ASCII by Jason Scott

Jason Scott's Weblog

The Reviews are In, a Tad Late —

“This guy needs an editor, Ritalin and a mirror.

Not long ago, when a speaker combined marginal grooming with too-urgent, rambling & vulgar speechifying, he likely would have been dismissed as brain-addled, or a kook…or maybe a drunk. Nowadays, when the same disheveled, semi-coherent guy wangles a speaking gig at even a 3rd-tier industry event – why, then he must be some kind of genius. Quick, everyone, gather around for illumination! Call the children!

I’m sure Mr. Scott (AKA: Jason Scott Sadofsky) does some things well. But you couldn’t tell, from listening to this. His errors are so many – and so basic – that I’d need equal time to lay them out. This is a textbook case of What Not to Do, starting with: Don’t address a group of like-minded acquaintances, in a manner suited only to such occasions, if a recording will be made public, later.

Does he have valid points to make? Yes, several. Good luck in finding them. Does he have a valid point of view? Perhaps, but its plainly evident that he has a substantial chip on his shoulder, regarding both Wikipedia and Mr. Wales, specifically. Perhaps Jimbo did not show appropriate gratitude for Mr. Scott’s sharing of his acumen on critical topics like ‘Xanadu’ (the movie) and 80s-era BBS services.

Bottom line: If you enjoyed high school debate class (ie: smarmy, rapid-fire jeremiads on vaporous topics of the day, complete with a Greek chorus of sniggering toadies), then by all means go ahead and click ‘play’. But if you’re merely looking for useful information on this topic, I suggest that you skim through a transcript, instead…or, just Google ‘Wikipedia problems’.

— Allen Cross, aka MrFumoco, on the archive.org copy of “The Great Failure of Wikipedia”


Categorised as: jason his own self

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7 Comments

  1. codedr says:

    To paraphrase mr cross:
    “I can’t rebut what he said so I’ll just make fun of the way he dressed and the way he talked. He made a bunch of errors, but it’s beneath me to even point them out. He had good points to, but I don’t want to recognize that either.”

  2. My favorite part was when the guy capitalized “What Not To Do.” You know you are dealing with an experienced Internet veteran that sleeps with with his LAN cable between thumb and the roof of his mouth when Important Points start getting the capitals.

  3. Mirka says:

    Yeah, you can easily recognize the telltale signs of someone trying VERY hard to sound “reasonable”, with a well-thought out opinion (as if, for example, you having edited a page on Xanadu was somehow relevant to his criticism).

    Plus, he clearly has no sense of humor.

  4. joat says:

    A little research on MrFoMoCo shows what he was doing while the rest of us were playing with BBS code: he was a gear-head. Get the guy some grease-remover, a brewski, and a new ballcap! Mebbe he’ll be in a better mood then? He’s probably annoyed by the documentary’s lack of chase scenes.

    – joat

  5. Flack says:

    If I ever form a band, my backing band’s name will be the Sniggering Toadies.

    Live, one night only! Jack Flack and the Sniggering Toadies!

  6. That’s true, I don’t wish to paint him as a monster; the sniggering toadies line was funny.

  7. ~ says:

    I think you can take it as sign of your effectivness as a communicator.
    That you manged to annoy him enough to spew forth this verbage.
    Also, your Kat is Oarsum.
    *MIAOW*