Screwdd wrings ironic last pennies from AdSense

Paul Boutin — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:00:00 EDT

Yet another contender in the FuckedCompany 2.0 sweepstakes, Screwdd — launched in February, I think, but suddently more bookmarkable — is a site about layoffs that's more built out than the newer FuckedStartups. At least the ads are. Nice touch: a 408-area voicemail line for tipsters wary of Internet TCP/IP connections. The quasi-anonymous "we" behind the site has already learned the dirty secret of gossip blogging: "Our most viewed story to date also had the least amount of details. If Digg could engage in a round of layoffs, we’d be golden."

Pud was so much better at this

Paul Boutin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:20:00 EDT

Eight years ago Philip Kaplan, aka Pud, turned his anonymous rumor site FuckedCompany into a modest advertising business. Today, Kaplan is chief something-or-other at AdBrite, a Sequoia-backed startup whose CEO has dutifully slashed its payroll down to profitability. By contrast, sloppy typist "FS Crew" at FuckedStartups has already thrown in the towel. "We have incredible pipeline of rumors and tips," promises the For Sale post atop the site. "We have other projects and don’t have the time to focused (sic) our 100% attention on this project." What FS Crew really means is: "Fuck, this is hard. Someone please pay me to quit." Sorry, but on Web 2.0, it's the other way around: Your customers quit you, for free.

Gawker: valleywag, fuckedstartups

Screwdd wrings ironic last pennies from AdSense

Pud was so much better at this