There is a huge ruckus going on in the echo chamber called blogosphere about link love and how tough it is for a new/obscure blogger to get recognition. As I read the main protagonists of this latest slugfest, I keep thinking of Macbeth:

Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
- Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5

I started reading TechCrunch last summer, when it just started out. If I remember right, there were only some 60 odd posts by Mr. Arrington then. I remember plugging TechCrunch enthusiastically because the passion and interest of Mr. Arrington leaped off the posts. But then, the whole Web2.0 was a new, new thing back then (hard to believe this was only 12 months back…ahh the arrow of time, especially in Internet) and it was worth getting passionate about. Ruby on Rails (as a non-techie, I have no idea what this means) was relatively new, Ajax was still a brand of C-P and men were men. The startups were blazing new trails and no wonder Mr. Arrington got excited. Hell, I used to be all agog sitting many thousands of miles away from the epicenter! At some point, because of all this attention that Mr. Arrington poured on the area, a lot of startups reached out to him and made him the messiah of Web 2.0. All well deserved. At some point however, it started to sour. I don’t quite remember the time, but sometime early this year, I no longer cared much if I visited TechCrunch every day. It appeared to me that the sheer quantity of startups had somehow buried the high quality businesses. TechCrunch started to get more and more in-crowded. Most of the reviews and coverage seemed to be targeted at a very specific group of people: tech, based in California and heavily involved in the Web 2.0 sector. Most of the companies covered just do not sound interesting to me (someone who lives thousands of miles from Silicon Valley, literally as well as figuratively). That’s when I thought Mr. Arrington had created a monster in TechCrunch. The blog (now it is more like an institution) has become a voracious machine that demanded more and more attention, news and support. The parties became bigger and bigger and the passion was gone. Mr. Arrington no longer sounds excited and delighted while sharing news about a startup. I see him distracted by sideshows, injured egos and trifles these days. It is something like a messiah who fought to spread his message, succeeded big time, achieved his goal and then finds out he still has another 100 years to live with nothing to fight for. Nothing significant that is.

Mr. Arrington caught the tiger of success by the tail. Now he has to ride it for all its worth.

The second protagonist of this serialized vendetta is Mr. Nick Carr. I love to read him. He is the best contrarian writer the technology sector has seen for many years. Sitting outside the industry, I believe technology/silicon valley needs some one like him. When he shouted “IT Doesn’t Matter” it was the same as the boy shouting the emperor has no clothes. I also remember thinking that most of the reactions in both the cases were near identical. As the devil’s advocate and court jester (used in the best possible way), Mr. Carr is awesome. He is original, provocative (I don’t recall anyone critically examining Wikipedia until he burst onto the blogging scene) and has a nasty sense of humor.

He is absolutely right that it is very tough to get recognition in the blogosphere. It should be. I definitely don’t want to be deluged by thousands of blogs all of which are popular, famous and worth my attention. Just as 9 out of 10 new businesses fail, 9 out of 10 blogs should sink into obscurity. There is no conspiracy here; the system is not gamed. The system is intrinsically biased. We have to deal with it or take our toys and go home.

Nick Carr is doing his job very well; but I am sad to see Mike Arrington slowing down. One can only hope that Mr, Arrington realizes there is a new skeptic in the chamber, who needs to be answered with passion and precision. Mr, Arrington needs Mr. Carr.The messiah and the skeptic. One needs the other. That is why, I get the feeling this is more like professional wrestling than fists of fury. And that is why, I was reminded of that quote from Macbeth.