
I was the one who came forward about the Macbook Air - aston
http://sam.bluwiki.com/blog/2010/03/confession-i-was-one-who-came-forward.php
======
richcollins
_Daniel recognizes his mistake and is simply trying to put this issue behind
him. I regret that this post might make it more difficult for Daniel to do
that._

Why the hell does everyone seem to tiptoe around this guy? Asking for bribes
isn't some sort of youthful indiscretion, its indicative of a fundamental
personality trait that won't change as he gets older.

 _The more I learn about Jason and Loren, the clearer their malicious intent
becomes._

Its unfortunate that he didn't do his homework on this one before contacting
Calcanis.

From my interactions with Sam, he seems like a good guy trying to do right by
others by making something useful for them. He shouldn't be in any way
apologetic to these leeches.

~~~
pg
I don't think it's a fundamental personality trait. Bribery is common in
certain countries. Do you think it's because the people in such countries have
different fundamental personality traits? Seems more likely this sort of thing
is largely determined by the situation. The kid may have just gotten carried
away by the power he suddenly found himself holding.

~~~
cglee
Let's say honesty is a fundamental personality trait. One can be honest and
bribe in a country where bribery is accepted. That same person wouldn't in a
country where bribery is illegal. It's not the act of bribing that determines
one's personality trait - it's the honesty.

~~~
nostrademons
I don't really think honesty is a fundamental personality trait either.
Consider that in polite adult society, there're many times that you are
_expected_ to lie, and it's considered rude if you don't. If a women asks, "Do
I look fat?", do you say yes? If someone asks you "How are you?", do you go on
about how your life sucks and you wish you had their job?

It's more that there are certain culturally-dependent rules of behavior, and
considerate people eventually learn and conform to those rules. Oftentimes the
rules make zero sense in logical terms; they evolved through long years of
accumulated customs.

Most teenagers are still learning those rules, and part of learning them
involves breaking them. Didn't you ever push the boundaries as a teenager? Do
something that perhaps your parents and other authority figures disapproved
of?

~~~
cglee
I was just commenting on how it could be possible that accepting bribery in
one country, but not in another doesn't imply a different fundamental
personality trait, as was assumed in the example.

------
jeff18
_"On February 5th, Jason Calacanis posted some thoughts on the Techcrunch
"extortion" story. I found his article insightful and well written. Wanting to
reach out to someone about the issues I've been struggling with, I emailed him
and confessed my involvement."_

This is the first time I have actually performed a real facepalm.

~~~
ax0n
+1. Reaching out to someone? Not a horrible idea. Reaching out to Calacanis?
What in the hell was he (not) thinking? He's the nosy watercooler gossip lady
of the blogosphere.

~~~
nailer
He's worse than that. Mahalo is Yahoo 1994 being sold to people as if it's
something else. I pity his investors.

~~~
michael_dorfman
It's much worse than that. Yahoo 1994 was providing some real value, in terms
of organizing and filtering information.

Yahoo 1994 would be something for Mahalo to aspire to.

~~~
ax0n
Wow! You guys are _harsh_. Love it. I should have been harsher. :P

------
cmelbye
I have to say, he handled it very well considering the circumstances. I don't
think Divvyshot was at fault here either, his responses to Daniel were
perfectly understandable.

~~~
staunch
It almost sounds like what happens in sexual harassment cases. The victim will
often not give a straightforward refusal, because they're trying to avoid the
consequences confrontation may lead to. It's not particularly admirable, but
it is _totally_ understandable.

~~~
mattm
I've lived in a few different countries and cultures and one thing I've
learned is that the reply "Maybe later" is a polite way of saying "I will
definitely not do it but I want to avoid any confrontation." It's actually
quite surprising how universal this is.

~~~
flog
Yes, good point - perhaps, because of Daniel's age and inexperience, he didn't
know about this social cue and kept on pushing it when he should have read
between the lines.

I'm sure we've all done dumb stuff in our youth we'd like to forget.

------
mediaman
Calacanis does not seem worth trusting based on this.

~~~
jasonmcalacanis
1\. I did forward the note to Loren, but I didn't think Loren would use it
this way.

2\. Loren shouldn't have and that was not cool.

3\. Daniel has problems and needs to get help. I feel bad for him because
doing something so extreme at a young age so publicly is, well, not good.

4\. Good on the company who turned Daniel in and who confessed--that's brave.
It was also really stupid and desperate to even consider, let alone promise,
giving a laptop in return for a blog post. Honestly, if you're company doesn't
get attention don't get desperate... just keep trying!

5\. Bad on me for sending this to Loren. I honestly didn't even read the whole
thing... I was like "oh here is an email from the dude who got extorted
cool... " I actually didn't think it was that big of deal.

