About Loren Feldman & Michael Arrington

More than once a day, nearly every day, for the last three months I have been asked how I feel about Loren Feldman's sock puppet and seemingly unending shots at me from his Twitter pulpit.

My answer is pretty consistent. I do not like it. I am not enjoying it and it has become increasingly clear that there really isn't a whole lot I can do about it. I am posting this blog now so that I can answer questions I keep getting, clear up some untruths that are being repeated and hopefully be free to move on to the new projects I am starting.

I'm often asked what caused the grudge between us is. I don't know. In fact, I have never met Loren Feldman. To my knowledge, we have only been in the same room once and that was at South by Southwest, so I do not know why Loren is doing what he is doing. My guess is that it has more to do with my friend and colleague, Robert Scoble than me. The two worked together at Podtech and when Loren posted a video called "TechNigga," Robert was among many people who found the piece offensive. Personally, I consider the piece tasteless at best, but was not involved at that time in any conversations regarding it.

Both Scoble and Loren believe that Robert played a role in getting Loren fired from Podtech because of TechNigga. Others tell me that a large sponsor complained about it and that led to his demise. Either way, the incident had nothing to do with me, until several months later, when Scoble declined to start an online video studio with me in favor of joining FastCompany. His job was to start FastCompany.TV, a global network and he invited me to be the next node on that network.

FastCompany welcomed me in no small part because like Scoble, I had already found a sponsor. Three days before my GNTV was to go live, the sponsor pulled out for reasons that had nothing to do with me. Fast Company showed faith in me by deciding it would try to procure sponsorship. After three months, I came to the conclusion, that as someone who has worked independently, I would rather take the show back, have greater say in the production of it and be able to make the same money, or more, by charging less than a large company like FastCompany would have to. It was a generally amiable separation and one that allows me to continue working with Robert on WorkFast.

I am asked: "Did Loren cause me to get fired by FastCompany or did Loren prevent me from getting sponsorship." The answer to the former is "definitely not."  The answer to the former is "I don't think so." In the last three months FC and I spoke with four companies. Only two mentioned Loren at all and both did so to emphasize their support of me and their perception that Loren was irrelevant to their customers. What stopped the deals from happening were financial issues. You may have noticed that these are tight financial times. If you are part of an enterprise, you probably also know social media budgets remain low, and money for sponsoring an online video program about social media in business is a pretty tough sell.

Will I get sponsorship in the end? I'm hopeful. I'm already having talks with a couple of companies. These talks may go somewhere exciting, or as many of you know, new business development talks can fizzle for strange and unexpected reasons.

I have been an entrepreneur for 30 years. I have had many successes and my share of failures. That's the life of an entrepreneur. I don't know how GNTV will come out yet. I believe there is a need for a program that helps professionals understand how social media can be used. I believe that with my contracting people to work the cameras and produce the show it will continue to emerge in quality.

There are a great many ways GNTV could fail. There's a lot of great video content out there already. Potential sponsors have very little discretionary funds these days and are a bit more risk avoidant than they would be in better financial times.

But if you think the show will fail because of Loren Feldman and his puppet, you are vastly overrating him. He has managed to annoy, distract and embarrass me. He has confused people by usurping my site (BTW someone at FastCompany owns LorenFeldman.com. Perhaps we could arrange a swap. Someone in Washington State owns RobertScoble.com and several variations of Michael Arrington URL have been secured by third parties as well).

Another question that I get asked is why more people have not stepped forward in my defense. I'm pretty certain I know the answer to this one. Loren Feldman has a big and powerful friend in Michael Arrington. I have received a great number of private messages from people who have said precisely that they hate seeing what is being done to me, but they will not speak out because Arrington has become singularly the most powerful individual in social media. We should all think about the power he is assuming and what the repercussions of it are.

How Michael elected to assume the role of Loren Feldman's champion, I do not know. Some think that this was all a set up, that Michael will start a TechCrunch Video with Loren--his frequent houseguest--as the lead program. Actually, I tend to believe it is more the way Michael said it was when he called me to extract three words from from a 20-minute interview about our feud. He told me that he had been ignoring the whole matter, until Loren brought some incendiary tweets of mine to his attention. Then, he decided he was going to stand up for his little friend and give me what-for.

But that's just my perception. To understand more you'll have to ask Michael.

This has been an unquestionable success. Silicon Valley is a bad neighborhood to live in when you have pissed off Michael Arrington. There was a noticeable step back after Arrington ran three pieces in three days extolling the virtues of Loren and the vices of Shel.

