Web 2.0 sites plead for INQ lash

Many technology firms bend over backwards, although rarely literally, to get a good review from scribblers. Now, that seemingly irreversible trend seems to becoming, well, reversed. Ever since The INQUIRER ran a small yet pithy piece about the Truemors site, describing it as the worst web site ever, a couple of people have caught onto the fact that, sometimes at least, any news is good news.

Truemors founder, former Apple wunderkind Guy Kawasaki, acknowledged that recently when he wrote a piece on his blog, noting the impact our concise yet clear comments had on site visits.

"Thank you God for the Inquirer because it caused 246,210 page views. Yes indeed, there's no such thing as bad PR."

Occasionally, journalists are asked if they don't feel bad about dishing out criticism. The short answer is "no". Words, even negative ones, generate publicity and, especially on the web, an opportunity to attract people who will make their own decisions. This is exactly how it should be. I gave an opinion, Truemors got traffic and, therefore, an opportunity to persuade people that I did not have clue one. So it turns out that all's for the best in this best of all possible worlds.

The Truemors brouhaha got Mike Dever, co-founder of YouChoose.net writing.

"Since Guy Kawasaki got such a boost to his new website after you panned it for him, I am requesting the same treatment for our new website, YouChoose.net. Pull no punches, trash us best you can. Apparently, the more trashing, the more traffic we'll get!"

Then Mike had an extra thought.

"Oh, BTW, if you actually like our website, please be kind and trash it anyway."

Anyhow, it would be a hard man that didn't have a look at a site after such a flattering invitation. The straight comment would be that I found it a bit dull and couldn't quite see the point but what do I know? Take a look for yourself. And Mike, sorry for being so soft on it. µ