Gawker: valleywag, ariel waldman

Ariel Waldman is totes single

Jackson West — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 03:46:11 EDT

Our apologies to Ms. Ariel Waldman — she is not dating Cal Henderson: "I need dates — stop ruining my game, yo," she Twitters. Good, because that would make for some awkward meetings at Pownce, where she spends time as a community manager working with cofounder Leah Culver, a former Henderson paramour. This also means that polytalented Flickr code jock Cal Henderson is probably available. Probably. "How did Valleywag miss the girl I was actually there with?" he later asked us.

Cal Henderson sighting at 330 Ritch

Jackson West — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:18:05 EDT

Stubblicious Flickr developer Cal Henderson and his "fake wife," Pownce community liaison Ariel Waldman, were sharing a precious booth with their entourage at yet another overpacked Seesmic party. Here, Waldman tries to chat with Laughing Squid founder Scott Beale over the din. Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis and Twitter cofounder Evan Williams, probably fed up with the crowds, have ditched 330 Ritch for the Plista party at Fluid.

When the 250 only date the 250

Owen Thomas — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:00:00 EDT

When we popularized "the 250" as a nickname for San Francisco's Internet cool-kids crowd, we didn't realize how literal the incest was. Take the flirtation between Flickr's engineering chief, Cal Henderson, and Ariel Waldman, the community manager of Pownce, an online file-sharing service. Pownce was cofounded by Leah Culver, Henderson's ex-girlfriend, who has also dated around the scene. Henderson and Waldman traveled to Hawaii together, and have made jokes — on Twitter and Flickr, of course — about Henderson wishing Waldman shared his last name and calling her his "fake wife." It's all so darling, veering on disturbing.

Social networks — the kind Henderson and Waldman work on when they're not using them to flirt — are supposed to expand our worlds. Yet these websites' real effect is to shrink them. Who'd want to start anything with anyone who's not already registered on all the same websites you use? The training time to explain the twee etiquette of Web 2.0 is a barrier to entry more fearsome than any Google or Microsoft might dream up. It can only lead to San Francisco's insider scene becoming literally inbred.

(Photo by bees))

Robert Scoble, other Valley bon vivants subject of latest ego-stroking linkbait

Jackson West — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Vancouver-based NowPublic is ostensibly all about citizen journalism. But since Guy Kawasaki sold Truemors to it and signed up as an advisor, it's becoming better known for publishing flattering lists of "influencers," supposedly ranking them according to various social media metrics. The first "Most Public" list focused on New York, but a new list for the Valley and San Francisco is "coming soon." And by virtue of being included in the latest edition, we received an early copy as a press release. Who comes out on top? Ubiquitous attention slut Robert Scoble, naturally. Full list after the jump.

Robert Scoble

Michael Arrington

Jack Dorsey

Biz Stone

Matt Cutts

Pete Cashmore

Dave Winer

Guy Kawasaki

Loïc Le Meur

Kevin Rose

Merlin Mann

Stowe Boyd

Jeff Atwood

Jeremiah Owyang

Veronica Belmont

Kara Swisher

Scott Beale

Marc Andreessen

Ryan Block

David Sifry

Emily Chang

Om Malik

Timothy Ferriss

Nick Douglas

John Battelle

David Cohn

Louis Gray

Tom Foremski

Tim O'Reilly

Ariel Waldman

Matt Mullenweg

Dean Takahashi

Philip Kaplan

JD Lasica

Sarah Lacy

Brian Solis

Charlene Li

Rafe Needleman

Dan Farber

Howard Rheingold

David McClure

Margaret Mason

Jason Goldman

Leah Culver

Chris Shipley

Jackson West

Liz Gannes

Owen Thomas

Adeo Ressi

Max Levchin

(Photo from Michael Arrington)

Ariel Waldman, Twitter, and the "whore" algorithm

Melissa Gira Grant — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Don't call Ariel Waldman a "whore" where Google can hear you. That's the only firm conclusion we can draw from a confusing fracas that left even Twitter cofounder Biz Stone unsure who can call whom a whore on the service. Waldman, a blogger and community manager at quasi-rival messaging site Pownce, called out Twitter for allegedly failing to uphold its own terms of service, setting off an online firestorm.

Waldman's complaint: Using a (now-offline) anonymous Twitter account, @confess, a user called Waldman a "crack-whore," and mockingly congratulated her for having "graduated to soft-core lesbian porn!" When Waldman asked Twitter's team to warn or remove the user, founder Jack Dorsey declined, on the grounds that "we've reviewed the matter and decided it's not in our best interest to get involved." Waldman believes Twitter owes it to their community to do just that, and got them involved instead.

She took the dispute to her blog, instantly become a cause célèbre — with 700 comments, 2,000 Diggs, and a raging debate on customer-service discussion board Get Satisfaction.

As CNET's Caroline McCarthy observed, "in the bubble-like culture of Web 2.0, Waldman is a sort of celebrity — and with celebrity comes scrutiny and often ugly commentary." Attention magnifies attention. Now Waldman's an even larger public figure, and therefore target — and sure enough, she's been called a whore a whole lot more after the incident than before.

Being called a "whore" online is one thing, but being called one in connection with one's search results? This may be Waldman's deeper gripe. "Anyone can use Twitter to consistently harass you and ruin search results for your identity," she writes. Twitter enjoys a stratospheric rank in Google's search results, making it a favorite in the world of social media marketers — the world in which Waldman works. But the spat has only strengthened the associations between Waldman's good name and the bad ones she's been called, from the all-powerful Google algorithm's point of view.

For a few, this reporter included, getting the mantle of "whore" tossed atop one's search results might be a value add, but for most, it's a detractor from the business at hand. What hurts Waldman as much as the misogynist namecalling is that potential business partners will see a social-media expert who's bad-mouthing a rival service to shame it into managing her online reputation for her.

(Photo by adactio)