6\. If you can do a story about Open Angel Forum on Thursday and get it to the
top slot on HN I will gladly give you an Apple Tablet.

Anyway, I've got more important things to attend to at 1AM than Daniel
extortion plot fall out.

peace and love,

jcal

~~~
jwr
Why do people downmod Jason's post? Disagreeing is not a reason for
downmodding. I was interested in his response, whatever it might be. I want to
judge for myself.

~~~
jasonmcalacanis
because they are Jason Haters.... Jayters.

there are a group of them who down vote everything i post... doesn't matter
how insightful... TEN DOWN VOTES!!

it's kind of funny.

~~~
niyazpk
I did not downvote your comment even though your comment sounded insincere and
provocative. I did not down-vote because it was already low on points. I think
most HN-ers hate downvoting.

 _there are a group of them who down vote everything i post... doesn't matter
how insightful..._

I don't have much experience in the industry other than reading a few blogs
and even I could not spot any _insights_ in most of your past comments in HN
(especially the ones from the SEOmoz debate).

 _Anyway, I've got more important things to attend to at 1AM than Daniel
extortion plot fall out._

Really? This is enough to piss off anyone who read it. As far as I can
understand you forwarded a private email. You have more important things to do
than attending to things you screwed up? I can't understand what is so
insightful in that.

(Good that you apologized to Daniel. Kudos)

~~~
jasonmcalacanis
<http://bit.ly/peacenlove>

------
ryanwaggoner
Yeah, you made some mistakes, but don't be _too_ hard on yourself. That kind
of situation is unexpected and when you're in the moment, it's hard to know
how to respond. Good on you for doing the right thing in the end, and for
coming clean about everything publicly now. In the end, a person's character
is less about never making mistakes than how you handle the mistakes you do
make.

------
mcav
Loren Feldman's threats against Divvyshot:

> _"If I were ipodrip and divvyshot, Id be be starting to think about damage
> control. Arrington cant hide you forever."_

> _"Divvyshot. you have 24 hrs."_

Veiled threats via Twitter? Come on. Unnecessarily dramatic and threatening,
childish even.

~~~
ianbishop
<http://www.1938media.com/crunchgate/>

A little heavier of a threat than just twitter but this Loren guy came out as
the biggest scumbag out of all of them for me.

~~~
nailer
Loren's just reporting it - and says he got his info from multiple sources.

He didn't ask for bribes, nor did he tell anyone he'd provide a bribe. Yes
he's a dirty, agressive man, that makes puppets of his enemies to mock them,
but that's just his personality - his ethics aren't being called into question
here.

------
dwwoelfel
This account contradicts what Daniel Brusilovsky said during his Mixergy
interview (<http://mixergy.com/daniel-brusilovsky/>).

From the interview transcript:

Interviewee: I mean, so there were conversations that I had with this company
and both in jokingly in manner and that they may have perceived as the real
thing.

Andrew: I see so you and I are sitting and talking and I might want you to
write about Mixergy for Tech crunch and I say listen Dan. Why don’t you write
for Mixergy? Why don’t you write about Mixergy on Tech crunch? No there’s
nothing, there’s no loops here. I say what if I give you this Mac book pro
that I’m writing? That kind of joke.

Interviewee: Exactly!

Andrew: We’re not giving you the Mac book pro but we’re kidding around.

Interviewee: Yeah

~~~
AndrewWarner
For what it's worth, Daniel told me who turned him into TC, but I agreed not
to say.

And these two accounts of the conversations contradict each other. What you
excerpted here is pretty much what he told me before the interview.

A few lines down from your excerpt:

Interviewee: There are IMs. They’re not made public and hopefully they won't
be made public.

~~~
grinich
_Daniel told me who turned him into TC, but I agreed not to say._

Kudos.

------
dasil003
I must be missing something (I haven't followed this story), but how is this
an issue at all for anyone except TC and their journalistic integrity? Am I
supposed to feel morally outraged that a tiny startup even just entertained
the idea of giving someone a gift in exchange for blog coverage? Is there
actually something here or just self-important silicon valley pundit drama?
(god I'm glad I unsubscribed from TC long ago)

~~~
ryanhuff
Seems like its a small start-up founder trying to protect his baby from PR
hungry wolves.

~~~
rooshdi
Yes, especially since these PR hungry wolves gave him 24 hours to confess
publicly before they put their own spin on what happened. I commend him for
coming out in good faith and being upfront and honest about the situation. I
definitely have more respect for him and Divvyshot as an organization after
this.

------
jaxc
I feel for Divvyshot, the actual event seems way beyond their control and this
has brought a whole new angle. It just makes me wonder how many other eager
startups may have/will/could be put in this kind of situation for 'positive
coverage', when they have a lot at stake in their business.

