found drama

I have been trying not to think about this too much but I find myself losing sleep over Anil Dash’s comments about the Stikkit reviews kicking around. The “stinger” line is easy enough to find:

I’d settle for one product review that said, “we’re not sure which direction this service is going, but the people behind it have a history of making magic happen”.

And “the starting line is not the finish line…”

No. No it’s not.

I have tried not to take this personally in light of the comments that I’d made in my review of Stikkit but it’s just in my nature (I suppose) to ruminate on these things. I don’t know if it’s the family I was raised in, the culture I came up in, or the company I work in … but: when you go public with your product (or findings or whatever) you are exposing yourself to the inevitable criticisms. You expect them. You need them. You welcome them. Because it’s not about you. It’s not about you or the four guys with whom you founded the company. It’s about the product. And the product is as vulnerable as it is valuable.

Anil even calls them “product reviews”.

It’s not about “values of n” or “Rael Dornfest”; it’s about Stikkit.

This is the dialogue into which we have engaged ourselves.

I do not believe I need to know anything about the history of the folks behind Stikkit. Or values of n for that matter. I think Stikkit’s speaks for itself. As I mentioned in my own review, there is something special and magical about it. It has potential. Oh so much potential. But it’s an unripened fruit dangling from the vine. And the folks that have gone in to sample the juice of its beta are stumbling away with the alkaline flavor and thinking to themselves… “Mmm… But that is next season’s harvest.”

If Anil Dash is saying that the reviews are worthless or disrepectful because they do not speak to the folks behind the product, then I must express some disagreement. I think each amateur tech blogger (such as yours truly) and each professional has what I can only think to call a civic duty to participate in the online dialogue about the product and its potential. Yes: civic duty.

I’m sure that the people behind it (the ones with the history of making magic happen) are eager for our feedback.

OK, now I think I feel better.

currently playing: Intermix “Anguish”

About Rob Friesel