
MG Siegler Will Become Our Apple Columnist, And Join CrunchFund As A VC - ukdm
http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/03/mg-siegler-will-become-our-apple-columnist-and-join-crunchfund-as-a-vc/
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nextparadigms
At least now he's finally getting the official label for what he's always
been: an Apple columnist.

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kenjackson
Apple columnist seems generous to me. Apple evangelist/advocate seems a lot
closer to what he does. He forms what I consider the trifecta of Apple
evangelists online: MG, Gruber, Dilger.

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joebadmo
I'd throw in Horace Dediu of Asymco and Marco Arment and maybe David Pogue. I
don't know who Dilger is.

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kenjackson
You don't know Dilger? Consider yourself lucky -- until now:

<http://www.roughlydrafted.com/>

~~~
ZeroGravitas
He also write the more partisan "news" items at appleinsider.com. Even the
people who register on a site called Apple Insider seem to think he's a bit
_out-there_.

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joebadmo
My opinion on MG Siegler cemented after the last fight he had with Dan Lyons.
I don't even really like Dan Lyons that much (though I was pretty amused by
Fake Steve Jobs). But this post:
[http://realdanlyons.com/blog/2011/09/28/kindle-fire-and-
the-...](http://realdanlyons.com/blog/2011/09/28/kindle-fire-and-the-tricky-
business-of-chasing-scoops/) seemed fair, reasonable, not hostile, and even
careful in giving credit where it was due. And it had a great point: that
we'll know when we know, and that the value of this type of "scoop" is close
to zero.

Siegler's response was a fairly vicious, direct ad hominem with no greater
point. [http://parislemon.com/post/10774472888/fake-steve-jobs-
funny...](http://parislemon.com/post/10774472888/fake-steve-jobs-funny-real-
dan-lyons-sloppy-lazy)

Judge for yourself. I did, and I've decided not to read his writing anymore.

~~~
Steko
I don't think very highly of either although both can commit journalism
occasionally. Dan Lyons was an SCO shill for years. MG Siegler's writing style
can best be described as a borderline parody of tech journalism meets pro
wrestling.

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tatsuke95
MG's writing is barely passable for a professional, his knowledge about
business and finance is lacking, and the subject matter he writes about is
generally...Apple.

Granted, he does produce a moderately insightful piece every now and then, but
to me, the fact that he's being recruited by old school media is telling; more
bad business decisions from people who don't "get it". Personally, I don't get
the appeal.

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timjahn
I love MGs writing and from what I know of him (admittedly just online through
TechCrunch), he seems like a cool guy.

But I'm failing to see how being a (great) writer translates into being a VC?

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vaksel
yeah agreed, in fact I'd say it's the wrong type of person for the job.

a writer on techcrunch tends to cover hype products with no real value

a VC on the other hand invests money into products that have to make money

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phil
Being a good investor is basically about "deal flow" and good judgment. Seems
like writing for the tech press gives you lots of practice at both.

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vaksel
yes, but all of that is brought to the table by Arrington

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lurker19
MG has been a successful Arrington employee/teammate for years, so...

Jessica never sold a startup, but seems to do fine on a VC team.

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xpose2000
From the outside looking in, it sure seems like TechCrunch is doing this so he
sticks around long-term. 2/3 of their most popular writers are gone and they
desperately want to hold on to him as TechCrunch moves into the arrington-less
era.

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phil
This is unfortunate. The rush-to-publish tech blogging format strips away
almost personality -- it's just incredibly hard to be fast enough and keep
anything.

MG was one of a very few writers who could handle the pace and maintain a
distinctive voice. I hope he's a great investor, but if it means less public
writing, the industry will be poorer for it.

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kloncks
Both, but only as a limited columnist at TechCrunch.

[http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/03/mg-siegler-will-become-
our-...](http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/03/mg-siegler-will-become-our-apple-
columnist-and-join-crunchfund-as-a-vc/)

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kanwisher
So who is really left thats a great writer, MG and Micheal were my favorite
posts.

~~~
Toddward
To be fair, I really, really enjoy a number of the guest posters on TechCrunch
- I find the third-party columns to be refreshing and informative. Tom
Anderson, Justin Kan, etc...

But you're right, it will be interesting to see what happens to TechCrunch now
without MG in a regular contributing position. With Arrington and Paul Carr
gone, most of TechCrunch's editorial "stars" have moved on.

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rhizome
The one who didn't flame out?

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jinushaun
So MG got to follow Arrington _and_ still write for Techcrunch? Talk about
exit strategy and lesson in keeping your bridges intact.

Also nice to know that he'll finally be labeled for what he really is, an
Apple fanboi.

