Blogola?
via Mark Paschal and Anil. Adam Curry’s “taking a stand on rss”. So it goes like this, Adam gives $10k to Userland and in turn receives…well he explains it better:
The $10k didn’t ‘just’ give me an automatic base within the userland community, it got pasted on web pages all over the world and I’ve built up an audience that consists of 50% aggergator users.
If he did this in the radio world, it would be considered Payola, the “paying of cash or gifts in exchange for airplay”. Or in this case, Blogola, where he paid an amount of money to be included in an RSS aggregator as a default. Is this ethical? I thought we all saw that WKRP episode where Fever, as Rip, asks for payola on-air or the one where Venus…..
So now he is offering to pay another $10k, to include him again, but if you use the upcoming Necho/Echo project, you’re SOL. So I ask this again, is this ethical? Is this how competition really is? It’s a fine line, I do believe, one that I’m trying to grasp completely before I make a final judgment. But the initial phrasing of this, seems like it’s bad for everyone…..Bloggers, Readers, and Userland especially.
July 9th, 2003 at 12:07 pm
I’ve got no problem with the ethics Adam is displaying, it’s his money and I see no difference in what he’s done than in people buying banner ads. I also have no problem with his decision to only advertise with folks following certain standards. Again it is his money. I just think that he’s showing a heck of a lot of naivete in his decisions. I also think this displays his lack of understanding of the technology. That can’t be good for his reputation.
July 9th, 2003 at 12:07 pm
I don’t know if it’s akin to banner ads or the various BlogAds, I’m visualizing it more as the AOL or AT&T icons on a default Windows desktop. It’s paid placement.
I do respect Adam…always have, but I agree with you, he’s being very naive with that decision. It’s probably more like coming to the aid of a friend, instead of a Microsoft tactic.
Trying to discourage an open format , though, isn’t gonna win him any compassion.
July 9th, 2003 at 12:07 pm
This really amazed me.
I don’t think I’ve seen anyone go to such lengths to hinder the development of a format, especially one intended to be vendor neutral and open to all.
I don’t really care what Userland does, they can give placement to anyone they want, but I find it disturbing that Curry is actively trying to hurt others and impede progress. He’s going to feel pretty damn silly when/if Userland supports (n)Echo. He also seems woefully uninformed about RSS and syndication in general, has it ever occurred to him that by supporting (n)Echo he can only gain readership while still maintaining his placement in Radio. Hell, we all got two or three feeds now, what’s one more?
Myself, I think Curry’s an arrogant little prick. The guy is trying to protect a bad investment by hurting the rest of us who may *want* alternatives to a syndication format dominated by a spoiled child who is about to be routed around.
August 19th, 2003 at 9:08 am
Blogola?
Interesting — on the same day that Adam Curry mentions that he paid $10,000 to (I presume) Userland for favourable placement in the default list of rss feeds in Radio Userland, John Robb resigns from UserLand (and has his weblog go black).