http://startupsearch.org/investor/scripting-news/

XOXO – McD

He is the most watchable “train wreck” on the internet: passionate, vindictive, complex and insanely human. The amount of effort expended, in vain, to try and “fix” Dave Winer has been amazing.

Eventually, everyone who is on that short list of “friends” moves over the the long list of “betrayers”. Calacanis is just the latest to think Dave’s a harmless “Crazy Uncle” and realize in a very public setting that Dave is constantly filtering all reality through a “just exactly how does this benefit me?” filter.

Jason Calacanis had 20 developer’s in his home building a start-up in the incredibly complex market for search and he went to Gnomedex to attempt to market his effort… and in doing so he needed to define a problem (“search has been compromised”) and then declare that his start-up is an attempt to fix that problem.

Dave quickly saw the flaw in Jason’s premise: it doesn’t help Dave one iota for Mahalo to prosper… It only helps Jason. OK. And many in the audience felt the same way. OK.

Just remember one thing: Dave always throws friends under the bus. Because there’s always a new one to be made.

Mahalo, Dave.

Jason got what his company needed most from Gnomedex… they are clearly identified as an “underdog” that is attempting to re-define search. I for one wish them well. There should be more competition for search… even if they are re-thinking of some old ideas: like Yahoo’s directory. It’s always about “signal to noise”.

“You can’t stop the signal”. But you can make a lot of noise. Dave’s currently making noise again: noise about search, syndication formats, standards, and the expectations of “friendship”.

I love he guy… but I’d never trust him as a friend. I just love what I can learn from his behavior and his projects. I am more like him than not and he shows me what doesn’t work.

Before I die, I’d love to write something that has a positive impact on Dave Winer. It’s always good to have goals.

The only time I ever got a positve back from Dave was when I thanked him for giving us all gifts: the free OMPL Editor or example and once when I (tongue in cheek) blogged about his terrible skills at marketing: “OMPL is a file format, an Outiner, a cheese spread”.

But then I go back o my old was… trying to help him see himself as others see him and apologize for being a bit self-centered and vindictive. I figure repetition might work. It hasn’t yet.

And not at all related to this Eye on Winer entry:

I used to think this site was petty. It is but…

1) … so am I! So I love it. 2) Dave continues to astonish me.

I first heard the name when he turned off that blogging service and people raked him over the coals for doing it without warning. I felt sorry for him then.

Then came the Adam Curry feud over podcasting. Winer seemed like kind of a dick, but I was willing to bet Adam had his flaws… and I felt “There are two sides to every story; I probably don’t know what went on.” But Adam’s explanation of how no one wanted to form a company with Dave was interesting.

Then I discovered Dave’s infantile RSS vs ATOM arguments with Sam Ruby and others. Really childish stuff.

Then we have Dave Winer and Rogers (both of them?) Cadenhead, and the admittedly pretentious “RSS Advisory Board.” While I sympathize with Dave on this one, he doesn’t get to “Bang to gavel and end this little experiment” when he wants to. Dave Winer doesn’t get to end the board just by leaving it and declaring he is the Keeper of the Spec for All Time.

And speaking of “spec…” Damn. His “specs” are childish nonsense. If Sun Microsystems specifications define the ridiculously formal, obtuse and overly academic end of the spectrum, Dave Winer’s napkin-scribbling masterpieces define the other end.

Next I discovered the Dave Winer vs Tim O’Reilly Foo Camp Hurt Feelings Extravaganza. Way to never get invited again; be a dick the first time you aren’t invited! Sure, the camp is full of silly blowhards talking to themselves. It’s a big mental wankathon, and it’s exclusivity DOES make it insulated and somewhat irrelevant. But that criticism shouldn’t come from you, Dave. You’ve got too much in common with those folks; it is your tribe. And your complaints sound like sour grapes.

Then I see him leading a discussion at some conference. He is very rude to some audience members who disagree with his politics. He comes off wildly unprofessional.

Next I see him acting insane during the Calacanis commercial. So it was a commercial. So what? Dave gets to be a dick in public, again? Wait, there seems to be a Google-able record of him being a jerk at public events.

And then he continues to make it worse by wounded, self-justifying blog entries! That go on and on! Maybe he’ll delete them soon; he does that a lot. Or rewrite them to make them seem more sane.

I wonder why people like Don Park think he’s done great work or brings great ideas to the table. He’s a blowhard, and asshat, and a fool. He’s untrustworthy, dishonest, self-important, arrogant, thin-skinned, and starving for attention. He’s the living embodiment of some kind of reverse Boy Scouts Oath.

Plus he thinks he’s a “New York streetfighter.” Nonsense. He’s a big baby who throws hissy fits. A real New York streetfighter could probably make him cry by looking at him intently.

On the other hand, I am so glad he’s with us. Its like having our own high-tech soap opera. He is like the drag queen Starina, in the movie The Birdcage; a highly annoying, totally dysfunctional, eminently watchable one-man show.

Watching human car wrecks is, admittedly, compelling.

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