Valleywag
You thought we'd given up yet on the hunt for the author of Fake Steve Jobs, the spoof diary of the narcissistic Apple founder. Okay, so, despite exhaustive textual detective work, our first guess — that the writer behind the site was Leander Kahney of Wired.com — compltely missed the target. Embarrassing. But we have a new suspect in the ongoing investigation: John Paczkowski, former editor on Good Morning Silicon Valley, tech news site of the San Jose Mercury News.
Paczkowski has the writing chops; he's a longtime Apple watcher; and he told me, when we tried last autumn to hire him for Valleywag, that he was working on a book, as is the author of Fake Steve Jobs. This would be the week for Paczkowski to be exposed: All Things Digital, the Wall Street Journal spinoff for which he works, is hosting the real Steve Jobs at its annual conference in Carlsbad. One troublemaking commenter on the spoof diary site wonders, not-so-innocently: "Is John Paczkowski going to be there?" [Any theories, evidence in favor, evidence against, in the comments, please.]
Steve Jobs, meet Steve Jobs
You thought we'd given up yet on the hunt for the author of Fake Steve Jobs, the spoof diary of the narcissistic Apple founder. Okay, so, despite exhaustive textual detective work, our first guess — that the writer behind the site was Leander Kahney of Wired.com — compltely missed the target. Embarrassing. But we have a new suspect in the ongoing investigation: John Paczkowski, former editor on Good Morning Silicon Valley, tech news site of the San Jose Mercury News.
Paczkowski has the writing chops; he's a longtime Apple watcher; and he told me, when we tried last autumn to hire him for Valleywag, that he was working on a book, as is the author of Fake Steve Jobs. This would be the week for Paczkowski to be exposed: All Things Digital, the Wall Street Journal spinoff for which he works, is hosting the real Steve Jobs at its annual conference in Carlsbad. One troublemaking commenter on the spoof diary site wonders, not-so-innocently: "Is John Paczkowski going to be there?" [Any theories, evidence in favor, evidence against, in the comments, please.]
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1:45 PM on Tue May 29 2007
By Nick Denton
5,574 views
11 comments
Comments
Reality check: Denton knows who it is. He gets to kiss up to potential media sources by suggesting they're responsible for such a widely-admired blog. The smart ones immediately deny it. Meanwhile, those who play coy are outed as douchelings of the worst order. JP, you've got 24 hours. You're good, probably good enough to pull FSJ off. But...
The hippest among us know that Steve himself runs FSJ. When they're not saying "no comment," his PR minions whip up potential posts and, after Steve's review, the best are published. It's quite a game for them and the one who gets the most published each quarter is allowed to wash Steve's silver Benz.
If this is true, it's ironic that when in character he refers to Walt Mossberg by the nickname "Goatberg".
John Paczkowski emailed -- I have given him a comment invite, so he can give his denial in public.
Just out of curiosity Nick, why are you convinced that FSJ is a single person?
I knew PJ would pass the Skull Boy challenge. Good on him.
I'm still banking on my theory that Denton and Fake Steve are one and the same.
It's not me. It's John Sculley. ... And Gil Amelio. ... Working together.
@JohnPaczkowski: The theory's hilarious, but if you're joking there, how can we take the denial seriously?
Now they're upset that Businessweek included me in some roundup. See here. Money quote: "They (BusinessWeek) want the halo effect of featuring a blogger who's cooler, indier, and about 50% more accurate about the future than they are."Look, I appreciate the kind words.
If it were John, it would be much funnier. Therefore it is not.
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