Valleywag
Sweater-bear editor Owen Thomas just sent the following email to staff here. It's so obviously designed to be leaked that my only reaction is: Owen, can you please not use the little asterisks for bullet points? Movable Type screws up the formatting when you blockquote them. MORE
Valleywaggers,As I've told you all personally, I've fired Jordan Golson. It's a sad decision; I will always be grateful to Jordan for contributions like the kicker "That seems easier" and the tag "We read Twitter so you don't have to"; but the parting was, perhaps, overdue.
In its wake, I wanted to reinforce some points I mentioned in our conversations:
1) Valleywag hasn't had any budget cuts. I'm sure the usual bloggers who blog about blogging will find a way to prove otherwise by counting the number of posts about Scoble or something, but they're wrong. Both Melissa and Paul will be posting more than previously.
2) If you read elsewhere that Denton only cares about pageviews now, they're wrong. If we've given you that impression, we're sorry. Here's a straightforward list of our priorities, starting with the most important:
* Covering the news of the day that's vital to the Valley — artfully, distinctively, and completely
* Giving our readers insight and insideriness they won't get anywhere else
* Telling the story of the Valley as a human one, not as a series of dry tech trends or stock tips3) We have an opening for a Valley-based reporter. To be clear, this is not a replacement slot for Jordan Golson. It is a more senior role, for someone with deep Valley sources and a passion for Valleywag's mission.
Yours,
Owen
Comments
can you cover the news that's vital to the valley instead? thanks.
* Covering the news of the day that's vital to the Valley - artfully, distinctively, and completely
I have to agree with Paul on this begging to be leaked. Why else would Owen take such an obvious shot at Techcrunch?
"Telling the story of the Valley as a human one, not as a series of dry tech trends or stock tips"
What a lame e-mail.
Grow a pair, Owen!
Jordan was a really, really, really good writer. Is there some other metric that you guys use to evaluate your writers? I mean seriously, we get Jackson West in place of him? That's like getting a guy that cannot play baseball in place of Mickey Mantel.
"someone with deep Valley sources and a passion for Valleywag's mission"?
That's the kind of job description details Valleywag would be the first to laugh hard about :)
You know what would make for great copy? If Owen reconsidered and brought him back, but for less money per post. And then Jordan could write critical stories about Owen, kinda like the bad guy on a soap opera. They do this on the soaps all the time! Err, so they tell me.
@WagCurious: Jackson West kicks Jordan's ass. I mean, as a writer. I don't know about literal asses.
Oooh, more posts from Melissa. Those will surely cover all of those three bullet points:
* News of the day that's virile to the valley
* Giving readers insideriness... lets not go there
* Telling the story of the valley through anything in the sex industry tenuously connected to the valley.
That seems easier.
Yeah, Jordan wasn't bad. WTF?!
No Jordan in exchange for more Paul and Melissa? Deal.
Writing destined-for-leakage emails that include "I've fired X and it was probably overdue" in the first graf doesn't seem like it does much to help a guy's chances for gainful employment. Is responding to Gasbag McArrington worth giving Golson a wedgie on his way out the door?
Maybe you can write him a LinkedIn recommendation that reads "I fired Jordan and I probably waited too long to do it. He knows why."
@FlakJack: Gawker Media eats its young. :-(
Jordan was one of the best part of Valleywag. We'll see how Melissa does, but I usually ignore her stuff.
Now who will read Twitter so we don't have to, Owen?
Gawker eats its Olds, too.
jordan was one of the non-negative parts of valleywag. denton should just fire owen. i think that would raise site traffic quite a bit. images like the one above scare both young and old.
@categorically: Yeah, no one will admit to reading Melissa's "how to manage your hooker" posts, but she gets all the page views. Quite a mystery.
[www.glarkware.com]
@Paul Boutin: Conclusion: Gawker eats everything, young old, rich, poor... everything except Owen "Sweater Bear" Thomas (pictured, left).
damnit, that image thing didn't work. i may yet buy the bastard that t-shirt though.
@Annalee Newitz: Speaking of the ass kicking capabilities of Gawker Media's writers and editors, I would pay good money to see you and Owen go at it with pole axes, Star Trek style (see below). Owen's got 1960s era Kirk hair, and no offense, but you've totally got the vulcan-look going on. Who would be McCoy?
+ Watch video
@fishneversleep: Put some Bono shades on him and he looks like Boutin
Since we're already in Soap Opera territory, will the actor that played Jordan come back with an eye-patch, playing his separated-at-birth twin? That would rock.
@crasher: Agreed. The only thing I regret about Paul publishing my memo is how crashingly boring you all must find it.
@Owen Thomas: Based on the pageview count, crushingly boring appears to be amazingly popular.
@BartKela:
How about that? $12!
[valleywag.com]
Paul:
I must decline your job offer. As you noted when we met, I could be the greatest Valley insider if I traded info for gambling debts. Unfortunately, my bottom-line-oriented employer objected my proposal. Violently. I'll be OK eventually.
@Jordan Golson: Are you saying that each pageview earns sixth-tenths of a cent?
That would mean that today's Top Five Stories earned $38?!?
It's kind of brutal to get a bonus for a memo firing someone, no?
For the geographically retarded, 'Valley' = the 650 and 408, not you car-less heathens in SF.
@BartKela: Amusingly, I'm betting that icon face Owen is using for his comments is actually how he views himself.
Always has come across as a bit of an arse, this just reinforces it.
I suppose Jordan mightve been making him a bit insecure...best of luck finding a new job bro. Just remember to put Owen's parting insult on your resume. A diss on the way out from Gawker is viewed as a + in the rest of the journalistic world. ;)
I'm sorry -- so why, exactly, did Jordan get fired? Anyone? Bueller?
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