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An Observation and a thought…

Whilst catching up on the various blogs this week; especially in the aftermath of EMC's FAST announcement, something began to get to me. The number of competitor blogs who were obsessed with commenting on EMC's announcement even to the extent that they barely mention their own products.

I've now developed a rule:- as the number of times that a competitor's product is mentioned increases, the useful information contained in the article decreases in proportion. And if you rant on about a competitor's product and then get to the last paragraph and say something along the lines but I really don't understand the competitor's product…you have just made yourself look like a prize pillock!

So in future, it may actually be of more value to not comment on a competitor's announcement/product; instead of spending all that energy/creativity on that…perhaps write something positive or interesting about your own product. 

And can we please have #twitpiss truce!? For next three weeks, if you can't think of anything nice to say….say nothing!


10 Comments

  1. Aaron says:

    It doesn’t matter what you’re shopping for, if company A keeps mentioning company B, then company B is probably what you want. Like you said, talk about you and not them.

  2. Martin,
    I couldn’t agree more. When I talk to my customers who read blogs from the vendors, they echo my views – the vendor blogs are interesting to read when they’re providing details about their products or what they’re planning. However, they also find the vendor blogs childish and purile – and a complete turn off when they descend into (to put it in the appropriate vernacular) bitch slapping competitions with each other. It may be a valid way for them of letting off steam, but it’s too public a forum and it just makes them look bad.
    Since joining Twitter I’ve noticed it extends even more …sharply… into that forum too. Funny, I thought that they were adults.
    Cheers,
    Preston.

  3. Rob says:

    Martin,
    Yup. The nay saying and hole poking is rarely informative and usually isn’t as entertaining as the blogger hallucinates. I’m at the point now where I put absolutely no stock in what BarryB has to say about anything because of this very reason.

  4. Chuck Hollis says:

    Martin et. al.
    Thanks for writing about this. Since I’m part of the vendor community, anything I say about this topic immediately becomes more #twitpiss fodder.
    I encourage all of you to remind us vendors of how you expect us to conduct ourselves in the blogosphere and twitterland.
    And that goes for me and the EMC crew as well!
    Thanks
    — Chuck

  5. Rob says:

    P.S. I like Chuck’s blogs.

  6. EricH says:

    @Martin – You have to separate storage entertainment from storage education on blogs & twitter. Some of the ridiculous comments are hopefully the former. We’re all striving / hoping for these vendors to provide more of the latter.
    @Aaron – From the sheer quantity of anti-NetApp FUD displayed here and in other blog comments as well as the multitude of HP & EMC blogs, I would surmise NetApp is “Company B”
    I notice the peanut gallery is already tiring of the predictable online conversations of late (see embedded URL in my name below).

  7. Martin G says:

    Actually, those comments are exactly what I’m talking about. They are the biggest pile of inflammatory crap going.
    Let’s take the EMC Watcher comment, that links to an entry in Chris Evans’ blog in their ID; that’s not Chris and person who wrote should link to their own blog.
    It’s crap! It’s complete and utter crap! The sum total value added to the human race is zilch! At least Chuck, Zilla and Barry have the guts to front up with their own names and accounts!

  8. EricH says:

    Point taken. But transparent arrogance is worth about as much as opaque arrogance. It’s not excusable either way. I notice more agression from some than others.
    Either way, I hope people take your closing thoughts to heart!

  9. marc farley says:

    Martin, Aren’t most of us in this cesspool up front with our affiliations? I know there are exceptions, but I think they are the minority. If I get a fanboy-type comment and can’t reach the writer on email about it, I usually don’t post it. So far, nobody has complained about it to me. I don’t get very many, but it happens occasionally. FWIW Chuck, I think you need to talk to Sean Kinney about online manners.

  10. Hear hear, Martin.
    Every time you make an inflammatory remark or take a cheap shot, I lose a bit of respect for you. Rise above guys. You know you’re better than that.
    I look forward to seeing those energies directed into making your own companies and products better.

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