Dave Winer Figured it Out
Why Techmeme is a cesspool (love the use of tinyurl to not give more attention to the links):
Techmeme was already severely polluted by people saying stupid shit to rise to the top of the page. That was an ephemeral high. Now there’s a way to accumulate points toward more persistent rank, and everyone who isn’t on the list, wants to be on the list.
I’m thinking of this idiotic post by an idiot who’s known for saying idiotic things just to get attention.
Or Scoble, who started on the list near the bottom — is rapidly rising. How’s he doing it? By saying extreme things that people will react to. That’s how you get points in the Techmeme universe. Scoble ain’t no idiot. If he wants to rise on the list, he rises.
Later on, Dave calls Techmeme worse than AM radio. I am not sure I want to go that far. Michael Savage is hard to beat.
Techmeme has its uses. Gabe Rivera will figure out a way to shut these things down if they don’t cool down after the novelty wears off.
p.s. or is Dave just saying all of this to get attention?