I do believe Arrington was instrumental in getting the puppet interviews rolling. The first wave of interviews was with people who are closely connected with Arrington, including people with financial ties or well-known friendships. It has spread to include people who are notable, and less connected to Arrington's inner circle. Some of them are people who I have considered friends for a good many years. The perception is that they have gathered around Loren in support of him and against me.

This may be true. Only Jason Calacanis has been interviewed by the puppet and extended the courtesy of telling me it was coming. Jason made clear that he intended me no offense, but he was doing it because the puppets were fun. Even Scoble is on record as saying he thinks the puppets are funny.

You'll have to forgive me if I remain unamused. And what motivates friends to be interviewed by the puppet or to enter into business deals with Loren, you will have to ask them.

Two sidenotes:

(1)I have not been fired by SAP. They have terminated one contract and started two new ones. In July, I will receive more money from SAP than I ever have. They just had me in to speak to developers and a Palo Alto workshop. I would describe my relationship with them as ongoing and excellent.
(2) Robert Scoble was not involved in the discussion in which I terminated my relationship with FastCompany. But if someone bothers to ask him, he will confirm that I was not fired, despite what you may hear from a piece of cloth on someone's hand.

As I've stated a couple of times recently, I feel liberated. I can speak more freely on ask issue today than I felt I could do previously. I hope I do not have to continuously talk about the Feldman issue, because that sort of distraction can cause me the harm he seriously wants to cause, but I thought it would be helpful if I took the time once, to go through the major issues I so often hear about. But hopefully, this piece will either set the record straight or let me voice my perception on what has been going on.

Comments

[Ivan Pope]

Shel, why do I keep reading the same story with more complications? Does anyone think Loren got you fired from FastTV? Did anyone suggest that he stopped you getting sponsors? Is it interesting that you think that Arrington might start a video channel with Loren? For grief's sake, there is absolutely no point in repeatedly raising these issues. You are using a public forum to make a point to about five people. The rest of us don't give a flying f**k about it, honest.
Personally, I'm interested to see what you do next and I'm really glad you are 'liberated'. Now please let it lie.

[/pd]

Get over it and move. Mike is a nice person but has an enormous ego. He likes people who support his views. Thats human.

"Silicon Valley is a bad neighborhood to live in when you have pissed off Michael Arrington."

I think thats perception, however I also tend to lean towards that perception.
http://friendfeed.com/e/9e4d9047-d9a7-8920-4ed8-f5562494617f/It-s-Time-For-Our-Annual-TechCrunch-Event-at/

[Concern4Civility]

I don't fully understand this feud, but a look at Loren's Technigga video leaves a very bad taste. If Loren's puppets display similar "humor", I would question judgment of people giving him further face time.

[Michael Hoffman]

Shel -

Don't let the haters get you down. There is almost nothing you can do about it. What you can do is move on and laugh it off (even if that's not what you feel like doing). It's like my mom used to say about my brother, don't let him get a rise out of you. I have to believe that the more it bothers you the more they enjoy it.

The best revenge is good work. So keep up the good work.

As someone who was with you at an SAP event earlier his year I can say for sure that you are seen very positively there and very seriously.

[JD Lasica]

Shel, I had a troll on Ourmedia who followed me online, defaced the site and created semi-pornographic videos. Despite reasonable requests to settle his perceived grievances, nothing stopped him -- except time. After 9 months or so, he lost interest and quietly went away.

Not saying that would happen here -- and a video troll is a new one on me -- but the first rule of discussion boards is: don't feed the troll.

[Mark]

this is such a shame.

[Mark]

Shel - anyone who has done a video with this puppet is NOT your friend in any sense of the word. You believing that anyone is means you seriously need help. If the puppet's name was John Doe it would be one thing, but the puppet is using your name to promote things. Kevin Rose, Arrington, Calacanis, etc. all of them did these videos and didn't give a crap about you. You need to realize this. Believing that they are your friends is wrong, very wrong.

Loren is a loser, has been a loser and will be a loser. He has arrington to pump him over and over but that's about it. he claims this is free speech but it's not.

And frankly, Scoble isn't your friend either. I know it's hard to swallow, but cut all ties with him and fc and move on.

Loren will keep making videos using your puppet because he has nothing else at all. His followers are typical trolls who moved over from TC.

[Sally Strebel]

Hi Shel,

We met briefly at SXSW08. I believe it was at the Iron Cactus.

