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Avatar Posted By: DoshDosh 92 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://www.techcrunch.com)
Category: Blogging
Jason Calacanis announced on Friday that he was retiring from blogging. There was a very mixed reaction to the news, with most believing it to be a publicity stunt. Jason said in his farewell post that instead of blogging, he would instead be posting to a mailing list made up of his followers, capped at 750 subscribers. That subscriber limit was reached very quickly, and today Jason sent out his first new ‘post’ to that mailing list, which we have included below.
11 Comments     

Comments

from merrillg 91 days ago #
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There's a very interesting conversation going on about this On Scoble's Friendfeed http://friendfeed.com/e/231bd917-aacf-479e-8a54-054c3976543e/I-just-received-Jason-Calacanis-first-email-blog/

from JamesDuthie 90 days ago #
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I'm certainly not a Calcanis fan, but I don't agree with publishing this email. It's a fairly low move. And besides which, it just gives him more publicity.

from onreact 90 days ago #
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1. Step: SEO is bullshit
2. Step: Blogging is bullshit
3. Step: Internet is bullshit
4. Step: Technology is bullshit
5. Step: Life is bullshit
6. Step: Suicide.

Jason, don't jump!

from iBrian 90 days ago #
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Calcanis is is a genuis compared to most people in SEO and blogging. Love or hate the man, he works his audience like a maestro.

from jasoncalacanis 90 days ago #
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It was a very personal decision, and I understand that many of you might not understand it. However, while playing in stadiums is a thrill sometimes you feel like playing in your local cafe. I've been getting much deeper, one-on-one relationships with folks thanks to the emal list. 10-100 folks are asking to be signed up a day, and they are making a huge commitment. I'm making one to them as well, so you have this very virtuous cycle happening. It's like the early days of blogging or usenet... intimate, deep, and playful.

The blogosphere is great, but we all know it's become huge and impersonal on many levels. The fact that people race to conclusions with my soundbites (i.e. "seo is a waste of time"), as opposed to actually reading the whole post/listening to the entire keynote, is the perfect example of how blogging has become shoot first, get links second, think third.

Anyway, it's been a great first week.... i'm getting 10-20% response rates on my emails and the feedback is amazing. if you want to be added to the list www.tinyurl.com/jasonslist

from tamar 89 days ago #
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Why is it that people are quick to hit the Desphinn button only because its Jason Calacanis?

from g1smd 89 days ago #
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Might be because a large percentage of what he has written in the past was utter garbage.

from Jill 89 days ago # - show/hide this comment
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Why is it that people are quick to hit the Desphinn button only because its Jason Calacanis?

Jealousy?

from Halfdeck 89 days ago #
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"Why is it that people are quick to hit the Desphinn button only because its Jason Calacanis?"

It's a similar knee-jerk reaction some diggers have toward SEOs, rooted in some people's inability to maintain more than one world view, especially if an opposing view threatens people's pocket books. It's a kind of entrenched thinking we see in politics on hot-button issues like Iraq, where small minds think in black and white, where people take positions based on their party affiliations, where politicians let their personal agendas define their thinking regardless of the facts.

from mpilatow 89 days ago #
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Jill, while I don't necessarily disagree with you I think there is more to it than that. He has a history of seeming to go out of his way to make disparaging comments towards groups to whom he is speaking. He has railed against SEOs at SEO conferences, affiliate marketers at affiliate marketing conferences, etc. He rubs a lot of people the wrong way but it usually ends up bringing more attention to himself and his efforts. In one way even if everyone hates him it ends up benefting him because he gets more attention for whatever it is he is promoting. He is great at marketing himself but that does not mean those that he has disparages will forget what he has said in the past and accept him. I did not desphinn this but I am sick of hearing about his most recent attention bait because IMO that is all it is. Jason seeking more attention for himself and his projects.

from graywolf 89 days ago #
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so are any of you actually subscribed to his email list? While not all of them have been great the one today is beyond stellar. It was thought provoking and informative. I'd even go as far as to say it was better than 90% of the "99 Reasons Why Twitter and Social Media Go together Like Peanut Butter and jelly" type of articles that get submitted here. But if you all would rather
vote for yourselves in a self congratulatory way instead of reading an email where you might actually learn something, so be it ... desphinn away.


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