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June 06, 2005
John Dvorak On Blogging, Tagging, and All That Fringe Lunacy
Posted by Stowe Boyd
I locked horns with John Dvorak a few years ago when he fired off some not-very-well-considered flames about the stupidity of instant messaging (see Dvorak Weighs In On IM, An Exchange With Dvorak, and Dvorak Relents). The interchange followed what I believe to be the MO for Dvorak: he makes wild pronouncements about the inutility or outright stupidity of some technology and its adherents, someone calls him to task and is called stupid, and then he caves or says he didn't mean it (because he is already off on his next harangue). More recently, Leslie Martinich got in a Dvorak headlock, when Dvorak claimed that "concept of disruptive technology" "the biggest crock of the new millennium" and Leslie called him an idiot, justifiably. In particular, I realized that I was dealing with a toad when he attacked me for using the term "value proposition":
"to tell you the truth these VC phrases such as "value proposition" -- which is a completely meaningless phrase -- do nothing to help your argument.
combining these two words is nothing less than silly
I'm guessing that what you mean to use is "worth" as in I don't understand the worth of IM. This may be true. Or possibly I do understand it and reject it anyway. But instead of saying it simply you use the condescending language of Silicon Valley 20-something bullshitters trying to sound important. So how can I take this seriously?
But, of course, I have become used to being taken seriously.
So, now Dvorak suggests that A-list bloggers are a bunch of off-the-map self-idolators:
[from
To Tag or Not to Tag, That Is the Question]
The influential bloggers should be defined here. These are people whom you've never heard of, but whom other influential A-list utopianist bloggers all know. I reckon there are about 500 of them. He (or she) influences other like-minded bloggers, creating a groupthink form of critical mass, just like atomic fission, as they bounce off each other with repetitive cross-links: trackback links, self-congratulatory links, confirmations, and praise-for-their-genius links. BOOM! You get a formidable explosion -- an A-bomb of groupthink. You could get radiation sickness if you happen to be in the area. Except for Wired online and a few media bloggers, nobody is in the area, so nobody outside the groupthink community really cares about any of this. These explosions are generally self-contained and harmless to the environment.
After my previous go-around with Dvorak, I know better than to contact him directly. I have learned that he is a troll, and he doesn't really stand for anything. His technique is to throw darts at whatever trend has a sign of life, and to put on his fools cap and cut some capers for four or five paragraphs. This likely satisfies some cabal of equally negative pooh-poohers, who he as accumulated after decades of this nonsense. He is the Jerry Springer of IT Journalism, and we should simply change the channel. You will not be able to change his "mind" since he is not really interested in discourse, he is a fatuous actor, and beneath the greasepaint there is... nothing.
As a result, I recommend to all and sundry that it is pointless to dig into his arguments against blogging or tagging, because there is really no antagonist behind the barrage of words. He is a cardboard cut-out, not a real adversary. I have probably expended more words than he deserves, but based on my experience with him, and the concerns of other bloggers (see here and here), I wanted to head this off. I don't even consider this a media convulsion because of the threat that blogging poses to mainstream media: Dvorak is not launching a polemic against blogging and bloggers because he's threatened, but just because he needs to rant every month in his column, and this month it was blogging and tagging that wandered into his crosshairs.
Comments (10)
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1. PJ Doland on June 7, 2005 09:20 AM writes...
I've got an idea. Maybe if we all just start ignoring Dvorak maybe he'll stop writing stupid things.
Permalink to Comment2. orcmid on June 7, 2005 11:47 AM writes...
Well, I have to tell you that as a bystander, this kind of ad hominem rant appears to be no different than what you're complaining about.
I get that you are irked about your interactions with Dvorak, and also the way he seems to deal with topics doesn't work for you. To attribute all of that other stuff to him, while perhaps self-satisfying for you, is dismaying to me as one of your recent readers.
I am not going to choose sides in this cat fight. There's just too much of that going around. I don't think there's a conversation here, you know. Let's have more civility in the discourse, please.
