Update: Robert responds saying "I just took a couple of hours away from the computer flying down to Demo and spent most of that time thinking about this and I have to admit that the past four days have not been my best professionally." Robert, for the record we all love you and think you're great. Let's all get back to doing good work.
Robert,
I'm very disappointed that you are riding "my team" at Engadget. They are classy guys who work very hard and treat everyone with respect. They've been at this for a long time and they are pro-indie bloggers and have been since day one.
At this point you're basically slandering them and spreading lies. You're acting like a spoiled jerk and as your friend I feel the need to tell you that.
I'm really disappointed in you. I'm your friend, Ryan's your friend, and Peter's your friend. If you have a great story you know you can send it to us, IM us, or pick up the fracking phone and tell us (we used to talk on the phone--remember that?!). You have more access to us than anyone on the planet!
What if I started calling you out on my blog and spreading lies about you? How would you feel??!?! This is not how friends treat each other.
You really need think about how you treat your friends if you want to keep them. At this point I'm really disgusted with you.
If this is some linkbait concept it worked--I'm linking to you. However, the reputation damage you're suffering by lashing out at your friends is much greater than the value of a couple of links.
Your friend who's really had it with you,
Jason
An Open Letter to Robert Scoble
Reader Comments
(Page 1 of 2)2. Scoble is his own best and worst friend. About once a quarter he does something to gain a lot of negative attention. He's human, he makes mistakes. Sometimes it takes him longer to learn his lesson, but he is humble for about 3 months, then he does it again (usually on a fresh topic).
We need Scoble. We all learn by his mistakes.
That being said, I do agree, the Engadget peeps are getting the short end of the stick. And like a good father to them, you're sticking up, kudos to you. But they will survive.
Posted at 1:36PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Otto
3. Jason,
I expected this from just about anybody but you....I am disappointed in you. It seems like your loyalty to Engadget exceeds your friendship with Robert and just common sense. I guess business is business, right? Peter Rojas' comments on Robert's blog were disrespectful and he owes Robert an apology. He could have just apologized, made a link and left it at that as other readers mentioned to him in the comments.
The video was relevant and had good information. Peter could have chosen as well not to link to tthe video (poor judgement, but hey it's his blog). Instead Peter chose to make a complete ass of himself in the comments. And now you are defending him. This day keeps getting better.
Posted at 1:45PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Maryam Scoble
4. Maryam,
In all fairness, your husband picked a fight over some perceived injustice -- picked a public fight with friends over something he didn't even bother to email or call about. I realize you and Robert might have been upset that Peter and I have stuck up for our editorial decisions, but logically, realistically, Robert hasn't a foot to stand on. We didn't do anything wrong, and we didn't start flinging the mud. Saying Peter or anyone else is the problem is pretty absurd. I really encourage you to think about this from the other side.
Posted at 1:54PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Ryan Block
5. I tried to comment, but it apparently didn't go through (I didn't receive a confirmation e-mail).
I was just stating that I'm getting pretty sick of the back-n-fourth bickering between Scoble and the gadget boys. He made a mistake, was called out on it, and admitted that he went overboard. The gadget boys had their input on his blog, which IMO wasn't too uncalled for.
That should be the end of it, right? I think we can all move on until the next big controversy.
Posted at 1:58PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Robert Dewey
6. Just as a completely picky grammar police thing, it's "riding" not "ridding." I couldn't let that one go, it was driving me crazy.
As for the whole linkbait debacle, I think it comes down to the Golden Rule. It's easy to snipe from behind a computer, but you always have to remember that these are people. People make mistakes. We all need to give a little more grace to each other.
Posted at 2:01PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Wendy
7. Ryan,
With all due respect I beg to defer. Whether Robert has a right to get a link from Engadget or not, is not the point. Peter could have said we think your story sucks and we didn't feel it worthy of a link (not right in my opinion, but this is all subjective). Instead, he personally attacked Robert and was pretty rude. I didn't care for the way he handled himself and he did not do well representing Engadget. Jason should not be so one-sided on his defense of his buddy either. I guess people show their true colors under pressure. What happened to grace under pressure?
But Robert Dewey is right: We can agree to disagree on this point and move on.
Robert,
You are right. I need to go get myself a pack of M&Ms and stop picking fights with people :)
Posted at 2:08PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Maryam Scoble
8. Maryam:
Peanut butter ones are the best. If you put 'em in the fridge for a while, they cool down and taste better.
Now if THAT's not a metaphor for this whole thing, I'll eat my hat! :>)
Posted at 2:12PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Wendy
9. Wendy,
I just had my first laugh of the day. Thank you! I am off in my quest for peanut butter M&Ms :)
Jason,
I'll get you some too next time I see you. You are misguided sometimes, but I still love you.
