When I first saw this, back a few months, it irked me. A few friends of mine asked me what I thought at the time, and I expressed my frustration with people like this that do no legwork, and then throw out half baked articles based on idiotic assumptions and theories. I lamented that the real issue was people finding the article and digesting it as truth, as the only thing lazier and stupider than a person with a blog, is often the person reading it, therein was the real danger in this sort of thing. The mini-dustup was short lived though, as the article went away as quickly as it appeared. Aside from a few two-bit forums and blogs,no one seemed to pick it up, read it, pay attention to it, or show much interest in this low budget, research-less attempt to stir up some e-dust. Probably because it was poorly written, wrought with inaccuracies, borderline libelous, and inflammatory merely for the sake of being inflammatory.
Then this week it reappeared, and thanks to Valleywag, people took more notice this time around.
Without getting into a full on paragraph by paragraph dissection of the “article” (which will come later this week or early next), I just want to say that for the first time, I am disappointed with, and disheartened by citizen journalism and it’s effects on the perception of everything from politics, to people, to websites and businesses. I have had the discussion on the state and future of the media many times, with many people, and have always been on the side of the blogger, extolling the virtues of the mass media being replaced by the mob media - but with articles like this, where I know that they are damaging in their untruths, and where there is no system of checks and balances, and no accountability, I am questioning my stance and feeling on the issue for the first time.
Using incendiary terms like “spam” and “spyware”, followed by torrid tales of unrelated people working for non-connected companies, in completely different fields, in an effort to discredit those who work for and worked for MySpace and the associated companies, is not only lame, but it is irresponsible journalism. Trent clearly gets an F for research, a C+ for composition, and an A- for shit stirring on this one.
In an effort to give Trent the benefit of the doubt, I have sent him an email asking him to share his sources for the article, and to back up some of these claims and connections he makes. We’ll see what he says, but I am not holding my breath. Frankly, and this is just my own personal speculation, I would wager that former eUniverse CEO Brad Greenspan greased the wheels on this one. After all, he was the source of the internal emails, and Trent’s article, and his video blog on the topic, seem oddly sympathetic to Greenspan’s cause…which is an unusually lonely place to be. Brad also has an axe to grind with nearly everyone involved in the success of the company, and has been none too shy in the past about grinding said axe in public. I can’t say for sure he is in cahoots here, but it certainly wouldn’t blow me away if he was.
Oh, and Trent, if you are reading this, here is what an actual article, complete with references looks like.
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