Permalink to Comment3. hxa on June 7, 2005 12:28 PM writes...
On use of the term 'value proposition', I think Dvorak is more right than wrong. At least, animosity to such buzzphrases is only good taste.
Permalink to Comment4. rfid4dna on June 7, 2005 01:49 PM writes...
Dvorak might have a point about 'critical mass.' People in the know, slashdotters and so forth, talk about the future of this technology like its already been accepted. I'm guilty of it too, having recently spoken to a room full of my info & library science classmates about the virtue and wonder of rss feeds only to have them ask, "what's an rss feed?"
Permalink to Comment5. Stowe Boyd on June 7, 2005 01:55 PM writes...
orcmid -
The guy called me a bullshitter for using the term 'value proposition'. I could care less about civility, per se. When someone is a loud arrogant twit, I naturally say so. What I am pointing out is that Dvoark does this regularly, and so new unsuspecting folks might believe that he has thought long and hard onthese topics, when in fact he is simply setting out with the goal of throwing mud. When I tried to have an interchange on the issue itself, he attacked my word choice. Everyone should beware of this clown.
Permalink to Comment6. jrw on June 8, 2005 04:58 AM writes...
Many years ago a friend gave me a hard time for saying "utilize" instead of "use", for the same reason Dvorak poked at you. My friend was right, and as painful as it might be for you to admit it, Dvorak and orcmid might be right too.
It also appears that your defensive response to orcmid supports the main point he/she was trying to make. i.e. from a distant observer's perspective, your rant is no more satisfying to read than Dvorak's.
A friend once suggested to me that "it's always safer to take the high road" when dealing with conflict. I haven't always followed his advice, but I wish I did.
Permalink to Comment7. Adriana on June 8, 2005 05:06 AM writes...
Stowe, you are spot on.. the guy is a clown and his livelihood depends on the few custard pies he throws at anything that is interesting to others.
He is plain wrong about the A-listers and their interactions not having any impact. If he knew anything about innovation and progress, well, he'd know that there is always a group of people who are building and creating whatever that new thing is, without seemingly any impact on the world at large.
Each of those A-listers is influencing a group of people who do not exist in a vacuum. They are working away, implementing their ideas and innovations gradually. It takes time but it's happening. People like Dvorak will never see that - almost feel sorry for him... No, not really.
Permalink to Comment8. Robert K. Foster on June 9, 2005 12:20 PM writes...
As a long time member of the Apple user sub-minority I am very much familiar with the rantings of John Dvorak, as most users of Apple computers who also read the Apple related news are. Value proposition, Value preposition, valid proposal, whatever! The guy feels that trashing whatever technology he cares to talk about in his column is where it's at. Most of us suspect that it is just his way of insuring traffic to his site and keeping his name publicly circulating.
Permalink to Comment9. Kevin Marks on June 14, 2005 06:02 AM writes...
Maybe it's time for a return visit from John C Mahler.
http://gonzoengaged.blogspot.com/2002_04_14_gonzoengaged_archive.html
http://epeus.blogspot.com/2003_11_01_epeus_archive.html#106958798973530794
Permalink to Comment10. jrw on June 15, 2005 12:44 PM writes...
I left a comment here on June 8 using an adhoc, never used or created e-mail address that gets to me through a catch-all. The next day I started receiving fraudulant e-mail messages (5 total to date) impersonating eBay and PayPal. The messages solicit account information in order to update my account and keep it active. All of the messages are sent to the e-mail address that I entered here.
I sent messages to info@corante.com on Jun 9 and June 12, and I used their webform to send a message on June 13 in order to inform Corante of this possible security issue. I haven't received a response yet.
I don't know if my e-mail address was stripped randomly from the http stream on the Internet; if it was stripped from posting specifically to the Corante site; or if it was pulled from the Corante database, but for the sake of all those who comment here, it would be helpful for Corante to evaluate what happened.
p.s. I apologize for this post, but I don't know how else to get my message to the Corante people.
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