Techcrunch Vs Last.fm
@petite_a sent me a link to the below drama, recently unfolded.
4 days ago Erick at TechCrunch posted an article which contained fairly inflammatory content:
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Richard Jones, one of Last.fm’s founders, stood up and shouted loud in denial as did many other staffers and bloggers. His first response was this:
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But then, on the Last.fm blog, a full post was written, subtely entitled: ‘TechCrunch are full of shit’:
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Click above to read the full piece and the many comments after it.
One of my favorite bits is when a commentator says they deleted their Last.fm account, Richard responds that he figured that may be the way people reacted, so held the deleted accounts in suspension, meaning they could easily reinstate data when the truth came out.
Genius.
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My take?
Normally I would say – never argue with idiots. They will bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.
However, tabloid journalism is a mighty dangerous thing and joining the conversation was a good idea by Richard, in this instance.
We should be careful not to associate an entire publication on the errant thought of one individual.
Without focussing this on TechCrunch (who I link to fairly heavily for the better of their stories), we all know who the hacks are, yet they still seem to have immense reach that has perennial power to rock boats and defame companies and individuals.
Sadly, many people like the salacious detail of a potential cover-up or conspiracy case, and this in turn feeds the tabloid writers.
From experience, they call it ‘being balanced’ which is a crock of shit. Actually, they are being assholes.
And many of us lap it up.
For the record – I think its ridiculous to try and drag Last.fm down to the gutter level that others may dwell in.
Having met (and worked with) some of the guys at Last.fm, I would say that of all the companies in the world NOT to abuse peoples information – its them.
Rock on Last.fm, although some may never return, you still have a strong army of fanatics that are more loyal than ever.
