Michael Arrington, widely seen as the kingmaker among Web 2.0 startup entrepreneurs because of his influential site TechCrunch, says he's taking a break from blogging through "most of February." In a long post this morning, Arrington claims that "someone walked up to me and quite deliberately spat in my face" as he was leaving a conference in Munich yesterday.
Arrington also told a story he says very few people know:
Last year over the summer an off balance individual threatened to kill me and my family. He wasn’t very stealthy about it - he called our office number, sent me emails and even posted threats on his blog, so it wasn’t hard to determine who he was. The threats were, in the opinion of security experts we consulted, serious. The individual has a felony record and owns a gun. Police in three states became involved and we hired a personal security team to protect me, my family and TechCrunch employees. At over $2,000 a day we couldn’t keep paying for security indefinitely. And the police were helpful but couldn’t do much based on the threats until he acted. We had the option of getting a restraining order but that just tells the person exactly where you are (the places they can’t go). So for a week I was literally in hiding with my parents at their home.
Arrington, for a reason no one has ever pinpointed, attracts haters at a level far beyond what you'd expect for what is basically an online trade magazine. I learned this firsthand when I wrote for gossip site Valleywag from 2006 to 2008. Despite Valleywag's cruel, personal posts, we received almost no hate mail and were never accosted in public. Instead, we got mail, phone calls and in-person pleas from people who begged us to take down Mike Arrington. The most common accusation was that TechCrunch sold endorsements of startups, either in exchange for advertising buys on the site, or for outright cash payments.
This is important: None of these claims ever checked out. Sources would claim to know someone who knew something, but these mystery witnesses never showed up to tell their stories to a reporter. Arrington's success, both as a blog-era publisher/writer and a startup businessman, inflames less successful entrepreneurs and journalists with off-the-scale envy. How does he do that?
Photo: Joi/Flickr
Comments
I find Arrington's treatment a symptom of any type of "celebrity" - whether it be caused by the paparazzi, crazed fans or desperate entrepreneurs. If one is viewed as having power and influence, that person will be a potential target. Heck, look at Tom Cruise and how the public, as well as the media, go after him mainly due to his personal belief system.
My guess is that Arrington will return from his February break and it will be business as usual. He may have to indulge in expensive security, but that is likely a side effect of his success and style.
The ugly comments and rumors that swirl around him are another issue entirely.
I feel for Arrington, but I am not mystified at all. As an industry analyst I encountered similar reactions when I criticized a particularly large component of the IT security industry in 2003. Even now I get h8te comments on my blog postings criticizing my credentials, motives, etc. Calling it like you see it is the job of an industry analyst and quite frankly that is exactly what Michael Arrington is, the top Web 2.0 analyst. Any Gartner analyst who has ever been on the receiving end of the ire of a slighted vendor recognizes what Michael is going through.
I can see how the reactions could be even more violent. Being dropped from a Magic Quadrant could be bad for your business, bad for your job if you are the analyst relations person, but being dissed my Michael Arrington means that your pride and joy, your BABY, is not going to make it. That could bring out the worst in an entrepreneur.
After Arrington takes some time to unwind in the sun I suggest he pick himself up, wipe his face, and get back in to it. There *is* something worse than all the negativity showered on him. And that is to be ignored.
why doe arrington have a big red bullseye on his back? a few reasons.
a) the internet is becoming a venomous place. maybe this is just old usenet flamewars spilling out into comments fields on blogs. but... I've seen an increase in negative, truly hateful commentary over the past year, invariably from "anonymous" or a made up name, on the stuff I post. it's nasty.
b) how do I put this? arrington is an arrogant sob with no journalistic training. people tend to like arrogant sob's, which is one reason why he's popular. he also breaks stories nobody has. but he's not a journalist, no matter how much he pretends to be, and he often states opinion as fact. I always take the stories posted on techcrunch with a healthy degree of skepticism, but I'm not sure many TC fans do. it's gospel. and that's dangerous.
c) arringtons' relationship with the companies he writes about has always been in question. it might totally be on the up and up, but if so, he hasn't done a good job of making that absolutely clear. every time I see him gushing over some new startup (and it seems to happen a lot) I wonder if he has a stake in it.
I sympathize with him. it's awful to have your life threatened for speaking your mind. and I hope he comes back. but I'm not at all surprised by any of this.
peace.
dt
dantynan: "arrington is an arrogant sob with no journalistic training"
and who are you?
A fully-qualified-summa-cum-laude-journalistic-failure?
wanker!
Greg
And let the flame war over the flamewar begin!
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