Amazon CTO Rips Blogging Authors a New One 115
theodp writes "Following what was characterized as rude treatment of invited guests in a confrontation at Amazon HQ, Amazon CTO Werner Vogels turned to his personal blog to give author Shel Israel a public scolding for suggesting Amazon doesn't 'get' blogging (Amazon's blogging innovations include 'faux' personal blogs and patent-pending plogs). Vogels went on to voice concerns on Israel's blog that blogging could be too distracting for Amazon employees - think the self-proclaimed guy-with-guts challenged CEO Jeff Bezos about the distractions of his space exploration efforts?"
Re: Amazon's critical eye is right on (Score:5, Funny)
Whereas shaky camera work and jiggling is a sure path to riches...
Heh (Score:5, Insightful)
Hell yeah! CTO doesnt 'get' blogging!
I wish more people were as blunt and forthcoming as Mr.Vogels.
Re:Heh (Score:5, Insightful)
Around paragraph 3, I thought, "Go write some code or fill out a 27B stroke 6 somewhere." The amazing thing about modern society is that it hasn't produced more great art with more people, it's just produced more junk to get in the way.
The summary is biased, the articles are biased, the only people interested in this particular fight are those who follow successful internet people around like pasty white guy paparazzi. Give it a rest.
Re:Heh (Score:2)
Re:Heh (Score:1)
What I don't get is why blogging is where they chose to hit the brakes. They've got company reviews, customer reviews, customer images, book lists, citations, similar book listings, forums, and damned if they don't have wikis! It's A Magical World: A Calvin and Hobbes Collection (Paperback) [amazon.com] has its own wiki! God help me if I scroll down too fast, or I'll never be able to find the book description again.
So why stop at blogs? Is this like my alcoholic pothead friend with a meth problem who doesn't take aspi
Re:Heh (Score:3, Funny)
h [example.com] y [example.com] p [example.com] e [example.com] r [example.com] l [example.com] i [example.com] n [example.com] k [example.com] s [example.com]
Re:Heh (Score:3)
Now look what you've done!
The amazing thing about modern society is that it hasn't produced more great art with more people, it's just produced more junk to get in the way.
That's not amazing. Creating art takes talent; creating great art takes great talent. The majority of people with the talent are already doing it; most of those who could but choose not to aren't going to change their mind just because of the Internet.
Re:Heh (Score:3, Insightful)
While modern society has certainly produced more junk, I believe it's disingenuous to say that there isn't an astonishing amount of "good" art these days. Regardless of your taste, there are at least hundreds of people out there making something you will aesthetically appreciate. I doubt this was the case even a hundred years ago.
Re:Heh (Score:2)
Re:Heh (Score:2)
I'm extremely jealous of people who were alive in Vincent van Gough's time. They all got to appreciate his fresh art as it was being created.
For the sarcastically-challenged: Did you ever consider that great art is rarely recognized as great during the artist's lifetime, and assuming that no great art is being produced today is just incredibly moronic?
Re:Heh (Score:2)
I apologize profusely for misspelling a Dutch name. How ignorant of me.
Re:Heh (Score:2)
Oh joy.
-ch
Re:Heh (Score:2)
Amen.
Hell yeah! CTO doesnt 'get' blogging!
Yeah, that's why they have a search engine (A9 [a9.com]) and remote search protocol (OpenSearch [a9.com]) that's focused on blog type information. All you need to do is to look at the list of sources that it uses and implementations of the spec
Having read TFA (after finding it in all the links) seems to me like it's publicity for the off
Subject? What subject? (Score:2)
The links....the confusion.... (Score:4, Funny)
Chewbacca (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Chewbacca (Score:2)
Re:Chewbacca (Score:2)
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewbacca_defense [wikipedia.org]
Re:Chewbacca (Score:1)
Re:Chewbacca (Score:1)
Re:The links....the confusion.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The links....the confusion.... (Score:1)
soap opera for nerds (Score:5, Funny)
A saying comes to mind... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:A saying comes to mind... (Score:2)
Cartman finishes last.
Time to drag out this old chestnut (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Time to drag out this old chestnut (Score:2)
As Red from That 70s Show would say,
"You're a dumbass, dumbass."
Re:Time to drag out this old chestnut (Score:1)
Winning an argument on the Internet is like winning the Special Olympics. Whether you win or lose, you're still retarded.
Re:Time to drag out this old chestnut (Score:2)
Re:Time to drag out this old chestnut (Score:2)
Re:Time to drag out this old chestnut (Score:1)
I believe it's "you're".
