Author: Leon

Jason Calacanis is known for many things, but I tend to associate him most with the 9th inning of the Gillmor Gang. It was just like when a baseball team is clearly out of the race and they start bringing in rookies to try out for next year. Sure, this guy might hit a few batters, but he also racks up a bunch of strike outs. And it’s fun to watch.

Earlier today, Jason outlined a technique for getting his attention by posting to a blog, “New Calacanis link-bating rules”. I’m sure it’s occurred to him that this technique works fairly well for any clueful citizen of the 21st century blogtropolis. That was part of my point when I wrote “The Unlinked Link”. Here’s a more succinct theory: you can say something nice and interesting (in that order), and the right people tend to hear you, tend to pay attention.

I’ve always felt that being nice matters. If someone complements me, I’m more apt to focus on what they are saying. If someone starts a conversation with something negative, I’ll spend some energy on presenting my side of the argument, which leaves less attention to be aimed at what they are trying to communicate.

You must follow up your polite attitude with something interesting. Just kissing butt won’t cut it. If someone goes on and on complementing me (stop laughing–it happens!), I will find it hard to pay full attention if there isn’t some interesting content mixed in.

I wonder if Jason might appreciate my being “elitist” and “selfish” by referring to people as clueful and by not using anchor tags. I’m not giving link love, but I am giving real love, Google unlinked love.

The reason being nice matters is that it’s a benevolent universe. And lest anyone doubt that I’m nice, please refer to the self-deprecating humor two paragraphs ago. Dave Winer recommended this style of humor recently. But before I start a full-on Douglas Hofstadter impersonation, I will halt this post before it become too self-referential. This is the last sentence in this post.

I love Jim Turner’s recent post about how saying “just google my name” is becoming a substitute for handing out business cards among the tech elite.  (Yes, if you google “just google my name”, you’ll find his post.)  This is another expression of how linking is not necessary any more.

When I read this, it made me google myself.  Of course, you won’t find me if you google “Leon”.  You’ll end up in Spain.  But if you google “Leon Atkinson”, you will find me.  In fact, I now fill up the first page.  That surprised me.  For the longest time I was number one, but the jazz guitarist named Leon Atkinson was number two.  It looks like his site went away, and now I can hardly find anything about him.

It makes me want to print up a bunch of moo.com cards that just have my picture on one side and my name on the other.

What’s Bad? Telling people they are less worthy of living than a fish.

What’s Worse? Telling people they are less worthy of living than a potential person.

What’s Worst? Fully accepting the implications can drive you insane, after which you might do anything, including shoot a bunch of innocent students.

Frederic, who writes The Last Podcast blog, wondered why Scoble keeps promoting his link blog and what value it is.

The reason I read it and find it valuable is that it brings interesting items to my attention. And while there may be some noise from my perspective, Scoble is unlikely to link something purely to get paid or get praise. Contrast this to posts on Digg. There are many, many people spending a lot of energy to equal what one person is doing. Plus, I have to wonder if some of the oddball links that appear in the Digg top posts aren’t ads.

Now, do I value Scoble’s or anyone else’s analysis? Of course. I have a separate folder in Google Reader called “Vendor Sports” that I read more often and always first. These bloggers include Doc Searls, Dave Winer, Steve Gillmor, Dana Gardener, Mike Arrington, Robert Scoble and, yes, Frederic. 15 to 30 minutes a day keeps in me in the loop.

When it comes to commentary on Digg, I don’t value it. I got tired of clicking twice to get to the real story, and I found someone who’s massaging the Digg feed to point directly at the story.

This situation reminds me of the theory that the right positions in a small set of stocks will get you the same performance as the entire universe of equities. Maybe there’s a parallel to a good mix of stocks and bonds versus a good mix of link blogs and commentary blogs. I’ve developed my portfolio of feeds, and I’m happy with the performance.

I think I figured out the following from listening to Steve Gillmor. Thanks to Google (Search and/or Alerts), there isn’t much point to hyperlinking references in your text. Clueful people know how to grab terms and search for them in Google Search. Interested people run a Google Alert on their name or their blog’s name.

You can kind of count on clueful and interested people to notice if you mention their name in a post. So, to Robert Scoble I should reply, “you’re certainly welcome.” I still was pleasantly surprised to get a shout back.

Will Parker asked on his blog, Channeling Design, whether Scoble or I needed more irony in our diets. If he thinks digg top stories are low quality and I was actually criticizing Scoble’s links, I wasn’t. Or maybe Tim O’Reilly’s post was meant to be sarcastic. I totally didn’t get that. Finally, if he’s trying to get my attention because he’d like to interview at Clear Ink…I can make that happen.