Snappy the Clam: A correction, sort of

Damn it, Jim, I'm a whiny developer, not a journalist

The first comments I read said that I should have disclosed that Dan Gillmor used our Manila software to edit his weblog, and is now using something else. It's true, but there are related things I could have disclosed, for example that we didn't charge Knight-Ridder for the service we provided, even though they ran ads on his site, and if Dan had wanted to take Manila or UserLand to task for technical issues, he could have kept his site, and his job.

Well, there's the problem with disclosure. When you don't do it, you lose your cred, and people think you have a different agenda. Of course, you do have a different agenda, but you could have saved a good deal of face had you said so. Now you just look like you're pissed off about KR switching to something else.

We did quite a bit of free development for Dan and the Merc, our compensation was learning, and having a great example of a pro using our technology to publish on the Web.

And the free advertising you milked it for. I'd say you were probably well repaid, given that Gillmor frequently mentioned you in his weblog while seldom also mentioning that he was using your product to write his column. I saw little complaint from you regarding that lack of openness.

No regrets about doing it, and when it came time for Dan to try something else, no regrets about that either.

Oh please. Just the very fact of this piece gives this sentiment the lie. Since this happened you've bitched and moaned about it using the convenient straw man of broken links. Best reach was the claim on the Knightridder forae that these 404s constituted a "loss of a significant part of the history of the Web." This is really about UserLand losing free high-profile advertising. Nothing more.

Snappy the Clam

Chowder is evil.

A correction, sort of