People in glass houses...
...are easily seen as naked?
Re:Time to drag out this old chestnut (Score:1)
Walking
Re:Time to drag out this old chestnut (Score:2)
Who did what to who and what happened then and ..? (Score:5, Insightful)
New tag: "incoherent" (Score:2)
Re:Who did what to who and what happened then and (Score:1)
The "whocares" tag is pretty accurate, but I did find it somewhat interesting... like soap opera interesting.
Quick rundown (Score:2)
It's ironic (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:It's ironic (Score:1)
Re:It's ironic (Score:2)
I think his point was that blogs have no role in Amazon's business model - which appears fairly obvious to me.
The place blogs generally seem to occupy in the internet is the "having a big whinge" category, and that's exactly what he's doing on his blog, in reply to the book's authors' whinge on their blog. Probably after this
Not quite (Score:1)
Just wondering... (Score:1, Offtopic)
Will corporations someday have a Chief Blogging Officer?
Re:Just wondering... (Score:2)
(Hmm
Re:Just wondering... (Score:1)
In the lab where I work, we call that position "Senior Throwing Chairman"
So what? (Score:1)
Re: So what? (Score:4, Funny)
Next headline: News at 11...
Ah, the blogerati (Score:5, Insightful)
That said... it seems to be this is a classic case of mass-induced elitism. I don't think the Amazon guy was off in his line of questioning. What's good for Microsoft or Sun might not be for Amazon or eBay, yet Scoble and his friend come across as the quitenssential "it" boys, giggling and stomping their little feet because the hick across the table doesn't know what the small fork is for - as if his life depended on it.
I suppose if you live in that "blogosphere" long enough it must look to you like everyone is blogging and, more importantly, that everyone should be doing it. I don't think that's the case. I've found many corporate attempts at blogging to be underwhelming and downright stupid - if you don't "get it" then just don't do it at all. I doubt many millions of Amazon customers are going to decide one day that they won't spend a dime online anymore because Amazon doesn't have a blog.
The blogorati need to come out into the light and look around once in a while.
Re:Ah, the blogerati (Score:2)
I work hard. I have little free time in my life. After I come home I want to rest, talk to my wife, eat some dinner, play with my son, go outside. I still need to do the dishes and take out the trash, repair the door. Maybe I'll browse a few websites and make a few posts on
we're (Score:2)
^Y
Re:Ah, the blogerati (Score:3, Insightful)
Having grilled vendors before, I can imagine that he was harsh but fair. The fair bit stems from the fact that obviously they ( Amazon ) took time to arrange and attend a meeting. If I attend a meeting I want to be INFORMED. Not entertained by personal "opinion". I have plenty of
Re:Ah, the blogerati (Score:2)
Indeed. Scoble and Isreal both gush over how other people fell at their feet to recie
Re:Ah, the blogerati (Score:1)
I don't know. Shel Israel is the one with the child's cartoon on his blog mocking Vogels, while Scoble in his post owned up to the notion that perhaps his presentation wasn't entirely up to scratch.
Still, the inflated egos of the "bloggerati" is just stunning. These folks truly see themselves as modern-day Socrates (Socratii?) dispensing wisdom from the marble steps. Of course Socrates was actually adept at handling challenges to his
The guy doesn't want to kowtow to Israel? (Score:5, Insightful)
Is that likely to cause them any trouble? Amazon seems to be quite good at what they do.
I have a feeling that this is a case where he can tell Israel to kiss his ass.
Re:The guy doesn't want to kowtow to Israel? (Score:2)
Re:one good laugh (Score:4, Funny)
<br
Never wrestle a pig... (Score:5, Funny)
I'm not sure if I'm referring to the meeting in the story or the post on Slashdot, either...
Reads like a forum flamewar (Score:4, Funny)
Re:You read ALL the trackbacks? (Score:2)
Whoops (Score:2)
Exceptions (Score:3, Funny)
Got the market covered... (Score:2, Funny)
Synopsis for those whose time is valuable (Score:1, Funny)
Mommy, the fucker's been rude to me. He a bitch. Bitch. No, you a stupid bitch... Who's the bitch? Shut up, they're all bitches. Bitches.
plogs are RSS feeds! (Score:1)
I love me some drama... (Score:3, Funny)
Boy, was I wrong. I need to update my definition for that phrase.
What I heard when I read this summary (Score:2, Insightful)
Why is this news we give a flying leap about?