Here's my soap box: I am so sick of people being bullied and people playing the victim. It sucks when people who are suppose to be mature, professional, role models act like they are in high school. I understand that drama sells and that's the reason we have news stories on Paris Hilton instead of serious issues. On the flip side, since drama does sell, should you be that upset that someone is spending that much public energy on you? At least you're playing with the big dogs.

All the best,
Sally Strebel

[Cindy Stanford]

Shel, I had no idea this egregious affair was still going on. It's utterly deplorable anyone could claim to be your friend and yet endorse Feldman's antics at your expense. I have intentionally avoided anyone I've noticed shucking & jiving with Feldman. What profit is there in associating with someone who intentionally risks damaging someone's professional identity for his own gain? You, Shel, are certainly *not* deserving of such harassment. I wish my defense of you & condemnation of Feldman's assault on your good name mattered to the powers-that-be. You certainly have my support.

[Bob LeDrew]

Shel, my advice to you would be to let this statement be the end of your discussion about it. For what it's worth, I never covered this on my little blog (like it would have made a difference if I had anyway) because it seemed like I would have been giving something silly and graceless more attention than it deserved.

I don't know Feldman. For that matter, I don't really know you, having only met you in person the once (third tuesday ottawa). But what I know of you via that, via your blog, and via your book, I like.

Nil illegitimus carborundum.

[Kami Huyse]

I think this simple statement setting things straight is appropriate. There has been a lot of misinformation out there. The good news is that most of us are happily ignoring the big boys and their "fun." I also think that people have an interesting way of dealing with bullies. I agree that ignoring them is often the best course, but sometimes truth needs to be added to the equation.

[Vinny]

You know Shel, for a few months, we've sat here listening to you whine bitch and complain about Loren's puppets, Arrington not being a true friend, Jason doing this that and the other, etc., and yet throughout the whole thing the only thing we haven't seen is that you've actually learned anything from the experience.

Yes it sucks when people attack you, but Feldman's biggest attacks on you were about the quality of what you were turning out. It wasn't just that you were turned into a puppet, it's the inanity of the questions you asked and the people you talked to that were drawing criticism, and instead of learning from that, you turned it into an oppression complaint and a "woe is me" vibe.

Your gig flopped because you're simply not good on video. You're a writer not a video personality. Your "friend" Robert Scoble should've known this, and instead left you out to dry in a medium you obviously weren't comfortable in. I can only imagine what the other 20 episodes you supposedly had in the can were like. How many shotgun mics to the face and owls in the background...

In the end, you learned nothing from the whole thing, though. Instead of gaining some knowledge from the valid (if not softly delivered) criticism, you continue to act as if things were just fine and you got a bum deal and now the angle is your friends all abandoned you.

Enough already. Move on. Stop pretending you're looking into legal options. Stop reporting the mean evil Loren to Twitter like a kid running to a teacher instead of fighting back. In the end, the way you handled this thing up to and including today means that despite your status as an "expert" on social media, you really have no idea how to interact with people and, if you'll pardon the pun, how to turn lemons into lemonade.

Let it go.

Move on.

Life's too short and you're too old to be acting like a damn spurned cheerleader who got dumped on prom night by the quarterback.

[rob]

I have to confess that prior to seeing this puppet thing I'd never heard of you. In fact, it was Lorens puppet show that prompted me to look into 'you' a little further. I was expecting to find some bouncy guy with a tash and a funny voice. For the record you are nothing like the puppet.

[Sarah]

Honestly, I had no idea "Shel Israel" was a *real person* and not just a funny, made-up name for a puppet, until I read this post - randomly linked from someone's Twitterfeed. Someone is co-opting your name and your identity. That ain't right.

[Jeff Ro]

"If you are part of an enterprise, you probably also know social media budget remain low, and money for sponsoring an online video program about social media in business is a pretty tough sell."

It is the opposite at the moment, there is _heaps_ of sponsorship money out there - you just need the right audience. Vendors are desperate to get their message out, so the money is there.

Your problem is that you have to stop talking about low budgets, Loren and everything else and actually get to work producing a compelling show that people want to watch. If you really love doing it, and it comes across on camera, you wouldn't give a shit about sponsors for now - its because you reak of desperation that they are staying away.

