Yesterday I saw it on TechMeme. There was a link to a blog post by Caterina Fake. I admire her enough that I might have clicked over no matter what she was talking about. This was the first time I was seeing her featured on TechMeme.
I promptly read the post, left a comment, and tweeted it out. Okay, so, Caterina Fake is starting a company. Not surprising at all. I knew she no longer played an active role at Hunch, but I did not realize that meant she had "left," and I am the least interested in the details of that. I'd rather learn about her new company, details of which have not come out yet. I'm sure they will. Over time. I am in no hurry. Like someone said, "the news will find me."
New Startup! http://t.co/ke9FDaHless than a minute ago via Tweet Button 
paramendra
And that was that. I tweeted the blog post and the news was behind me. But no.
Gizmodo: I Call This Blackmail
I have tried to play nice to Mike Arrington at this blog which approaches 60K monthly visits. As in, Mike, don't feel threatened, I don't have nearly your kind of traffic.
This is me playing nice: Mike Arrington And I: Close, Sonar: How Whales Roll: Mike Arrington My Sonar Friend, Mike Arrington Liked My Comment, Mike Arrington's Big Day.
But now I am tempted to switching hats.
Mike Arrington Is A Sexist Pig: Say PeeeeG!
An Apologetic Mike Arrington
Like I said, I was not even aware Fake had left, as in left left, Hunch. But she still is teams with people with whom she set up her super angel investment fund, and that fund seems to have invested into her new startup, so I don't get the impression there is something "sordid" going on.
Innuendo is an old weapon of sexism.
Getting covered by TechCrunch is not what makes or breaks tech companies. That was always the case. If you are a bad boy, and you end up with a lot of money, you are just going to be a bad boy with a lot of money. If you were unhappy before you became rich, money is not going to make you happier. You are just going to end up a rich, unhappy person.
And Mike Arrington is not even that rich. I wonder if Caterina Fake is richer. But I don't really want to know. That's not important. My admiration of Caterina Fake is not she has a lot of money, although I am happy for her. My appreciation is that she has been a trailblazing entrepreneur, and she is female. The fact that she is female is no small detail. And I am saying her being female is part of the reason Arrington decided it was okay for him to go off on his rant. This is not capitalism at work. This is not the media at work. This reeks of sexism.
Sunshine, Water, Rest, Air, Exercise, Diet
And it's just bad behavior. If there is only one tech blog that gets to break stories on new startups, that is a monopoly situation that should not exist. But I don't think Fake was even aware she was stealing Arrington's thunder. She did what is the most natural thing to do. Entrepreneurs these days are known to tweet, they are known to blog. So she blogged. I don't think she was plotting to bring down TechCrunch. And I doubt her blog gets more page hits than mine, and she is Caterina Fake. And my blog is no threat to TechCrunch.
The right thing to do for Arrington was to link to her post and then write a full blown post of his own. That would still have counted for a scoop. I mean, fuck phone calls. Go read them blogs. Fake does not have time for phone calls. She'd rather you gathered news on her at her blog. It is more efficient than doing an interview. Although I doubt she might have declined an interview request from Arrington. Hey Arrington, you can interview me any day. A New York Times reporter interviewed me for hashtags. See if you can beat that.
Do You Use Hashtags In Emails?
By the way that hashtag story never came out in the New York Times. What a bummer. It was supposed to come out June 2. There is some editor at the New York Times who simply does not understand the importance of hashtags. Or maybe I am ahead of the times.
Mike Arrington: Why We Often Blindside Companies
Do yourself a favor. Don't read this post. Mike Arrington has written some great blog posts in the past, but this is not one of them.
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