i'm an acquired [dis-]taste...
Your comments on HN are clear, simply written, and to-the-point. When you defend your arguments here, you make perfect sense. I'm not sure why you write the way you do on your blog. Could it be that you're just looking for attention/linkbait?
Please, stop. You're famous enough in startup circles to be able to run on the strength of your ideas alone. I think people here are beginning to realize that - once we parse through your language we'll find some fantastic ideas. There are many more people who can't/won't get past the parsing (for instance, while I like your ideas, you're not in my feedreader). There's no reason not to write simply, and clearly, the way you write on HN now.
Right?
but really... i'm not trying to write for fame & fortune, i'm just having fun. (ok, yeah i'm pretty sure it's also somewhat effective but honestly i do it as much for personal enjoyment as for public linkbaiting)
anyway, i appreciate the more straightforward way that folks like PG, Chris Dixon, and Fred Wilson write (all are among my favorites), but it just isn't quite my thing.
apologies if i end up seeming a bit off the wall.
maybe we can clear it up over a beer sometime.
cheers,
Alright, Dave, fair enough. I don't necessarily like the way you write, but I'm convinced enough to subscribe to you. Best of luck in your future writing.
It's pretty much the only place to go for parts that are hard to find. (for example, most of the places that claimed to have my x60s battery in fact did not. the ebay seller, thanks to the ebay reputation system, did. I usually go to ebay over unknown resellers on the 'net simply because if an ebay seller says they have part X, they usually do.)
the other major trend is that both search and social distribution have substantially eroded eBay's original network effect as a destination for buyers & sellers... now both search (via SEM) and social (via FB & other networks) are also able to acquire & influence buyers.
anyway, i probably rag on eBay a little too much since i used to work there (via PayPal), but they have slowed down on the innovation quite a bit. that used to be offset by them buying innovative services, but that has also slowed down in recent years.
Sure, you can buy shit from your friends on facebook; I do that without an online social network, through mailing lists and other informal networks. But I don't think that really competes with ebay in any meaningful way.
