Douchebaggery in Online Business (FS013)

There are people who do business in ways that turn your stomach. They’re willing to do unethical things, take advantage of people, and sacrifice their audience on the altars of profit and short term gains.

In this episode we explore this kind of business and provide the counterpoint, complete with a mind-boggling quote from Walt Disney, some tough-love sentiment from John Gruber and advice from one of the original big bloggers to folks just starting out.

We also talk about how knowing who the “bad guy” is in your industry will give you more direction, purpose, and focus.

Here’s to the idea that we can all focus a little less on the tactics of making a buck and a little more on the art of providing real, human value.

Don’t do stuff that seems profitable but potentially messes up why people like you.”

Merlin Mann

There is an easy formula for doing it wrong: publish attention-getting bullshit and pull stunts to generate mindless traffic. The entire quote-unquote “pro blogging” industry — which exists as the sort of pimply teenage brother to the shirt-and-tie SEO industry — is predicated on the notion that blogging is a meaningful verb. It is not. The verb is writing. The format and medium are new, but the craft is ancient.”

John Gruber

Show Notes:

Scamworld: ‘Get rich quick’ schemes mutate into an online monster | The Verge

The Good Show | Radiolab — “there is no doubt that today’s plants and animals carry the genetic legacy of ancestors who fought fiercely to survive and reproduce. But in this hour, we wonder whether there might also be a logic behind sharing, niceness, kindness … or even, self-sacrifice. Is altruism an aberration, or just an elaborate guise for sneaky self-interest?”

Is Marketing the Scourge of the Internet?

How NOT to Be a Marketing Douchebag (Without Becoming a Broke Fool)

DIYThemes

Givers, Takers, and Matchers: The Surprising Science of Success | Brain Pickings

Chris Guillebeau

Chris Johnson of Simplifilm — “sales is simply being intelligent enough to be in the right place at the right time.” If you haven’t yet, seriously, get into Fizzle and watch this interview. Sensational.

Merlin Mann’s Advice to Bloggers Who Want to Take it Seriously

43f Podcast: John Gruber & Merlin Mann’s Blogging Panel at SxSW | 43 Folders — required listening for any blogger. (at least in Chase’s opinion)

Marco on craft porn — why we’re all getting a bit too precious about “craft” and “work” and how better to think about it.

Chase’s sad news. Here’s a longer article of notes about the experience. There’s more music and thoughts to scan through on his tumblr.