Agoracom Blog

TechCrunch Is Out To Lunch

Posted by AGORACOM at 10:00 AM on Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Taking a step back from the markets for a moment, I have to point out that Michael Arrington and TechCrunch have once again proven themselves to be completely out to lunch.

First, they insist on covering every utterly ridiculous Web 2.0 “company” that is typically nothing more than a bunch of coders getting together and launching a Hail Mary in hopes of creating an overnight billion dollar company.  No business model, no hopes of monetization, just a “it is so cool that 10 zillion people will use it and I can sell it to Google” model.

Support for my contention comes from:

[A] The rapidly growing level of disappointment amongst TechCrunch readers via comments over the past year. Whereas commentors used to tread lightly in fear of getting on the bad side of the beast, they now freely attack and criticize every TC writer with the strongest attacks aimed at Michael Arrington himself.

[B] The even more rapidly growing number of companies in the TechCrunch deadpool, most of which received meaningful coverage from TC itself.

“CYPRESS” VIDEO TAKES TECHCRUNCH OVER THE DEEP END

Today, TechCrunch and Michael Arrington himself have fallen even deeper into the abyss with what can only be described as a “drama queen-esque” series of posts criticizing some Web 2.0 founders for having fun on vacation “while Rome burned”.  Arrington even goes on to add “the video video will always be associated with the end of Web 2.0.”  ………… D-R-A-M-A   Q-U-E-E-N.

This is nothing more than tabloid style journalism looking to capitalize on the panic that has gripped Silicon Valley. It is nothing more than sensationalism.  Wall Street has its AIG party to serve as its poster child of excess, so Arrington and TechCrunch sought to find their version for Silicon Valley. Unfortunately, it is nothing more than 20 people that rented a villa in Cyprus that created a video lipsynching to Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing. This group didn’t take taxpayer money and spend $440,000 in a weekend, they booked some vacation time 3 months ago and enjoyed it.

Don’t just take my word for it, a quick scan of comments to this post in the series clearly demonstrates that the overwhelming majority of readers are criticial of TechCrunch’s coverage, almost to the point of being fed up with the rapidly descending quality of articles.

Arrington and TechCrunch better get back to some serious journalism or they may be headed for their own Deadpool. The days of a bunch of nerds showing up on their doorstep, slobbering all over Arrington’s ego and getting coverage are over. Time to look for real companies with real revenues and real business models.

Regards,
George

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