Bloggers: Punch Harder!

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Ryan Tate has the best post intro so far this year in the latest edition of Gawker-playing-Valleywag:

Remember when blogs were going to be fiercely independent firebrands who, purified of old media insidery stench, would pull no punches against traditional power structures? So much for that. Today’s laptop media is shaping up to be nothing but lapdogs.

The post is really about TechCrunch releasing those Twitter documents, and the rings on the water. I don’t care about that, old news, and really a lot of noise for typical journalistic behavior.

Yes, that’s right. Michael Arrington did what thousands have done before him, but on a blog rather than in a newspaper. So who cares? [Read more…]

Twitter on the Internal Documents

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Twitter has published a blog post commenting on the internal documents that are running on TechCrunch. They were obtained through an email hack on an administrative employee’s account, which in turn gave access to Twitter’s Google Apps account. They are stressing the fact that it was personal security that faltered, not Google Apps, but it still points a finger to one of the dangers of data in the cloud. No user accounts are compromised either, and naturally there’s legal actions from Twitter’s side.

Meanwhile, TechCrunch and others are having a field day with the income prognosis report, security issues and the fact that these documents are out in the open in the first place. And naturally it all boils down to a Valleywag post on the twitterati’s response to the breach.

That poor administrative employee will probably stick to better passwords in the future, eh?

What Makes You Think Google Could Kill Firefox?

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Valleywag, ie Gawker these days, runs a story about a rumor stating that Google might stop pumping money into Firefox, and start pushing their own web browser instead, Google Chrome. The angle is pretty aggressive against Google, and the story is wrapped up with this paragraph:

It makes sense that Google would want to support its own Chrome Web browser. And yet bullying a nonprofit would seem to clash with Google’s “don’t be evil” motto. Perhaps “don’t lose money” has become more important.

[Read more…]

Defamer Takes the Valleywag Route

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It appears as if Nick Denton wasn’t able to sell his celebrity gossip (aren’t they all?) blog Defamer. Instead, it is now becoming a part of Gawker.com – the entertainment column according to PaidContent. Said business site is quoting a blog post written by Denton which unfortunately is no longer available, it just redirects to the not so updated nickdenton.org blog – it’s back up! Assuming PaidContent got it right, Denton said “the brand was worth more to us — as a section of the Gawker site”.

Free translation: The bids we got were too low, and we can use the 900,000 monthlies to strengthen our key brand.

The defamer.com site will show all Defamer posts from Gawker, but the team is leaving to do something else, yet to be announced.

You might remember Valleywag making a similar transition late last year.

Dirty Laundry Tweeting

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It’s dangerous to Twitter, that’s for sure! Not only is it almost as addictive as asides, but you’ll also have to make sure you don’t blurt something personal to the masses. Like Pownce hotshot Leah Culver did, something about a cheating boyfriend or whatever. That hit Valleywag like something did to the fan. Luckily, the tweet’s been deleted, but if it’s online one time, it’s there forever.

Mind you tweets, people.

Valleywag the FAQ

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So Valleywag isn’t as doomed as it was said to be. Only half-doomed really. This from the somewhat hilarious FAQ posted by soon to be canned writer Paul Boutin:

  • Valleywag.com the URL will still work. Valleywag’s RSS feed will still work. You will not have to go to Gawker.com to read Valleywag stories.
  • In 2009, Owen will be posting full-time, maybe 6-12 posts per day. Everyone else is fired.

The internal bickering within Gawker Media always amuses me. I also love the pop/coincidence of Valleywag making it into Alltop…

Boing Boing Deletes Blogger, Not the First Time?

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This is alarming. Sex blogger, journalist, and author Violet Blue’s posts on Boing Boing, including all mentions, has been deleted (NSFW), without any explanation whatsoever:

It was brought to my attention this weekend that every Boing Boing post (except one) with my name in it is gone. It might have happened a while ago, and no, I have no idea what’s going on. How do you even ask someone about something like that? Personally, I never delete posts for any reason so I just think it’s really weird.

Valleywag broke the story, with no real explanation as to why, and so far nothing from the Boing Boing people. They do point out that it isn’t some new anti-sex policy, since recent content still is playful enough. So what happened?

Also: Is this happening frequently? This post certainly raises questions, doesn’t it? We’ll try to follow up on this one as answers subside. One thing’s for sure though, this isn’t the way to play the game in the blogosphere, not even for a bigshot like Boing Boing.