Disqus - Latest Comments for jwesley

Re: Apocalyptic Fantasies: Colonel Kurtz Against Conscience

John Wesley — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 09:38:41 -0000

"My belief is that communist victory was desirable not because progressives are really communists, as Moldbug said, but that communist victory served capitalist interests"

You are on to something here, but are mangling the relationship between communism and progressivism -- they cannot accurately be seen outside the context of the parent-child relation.

Progressivism is the mutated spawn of communism, which merged with capitalism for maximum memetic conquest. This is why you see corporations flogging progressivism as hard as any -- the raising of the "impoverished masses" means new consumers and more cheap labor for the global economy.

Progressive doctrine is the marketing and recruitment division of the communo-capitalist borg -- nihilist-hedonist-narcissist snowflakes make near perfect worker-consumers.

Re: Europe’s Neoreaction Is Scarier Than You Think

John Wesley — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 15:39:10 -0000

Nick, I'm afraid you don't understand -- the leftists who killed millions upon millions of people were all evil COMMIES. The ones in power now are hope and freedom loving LIBERALS who hate commies. They've said so many times.

So no connection there. Totally unrelated ideologies that just happen to be predicated on everyone being "equal".

Re: Europe’s Neoreaction Is Scarier Than You Think

John Wesley — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 15:13:39 -0000

"If you're going to advocate/borrow elements from some version/mix of an ideology/ideologies that led to the death of lots of people in the past"

There is enough in history to pull virtually every ideology into this proof-requiring category. I can think of a few with certain communist sensibilities.

"the burden of proof should be on you to demonstrate how your specific version/mix will avoid similar outcomes. I don't think these European lines of thought pass this test."

So people must prove that something in the future will be avoided? I will assume this is a poor choice of words and you are actually requesting logical arguments, rather than proof.

But still, we know how valid these thought experiments turn out to be...

What you are actually asking is that these right wing ideologies acknowledge the fascist/nazi smear you've just laid on them (indirectly, but it's there), beg for your forgiveness and validation (through this proof you require), and back pedal into a defensive crouch.

And it would work if they were "conservatives"!

But they aren't. So it won't. These groups have no interest in bargaining with the left for a seat at the table.

Re: Scale Economics

John Wesley — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:55:02 -0000

"Affiliate marketing is a black art that needs to be repackaged."

Exactly. Affiliate marketing has been misused by blackhat SEO's, spammers, and unethical webmasters. But there is really nothing wrong with recommending a product, if the recommendation is genuine. It's a fine line, but for publishers able to build trust and not abuse it, affiliate marketing is amazing. Even better if you have your own products and services to sell.

Re: Scale Economics

John Wesley — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:33:20 -0000

"In that model, display advertising will perform as well as search."

Yes, for advertisers. But for publishers it's a disaster. Unless you are a big name brand, the CPMs available to you are pathetic. Generally less than $1. At those levels its nearly impossible to make money off high value, high cost content. Your only hope is to get traffic from Google and funnel that search intent into AdSense or relevant affiliate offers.

I think online publishing is forming 2 distinct classes. The only sites that can survive off pure ad revenue are the high traffic, high brand recognition sites with inhouse sales teams (mainstream newspapers, magazines, massive blogs). To survive, smaller publishers will need to abandon the ad model and make money by funneling visitors towards their own products and services, or those of another business through an affiliate relationship. Basically, they need to use their content and audience to promote themselves, rather than selling display ads at basement CPMs. Content as ads, etc.

Re: Social Media Experts are the New Webmasters

John Wesley — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:21:56 -0000

"There's no money to be made Digging up stories, hitting the StumbleUpon button or refreshing FriendFeed or Twitter, after all."

True, but there is a boat load of money in using these sites to drive traffic and attention to a business. That is the ability a social media expert should have, above merely being a user.

Re: The Power Of Google Juice

John Wesley — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:59:34 -0000

One thing I wonder about....with much of the conversation moving to Twitter, FriendFeed, etc. (Services that no-follow links) Will individual voices stop getting the link juice they deserve?

Re: The Power Of Google Juice

John Wesley — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:41:28 -0000

My ideal domain is jo.hn. It's Honduras. We'll see if the guy will ever sell.

Re: The Power Of Google Juice

John Wesley — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 05:39:17 -0000

It's too bad you don't own you own name on Google or the juice associated, but it makes sense not to leave. Building an online brand takes a lot of effort and you've done a great job with your blog. You bring a lot humanity and intelligence to the VC world.

All the same, if you were starting today what domain would you use?

Re: The Weird Economics of Information

John Wesley — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:58:15 -0000

This makes excellent sense. When you share an idea with someone, the first thing they are likely to do is poke holes in it. The more flaws you are aware of, the better your chances of adapting and surviving as a business.

Re: Bitchmeme: Do blogs deserve ads?

John Wesley — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:26:33 -0000

Oh my. The old blog about blogging and bloggers will blog about you theme. I don't see where the controversy is here.

Re: Why today’s solo bloggers may not see Scoble-like fame…

John Wesley — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:17:39 -0000

Much of the conversation is now taking place off of blogs at places like Twitter and FriendFeed. This makes it easier for new voices to build a following, it just isn't all concentrated on their blogs.

Re: Twhirl

John Wesley — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 12:55:33 -0000

This is interesting and I await to see how Loic will integrate. Twhirl is by far the best Twitter client in my experience. I think Seesmic has potential, but right now the site is French dominated. Not a bad thing, but it's hard to get into the site when you can't understand most of the videos.

Re: Nick Denton, blog warlord and economist

John Wesley — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 09:26:24 -0000

Methinks the pageview pay structure adds to the fun. Although it kills soild reporting. But this is Gawker anyways. Just keep me entertained.