------
minalecs
I think you guys are way to easy on Daniel using the cover of youth and
naivety, at 17 you are more than capable of knowing this kind of behavior is
unacceptable. The only reason he would do extort someone like this is because
he is fully aware of the power of his position. If what Sam is saying is
true.. then there should be no excuse.

~~~
jasonmcalacanis
Correct.

Daniel wants to be treated like an adult when he is writing a story or
claiming to be the stage manager at TechCrunch50 (uhhh.... no, he wasn't).
Then he wants to be forgiven for a folly of youth when he extorts startups.

He's an adult, he f-ed up and he really never apologized correctly. "A line
was crossed" is not an apology... he really should have said "I tried to
extort thousands of dollars from companies in exchange for blogs posts and I
betrayed the trust of the people who helped me most in my professional life:
the TechCrunch team."

------
tlrobinson
Honest question: why does anyone listen to anything Loren Feldman says?

------
tdm911
Loren Feldman responds:

<http://www.1938media.com/crunchgate-what-makes-sammy-run/>

Me personally? I signed up for Divvyshot a few weeks ago and forgot about it.
I'm about to go check it out again now. I like Sam's attitude and honesty.

~~~
eslifka
The tone in that post by Feldman makes my skin crawl. I hadn't heard of him
before but I don't think I could ever read anything he's written now. Is he
always like that? ICK.

~~~
tdm911
sadly, yes. i used to read his blog when it was good natured poking of fun at
the tech industry (arrington, scoble etc) but since he seems to have developed
some issue with tech crunch, he has become vindictive, nasty and nothing more
than an internet troll.

------
patio11
This is one of those stories that I can't read without thinking "The Valley is
a wacky, wacky place".

~~~
davidw
A few other adjectives come to mind, but... yeah. Not sure having glanced at
this story really adds anything to my life. It just looks like a big "Internet
Drama" piece:-/ I'm sure it's important to those involved, but it really
doesn't affect my life.

------
starkfist
The worst part of this story is that it exposed me to the 1938media website. A
45 year old man making youtube puppet shows about bloggers? yikes.

------
ctingom
For what it's worth, I just signed up for Divvyshot. I had to fight hard not
to say "giving it a shot."

------
AdamN
Now I know not to trust Jason Calcanis. He always seemed like a good guy, if a
bit of a megalomaniac.

Anybody who forwards private emails is way beyond the pale of somebody who
offers a MacBook Air for good coverage. The latter is an ethical lapse, the
former is evidence of a deep character flaw.

Jason Calcanis owes the community a large, unequivocal apology through his
newsletter - without ads and hyperbole.

------
covercash
I had a long response to all of this drama typed out but in the end I decided
to simplify it down to this:

What part of this, if any, is constructive to the startup community?

~~~
_delirium
I wonder if there's a smallish set of keywords that one could filter to get a
less valley-drama-filled HN, with a higher percentage of that excellent tech
content. Maybe filter out anything involving "calacanis" and "techcrunch" and
see how it goes (though this particular post would be hard to catch, since the
title only alludes to it).

~~~
100k
Hacker Newspaper removes all TechCrunch stories: <http://hacker-
newspaper.gilesb.com/>

Wouldn't catch this story but it would remove a lot of drama.

------
smokinn
I find it ironic that by going around and routinely downvoting anything
jasonmcalacanis posts in these comments it makes them much easier to spot; I
simply scrolled down and read everything in light grey.

------
pilif
personally, I'm sick of this kindergarden. While I agree that journalistic
integrity is very important, I fail to see the gravity in this issue to
warrant it being blow out of proportions the way it is.

Who cares about some crappy MacBook Air (that whould not have been fun to work
with anyways) and a startup like so many others doing what so many others do?

There are so many much bigger issues than stuff like this. Get a grip.

Sorry. I had to vent. Now mod me down into oblivion. I guess European and US
cultures don't quite mix - over here, stuff like this just is no big deal.

------
aresant
Calacanis is going to love this - that man thrives on controversy, good and
bad, and we keep letting him back into the spotlight.

~~~
jasonmcalacanis
voted up

------
gojomo
I'm surprised the 'ask' was as blatant as it was; I thought it would have been
a sort of roundabout quid pro quo, "my project needs this, friends help me
with hardware, I make sure my friends get good TC coverage." But, Brusilovsky
was young and unsubtle!

------
sumeetjain
Regardless of whose story is correct (<http://www.1938media.com/crunchgate-
what-makes-sammy-run> vs. [http://sam.bluwiki.com/blog/2010/03/confession-i-
was-one-who...](http://sam.bluwiki.com/blog/2010/03/confession-i-was-one-who-
came-forward.php)), a real lesson for young people in this community emerged:
Your character and personality can be more powerful than your fame.

People here have commented on how thoughtful and helpful Sam is. Yet Loren's
tone of voice alone has made it probably impossible for his words to be taken
seriously. Imagine his above response written calmly - or even just
respectfully: He would stand a much better chance of being listened to.

And Jason's approach to the matter appears equally immature. I've never met
any of these players, but Sam sounds like he's much older than Jason or Loren.
This doesn't mean you have to sound like a "boring old guy" - but it does mean
that you give yourself an uphill battle when you speak like a child.

