[varunsrin]

Am I one of the few who thinks that Arrington & TechCrunch are a problem in the startup world today?

The reason TC gets the scoops is in part because they strong-arm startups by not writing about them if they don't provide an exclusive. Now, granted they get a lot of scoops about major companies which is quite impressive - but honestly, that's not very insightful, just juicy bits of info that we like to read about.

Most startups that TC 'scoops' tend to be "social mobile local" startups that generate buzz - there are a lot of successful startups in decidedly non-sexy areas that are quite profitable, which never get covered because they don't get the same page views that say, Color's $40 million investment does.

I think Arrington & TC actively hurt the startup community by providing a narrow world-view. Sites like GigaOM & Ars Technica provide thoughtful, indepth analysis of the technology scene , while TechCrunch continues to post opinionated, linkbait pieces.

Am I the only one who feels that TechCrunch is the startup world's Jersey Shore? Just because you get a lot of views doesn't mean that your content is valuable or useful in any way.

[wh-uws]

I'll semi repeat a previous answer about this topic:

I look at Techcrunch like this. TechCrunch is TMZ for our industry.

On one end there is the phenomenal up to the minute, you can't find this anywhere else, everyone will be talking about it nonstop for a week, they scooped everybody stuff. (i.e. TMZ scooped the entire news industry on Michael Jackson's death and TechCrunch routinely scoops other tech blogs on stuff like Google trying to buy path and Color's last funding round)

And then there is the tech/startup industry drama and celebrity gossip.

If you look at as such you won't be so surprised and offended when you read it.

[duhprey]

Great perspective. There are some celebrities who seem to live and die by the hype associated with those sorts of stories. And there are other celebrities who have a distinguished body of work and only incidentally appear in those rags. Which kind of startup would you rather be: the Kardashian or the Helen Miram?

[JonnieCache]

>Am I the only one who feels that TechCrunch is the startup world's Jersey Shore?

I don't think it's ever truly been taken seriously by hackers, except in a pragmatic sense.

[loganfrederick]

Not sure if I entirely agree. Before one of it's earlier Wordpress redesigns (around 2007), TechCrunch did a solid job on providing information on internet/tech startups before most others were looking at the space. Plenty of people doing web development in 2005-2007 were reading TechCrunch to find interesting companies and web development news.

[robertp]

"Am I the only one who feels that TechCrunch is the startup world's Jersey Shore?" Yes there are some articles that don't involve actual reporting. The problem is that those articles get the most page views and people respond to them the most. Look at this post from today about a true entrepreneur that is doing real innovation in the e-commerce/fashion space. http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/after-ebay-acquisition-gsi-... The article has a meek 3 comments and low social stats.

This was even published before the TC drama that came out today.

Keep in mind everyone always talks about how TC doesn't cover start ups and only highlight the big players. If you actually look through the stats of what they post about, it isn't the case. It is just their cheezy/TMZ-ish articles get the most attention and stay in memory for longer.

[Nelson69]

No, you're not.

I don't know if it's good or bad or if that generality can be made.

It sure can be fun to read at times.