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Techmeme is officially a cesspool

Thursday, October 4, 2007 by Dave Winer.

A picture named mrNatural.gifIt was intriguing for a day or two, but now it's clear that the Leaderboard was the dumbest idea ever, because now more than ever, people are gaming Techmeme so they can climb the list. Permalink to this paragraph

Reminds me of something Ted Turner once said about how the Forbes list of richest people in the world was the worst thing ever for philanthropy. If you're super-rich, now you don't want to give it away because when you do, you move down (or off) the list. Permalink to this paragraph

Techmeme was already severely polluted by people saying stupid shit to rise to the top of the page. That was an ephemeral high. Now there's a way to accumulate points toward more persistent rank, and everyone who isn't on the list, wants to be on the list.  Permalink to this paragraph

I'm thinking of this idiotic post by an idiot who's known for saying idiotic things just to get attention.  Permalink to this paragraph

Or Scoble, who started on the list near the bottom -- is rapidly rising. How's he doing it? By saying extreme things that people will react to. That's how you get points in the Techmeme universe. Scoble ain't no idiot. If he wants to rise on the list, he rises.  Permalink to this paragraph

A mind is a terrible thing to waste.  Permalink to this paragraph

A picture named blackHelicopter..jpgWell, this ain't blogging, and we're still getting ready to start a war with Iran, and the stock market is still acting weird, and there are still big ideas out there to pursue, and now Techmeme isn't even worth reading when the top item on a weekday is guaranteed to be some idiot procliaming himself king of the hill. It's worse than AM talk radioPermalink to this paragraph

PS: A piece I wrote in May offering a vision for "Web 3.0." Permalink to this paragraph

PPS: Mike Arrington weighs in. "Gabe sometimes edits stuff like this off of TechMeme to keep it stocked with real news." Hmmm. I'd be surprised if that were true. Permalink to this paragraph



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