Btw, because of your handling of this episode you have probably lost the gram of respect you may have earnt with the Naked Conversations book. You pretty much called yourself out as having nothing but a profit motive and a huge ego (which is what Loren took advantage of in the first place)

"Loren Feldman has a big and powerful friend in Michael Arrington"

You realize that Loren actually got his start by attacking Arrington? Same for the other guys. The difference between them and you is that you _completely_ didn't handle it properly and just the stuff you say is ripe for parody, especially this very post

You blame everybody, including a super-all-knowing-Arrington, when the blame lies squarly with you.

Keep digging Shel

[A Friend]

Why don't you just fight back and win this one. think that you will regret letting this sleepy dog lie.

If you think Arrington needs to be challenged then challenge him and shut up. Scoble isn't your friend either. He used you to promote himself.

You need to make a decision. Do you want to be remembered as the guy who was beat up by Arrington, used by Scoble, and someone who ran for the hills? Or do you want to be remembered for fighting back using your platform in social media and winning. Do the former my friend and your business will boom.

Regards,
A Friend and fan sitting in the cheap seats

[Tom]

At first I just found your situation fascinating from an intellectual standpoint but you really are just starting to piss me off now. I mean, good God you’re an idiot. You really are.

First, as Calacanis said, the puppets ARE fun. Arrington might have introduced a few people to Loren Feldman who then thought it would be cool to be interviewed by the puppet but I doubt it was more than that. Once people saw the material they just thought the puppets were fun and wanted to play.

The fact that you consider those who did interviews with the puppets to be “against you” proves you STILL don’t get it. After months of EVERYONE trying to explain this to you. Not only do you still not get it but you just won't drop it.

Arrington made a point of actually looking out for you in the last post when he told you to just drop it but your too damn arrogant to hear the message.

Speaking of, I notice that nowhere in your little diatribe do you mention that Arrington was attacked just as hard as you at one point and he took it in stride and actually became friends with Loren. Same goes for Calacanis.

Had you just let it roll off your back and went back to work this wouldn’t be an issue. You said yourself: Sponsors didn’t care. No one cared. It was just funny. There aren’t any conspiracies, or sides, or anything. You aren’t that important. I doubt anyone even thought of you while being interviewed by the puppet because the point of the thing is the puppet. Not you.

Never have I met anyone who has accomplished so little but who thought so much of themselves.

[Eric Rice]

No one person is 'the most powerful person in social media'. If you believe that, there's some revisiting of the subject that needs to be done.

All this other stuff is just television.

[Douglas Karr]

I really have been working too much, I didn't even realize all of this was going on! I've both cringed but enjoyed some of Loren's videos (I've not seen the puppetry) and I've always appreciated your contributions to social media.

Neither Arrington nor Feldman initiated my dive into Social Media - it was your book with Scoble that did that. Naked Conversations still stands the test of time and I still recommend it.

All that said, I'm not at the center of the 'humor', you are. I think it speaks volumes for you to come out like this and tell folks how it makes you feel.

A small part of me wishes I was well-known enough to have an A-Lister make fun of me.

Thanks for a heartfelt post, Shel! I wish you peace, my friend. This, too, shall pass.

[Monty]

I sway back and forth on this argument, but one thing I do know is that I think Arrington has way too much power and people really bave to start questioning him. Techcrunch has very little credibility in my eyes and I'm bored of hearing about it. I'm also beginning to get bored of Loren, originally I could watch him and it was fairly funny, but I can't really understand what the point of anything he does is, it pretty much boils down to mindless entertainment...zzzzz

[A Friend]

I have my money on Shel. Shel say something please. Fight back my friend

[Tom Guarriello]

Wow. Still this goes on.

OK, first, the puppet videos are funny, often very funny. I know it's next to impossible to laugh at them when you're the one being lampooned and you've been through everything you've been through, but they are, indeed, funny.

Second, I think you're far more creatively effective in writing than you are in video. Just my opinion. Each of us has a creative sweet spot.

Third, I agree with the sentiments of many of the commenters here: you're prolonging this affair to your detriment. No good can come to you by continuing this, Shel, no good.

[Bill]

Turn this over to people who have the resources and the air time and the independence from intimidation. Forward TechNigga to Al Sharpton and to the Silicon Valley branch of the NAACP. That should be fun to watch. If the protests make the national news, you can buy me lunch at McDonald's some day.

Then move on.

[Jeff Ro]

If people don't like Techcrunch or don't like Loren, then don't watch or read it - its how the market works.

Instead you all sit around whinging all day .. pfft

[Dave Winer]

Tom, that's wrong -- to have fun at someone else's expense. Shel is a real person, and the pain you inflict is real pain. You should be ashamed of yourself.