Back
I don’t normally do gossip – skip right past if you’re here for information. Ermm yeah, past the next one, too. But WTF?! And for once, these are people I actually know.
So you know about the Techcrunch UK Fiasco, which followed the Le Web 3 Fiasco? Sounds like madness, right?
Time to cop a bit of reality. Mike Butcher, co-editor of Techcunch UK&IRL (go there for the comments), is a level-headed sort of guy. He has now posted his own take on the proceedings. As a professional journalist, you’ll note that Mike B is a tad more fussy about the ethics of deleting posts and deleting comments than his erstwhile boss Michael Arrington appears to be. To my mind, it is wrong to do either of those things. Sam Sethi, the incumbent editor until yesterday, did well to stand his ground. I would have done the same. Mike B rightly says:
There are a couple of very interesting themes here… The first is the gradual emergence of a kind of ‘cigar-chomping, controlling proprietor’ behaviour amongst some of the most successful blogs. I’m thinking ‘Citizen Kane 2.0′ here. The second is the ‘Read/Write… and Delete Web’ where blogging and user generated content is coming under attack from those who want to control or lock down the conversation.
In addition to deleting Sam Sethi’s last two posts on Techcrunch, as well as the Loic Le Meur ‘asshole’ comment (though not his retraction – yet), Mike A has also deleted his own ‘Holy Fuck‘ post on his own site, bemoaning the terrible woes that are the awful consequence of being a millionaire – poor wee lamb. Even the digg post referring to that has been mysteriously buried. Is Techcrunch aiming to become the new Ministry of Truth?
Mike Butcher’s post is well worth a read for an insight into web politics and the last week’s events.
Possibly related:
“Mess” is the right word. Except it is real people’s livelihood that is at stake.
Totally right about the censorship, Carlo, as was Mike!
Thanks people. I just wanted to try and set the record straight. Anyway, onwards!
Just got a hold of this story and like you say WTF!? Arrington needs to seriously get a grip – he comes out like a complete control freak from these stories.
Hi Ian,
If you know Sam you will know that what you see is what you get. He’s not a journalist and many may see that as a bonus. Like Sam, and many others who attended LeWeb3, I was frustrated by the level of the conversation during the event and I believe his post was accurate.
However, I also understand why Loic headed in the direction he did. It was a bit of an ego fest but aren’t all these things?
The person who will suffer most from all of this is Michael Arrington and TechCrunch.
Looking for positives out of it all I would suggest that we develop a TechCrunch2.0 in the UK with UGC – I for one am willing to sponsor an event in the north of England.
Regards
My understanding is that Sam and Mike are working on something to be announced over the next few days…
[...] I have no big opinion one way or the other about this whole TechCrunch UK (a technology blog) situation. To sum up, you’re better off reading this article and this one at twopointtouch. But there are some lessons to be learned about opinion writing on the internet. [...]
The entire story has been quite a mess.
Personally I think that blocking the comments on a blog is, in most of the cases, bad things.
It is a blog and everyone is responsible for what he/she writes. If Loic wouldn’t have written that comment, it would be easy to prove.
I personally support Mike Butcher, also because in his post he has been quite correct… and also because, as I have already told, I don’t believe in comment censorship.
Cheers
Carlo