Looking for things to complain about?
I usually steer away from controversy on this blog. I said nothing during "Rory-Gate" that Ted and Roy started even though I had an opinion. Now, to be clear, Roy and I are blog-friends, we've chatted, emailed, we are cordial. Regulator kicks the llama's ass - Roy's a fine fellow.
That said, Roy, are you trying to be a commentator, or are you just trying to stir crap up? Seriously, relax.
Roy commented on my Apprentice.NET post and thought that winning the tickets to the Influencer's Dinner was cheesy and represented some kind of larger disintegration of the social fabric of the blogosphere, or possible space-time. Note, the emphasis is mine.
Sure, I know some of this is tongue in cheek sorta thing, but still. When did Bloggers become rock stars to win dinners with? ".Net Influencers"? hmm... I know these are all great people but C'mon! just wear the "I'm a Legend, worship me." T-shirt and be done with it already.
Do we really want to cultivate the cult of the worshiping masses? In the last year I've seen Bloggers become celebrities, celebrities become legends, and I've seen legends become myths. We need to remember (and especially those who are at the helm) who we are and what we are here to do. We should not get all full of ourselves creating contests for people to meet us. We should just meet them. We should not be handing out autographs, but software, tips, tricks and code. Oh and gadgets. I have to say that yes, I'd love to meet with each and every one of the “cool bunch” but I would feel really awkward trying to win their grace through a contest. What's next? A Don Box coffee mug? wasn't the “software legends” thing enough? Isn't this all getting a little out of proportion? [RoyO]
A Don Box coffee mug? Hell, I've got his rookie card! (By the way, buy a ComputerZen.com coffee mug!)
This isn't a bloggers dinner. There'll be Program Managers there, people who write specs, people in charge of .NET namespaces, people who influence the direction of the .NET Framework. YES there will be some MVPs there, and YES there will be some RDs there. Microsoft decides who is an influencer.
Dude, I was very happy to meet Don Box, and I'd be even happier to meet Tim Berners-Lee. However, I didn't say myth, legend, king or queen, celebrity or worship me. I specifically said "Illuminati" with the definition being "#5: Any persons who profess special spiritual or intellectual enlightenment" with the operative word here being profess.
It's just a velvet rope, and if you don't want to party in the champagne room, don't go to the club. The dinner existed (I didn't invent the dinner) before my little promotion and dinners like it will exist after. This is all in fun, there's no intentional elitism.
If you don't want to meet Donald Trump, then don't try out for the Apprentice.
About Scott
Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.
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"You'll have a card with the faces of Bloggers and RDs that you know and love. Get that individual to initial over their face"
Rory-Gate was the biggest piece of shit that I had to deal with this year, and I don't see why it should have to happen again.
The contest looks like fun - the Apprentice theme looks like fun.
If you start eating babies or something, then I'll get freaked out. In the meantime, however, I say keep doing what you're doing.
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Like I said - I would *love* to meet all the folks, just that "win" part or bloggers giving autographs part that gives me a bit of a shiver.
When did this turn into a Start Trek convention? (and to be totally PC I'll add "not that there's anything wrong with that..")
"The dinner existed (I didn't invent the dinner) before my little promotion and dinners like it will exist after. This is all in fun, there's no intentional elitism. "
I didn't throw anything at you specifically - but at the people at the helm in general. And I know this is all in good fun. But sometimes instead of just accusing people of "trying to stir crap" up you just might want to listen to their opinions. They might not have an agenda.