Classic case of pundits versus practitioners (Score:5, Insightful)
My feeling is that this CTO is in the position that well-meaning people are happily giving him advice all the time about what Amazon should be doing. He has limited resources in terms of time and money, so he needs a well-primed bullshit filter to make sure that he's not wasting his time. The first thing you do when talking to a consultant is to establish their bona fides, and to test them on the basis for their recommendations. You can start to believe their general statements, when you can see that their conclusions are based on real research and not thought experiments.
When someone is using the phrase "you just don't get (whatever subject)" I counter that it's up to them to convince me. There were lots of people putting crazy valuations on internet stocks in the late 90s. When you asked them how they justified the valuations, they would come up with over-optimistic projections about the amount of money that could be made from the net. Often they would assume that one company's revenues would be greater than the entire spending on that product category. Eventually the conversation would get to a stage where it was clear that they had no data to support their hypotheses, and they would wheel out the phrase "you just don't get it".
They could just as easily have said "oh ye of little faith". That's appropriate in a religious setting, but not where my clients' money is concerned. It's also my experience that people who have faith in irrational things tend to view any aggressive questioning as rude. I remember one of my analysts getting very upset when it was pointed out to her that her opinion on a particular company was at odds with her own facts - her only defence was to scream at me for being rude. Often if people have no real counter-arguments, they react to bad news and criticism by criticising the way it was delivered.
Re:Classic case of pundits versus practitioners (Score:2)
Seriously - parent poster has it exactly, and if I had the points the would be yours.
Re:Classic case of pundits versus practitioners (Score:2)
Re:Classic case of pundits versus practitioners (Score:1)
Re:Classic case of pundits versus practitioners (Score:1, Funny)
s/math/engineering/ optional....
s/thier/their/ for good measure.....
Re:Classic case of pundits versus practitioners (Score:1)
When a well-meaning, but single-minded, zealot comes into a company, advocating the wonders of a single typ
This proves only 2 things (Score:1)
1. Amazon is a serious company that's about "Getting Work Done", not the very vague "Getting It", which is about the same as "Being In". Seeing that Amazon is a successful dotcom for years, I say they 'Get It'
2. Bloggers want to whine, preferably for money, and think everyone should love them, and be and think the same. You can blog about what you want, just pretend it's the greatest thing in the world.
The whole blogosphere is nothing more than a bunch of self-basting ego-fornicators.
Amazon CTO rips new ones... (Score:1)
Amazon "doesn't get it"? (Score:2)
Sounds like Amazon gets it plenty. (Score:2)
Amazonian Pie (Score:2)
Blog becomes a nauseating, overused word = the day the internet died
The Amazon CTO is on to something (Score:2)
Of course, this was only the second-best drama
just one more place to masturbate (Score:1)
We now need our employers to provide a soapbox, so we can engage in wanking at work on our blog in the two hours we dont spend on myspace/youtube/googlevideo/slashdot/heavy/fhm/st u ff.
it is a shame that scoble and israel can actually publish such fuzzy horseshit and be trea
Who's Ted? I'm Ted! (Score:2)
Here's my homepage [perljam.net] (including my notes about the Seattle P-I article [perljam.net]) and here's my blog entry [livejournal.com] about this. I'll continue revising it.
-ted (I left Amazon earlier this year)
Blog Discussions about Werner's Post (Score:1)
Bring back USENET (Score:2)
I followed the links and cross links to articles, blog entries that quote other blog entries... what do I get? Something worse than a USENET flamewar because the conversation is logically scattered in multiple places.
AOL turned off their USENET gateways. USENET is usable again, right?
Re:Nobody Cares (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Nobody Cares (Score:4, Funny)
Of course, they also said that about the cravatte, off-white nylon shirts with huge collars, pet rocks, steam cars and listening to live plays via the telephone. And they were right.
That said, no, I don't think blogging is a fad either; it's too useful for that.
Re:Nobody Cares (Score:1)
Re:Nobody Cares (Score:1)
Of course, they also said that about the cravatte, off-white nylon shirts with huge collars, pet rocks, steam cars and
Hang on - I've still got my pet rock. He's a 4 kilo banded vein of barytes and galena from the Bellshill mine at Strontian. Nicely sectioned to show off the banding. Country rock of granodiorite on one facet.
Trust me on this
Re:Nobody Cares (Score:1)
As a diary, it's nothing new (though you no longer need to sneak into your sister's room to find out that she got drunk and fucked five guys last night).
As a corporate communicat
Re:Nobody Cares (Score:1)
Re:Nobody Cares (Score:1)
Ouch, now my brain hurts. Who can think of something to finish this off with?