Posted at 2:16PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Maryam Scoble
10. Maryam, I read over Pete's comments one more time to see if I could understand what you mean. He took issue with Scoble's statements, but the only thing that even vaguely resembles an attack is Pete calling Robert a spammer -- which is NOT a "personal attack", but a professional one, and something that Robert quickly agreed to ("Peter: I wouldn?t need to spam anyone if you all would use Google Blog Search and see..."). We do not resort to personal attacks, and I've kept all my opinions about this situation STRICTLY offline except a basic discussion on my personal blog about our editorial process. What will it take to get you to understand that we are not the aggressor or at fault for some ill conceived wrongdoing?
Posted at 2:21PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Ryan Block
11. I have to add my small, irrelevant, blogger backing to Ryan & Peter. The way I read the whole thing is as follows:
1. Scoble does a lot of work and doesn't get a link (welcome to the non-A-list real world Robert!)
2. Scoble cries about it and makes a post saying "no gadget blog links to anything I do" (HUGE overreaction)
3. Peter gets (justifiably) upset and says so in Robert's comments. Comment spammer call was possibly harsh, but as Ryan points out, Robert later admits it.
4. Sides are taken, comments are made, ad infinitum.
I don't see any personal attacks here. Maryam, take a deep breath and re-read steps 1 & 2 above, then think about the fault-chain here.
12. I can't believe everyone is still talking about this nonevent. Every blogger out there wants to be taken as a professional and then one of the biggest turns his blog into a crybaby editorial because he didn't get picked in gym class. To add insult to injury, now everyone and their dog has to blog about how crybabyish it all is. That's a sure-fire way to get your media taken seriously, now isn't it?
In the real world the squeaky wheel doesn't get the grease, it gets replaced with a shiny new wheel that doesn't make so much noise.
Posted at 2:46PM on Jan 30th 2007 by -gary
14. As a complete outsider, which Ryan and Maryam obviously aren't, I have to say that both Robert and Peter came off as pretty petty, arrogant, and childish with their little tirades. And then Robert apologized. So I don't think he's the one whose reputation gets damaged, IMO.
Maybe it wasn't linkbait, but rather gadget-blogger-tantrum bait. And the Engadget guys apparently fell for it.
Posted at 3:14PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Damon Dash
15. The more I read through this shit (which ultimately is summed up as this: "the meanies didn't like me!") the more I realize that maybe Bloggers should take a break from derriding professional media, and read up on ethics, editorial choices and editorial "voice"
Oh, and EDITORIAL DISTANCE.
If you have a blog, your personality is naturally a part of your blog. That's your VOICE. However, there should be an imposed difference between YOU at the CORE and you and your editorial voice.
Unless you're blogging straight from the neuron to the screen, impose some barriers and distance. For your own health.
Its just text on screen people. Pixels are agnostic to feelings.
Posted at 3:14PM on Jan 30th 2007 by EThan Kaplan
17. This is totally rediculous.
I love the Scoble Show. I can't find any other video content on the net where I can watch a CEO of a tech company just shoot the shit. BUT...i dont read Scoble's blog, because I think it's boring. I also don't think he's that great of an interviewer. I spent some time hosting a television show so I know how hard that can be, but Scoble has A LOT of shows under his belt and I think he should be much better by now. Also, how come Scoble never links to me bla bla bla bla.
This is all just to make a point: I don't write Scoble's blog, Scoble does. And I don't host Scoble's show, Scoble does. He finds the way he conducts his interviews and writes his posts to be relevant and engaging, I don't. I think a tour of a tech plant is somewhat interesting, but I'm not sure how much I would appreciate it on Engadget. But I don't write Engadget, THEY DO, and it seems to work for them pretty well, at least as much as it works for Scoble.
Scoble should realize ONE very important thing, even if Engadget links to him that has nothing to do with their readers, and I feel an editor's loyalty should be to his readers, not some bullshit linking etiquette or unwritten a-list blog policy.
In the end I want to grab Scoble by the shirt and scream "AW, POOR BABY, NO ONE IS LINKING TO YOU?!?". Dude, are you shitting me? Welcome to club buddy.
Posted at 3:51PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Bruce Prokopets
18. Children, children, children. Now stop shouting and go to bed or daddy will take away your computer and then you'll be sorry. Bed, now
Posted at 4:13PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Adey
19. What Bruce said. I can understand the first post Scoble made, which probably came from frustration. But at this point still harping on it seems silly.
Posted at 4:55PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Todd Zeigler
20. So - I've been watching this one unfold a bit, an at first I thought Mr Scoble was being a bit of a jerk...but he's just made a farily good fist at calming it down, and now I think I y'all should head to a bar, grab some beers and chillax with each other.
The interwebs are huge, just huge - theres loads of space, loads of links and loads of room to find ways to get on with your business without getting into 'discussions' like this one.
Enjoy the beers guys...
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1. Why does this ass clown think anyone is obliged to link to him?
Posted at 1:14PM on Jan 30th 2007 by Nick Aziz