~~~
lotharbot
My only exposure to this has been this thread and the links posted in it. This
has allowed me to see Sam, Jason, and Loren in action. I have no chips in this
game, so to speak; having never heard of any of these people before today, I'm
as neutral an observer as they come.

Sam comes across as thoughtful, tempted to do something foolish and immoral,
but ultimately a guy who did the right thing.

Daniel (via secondhand sources) comes across as a fool who may have sacrificed
his career over a macbook, but who seems to have learned from his foolishness.
It remains to be seen how he'll weather this.

Loren and Jason don't come across as reasonable or trustworthy to me. None of
what they've said here or in the linked stories has made me think "these are
people I want to go to for information". Jason seems to have trouble taking
things seriously and he's made a lot of excuses for himself. Loren just comes
across as mean and vindictive. So I guess my contribution to this thread is to
say, Loren and Jason, you've created some image problems for yourselves. I
know I'll be taking anything I see your names attached to with a grain of salt
from here on out.

------
jackowayed
Irony: extorting someone into talking about how they were extorted.

Also, Loren just posted another piece on the matter. But I won't link to it
because it's total trash. It's one giant attack on Sam's character without
saying anything at all interesting.

And if you do go look at the post, be a good citizen and use adblock =]

------
yardie
Funny how when the FCC demanded that bloggers disclose any gifts they receive
while covering something they were all in arms about it. It was mandated to
avoid situations like this. If they want to be accepted as serious journalism
they have to expect to be treated as such. If you fuck up, lie, take bribes or
violate journalism ethics then expect to fired and hung out to dry.

------
petercooper
I love Scoble's response to this:

 _I'm more likely to check out Divvyshot because of this post. Thanks, off to
check it out!_

Any publicity is good publicity, it seems..

------
wheatthinz
[http://www.inquisitr.com/64659/like-meatloaf-through-a-
straw...](http://www.inquisitr.com/64659/like-meatloaf-through-a-straw-
crunchgate-drags-on/)

------
1938media
The only problem with all this nonsense is that Jason Calacanis wasn't the
only one who knew. In fact I probably knew before him. He was just the one who
Sam confessed to. Did that ever occur to any of you? In terms of this flaming
email so what? So Jason sent me an email that I can't even remember which is
probably due to the fact that it contained nothing I didn't already know. I
don't get this whole thing. No emails of any kind were printed, talked about
nothing. Here's my more theatrical response.

<http://www.1938media.com/crunchgate-the-blame-game/#respond>

~~~
johnmcdonald
Dude, you are seriously unbalanced. Do you have any talents other than yelling
into a video camera? Who appointed you the watchdog of tech industry ethics?

The worst you can say about Sam Odio is that he wasn't more timely and direct
with his refusal. As others have pointed out, saying maybe is often an easier
way of saying no. In the end he didn't provide the kick back and he did the
right thing by going to Techcrunch.

I'm sure you've got your own skeletons and as you so ominously warned Odio,
'you will get what's coming to you'.

Karma's a bitch.

~~~
petercooper
If you came in blind to Loren on this particular episode, sure, he comes off
as a bit of a tool, but he's playing this as theater. I don't know 100%, but
_I_ think he's playing a great "angry man" persona (in a similar way to how
Zed Shaw did for a while - just in video form).

I rarely agree with anything Loren says, but he makes for compelling, funny
watching. Take his recent review of ChatRoulette, for example:
<http://youtu.be/nMlTuS39zC0> \- watching Loren is like visiting one of those
theme restaurants that have deliberately bad service.

He also looks like my plumber, so that makes him pretty cool in my book.

~~~
johnmcdonald
No, I have seen a lot of his videos and he always comes off as a tool. I've
heard Loren and others justify his attacks on people as comedy, but comedy is
meant to be funny. And trust me when I say that the dude can dish it but he
certainly can't take it.

More to the point of this article though is that he threatened to expose
someone and possibly damage their reputation without any proof of wrongdoing.

There's nothing wrong with expressing your opinion about or making light of a
situation. What he did is closer to blackmail or defamation.

