Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Guest Post: We're better than this

Glenn Kelman: Anyone noticed how nasty the TechFlash comments have gotten lately? When I first arrived in Seattle after 17 years away, I was at a low point in my life, working for a company I hadn’t founded in a market I didn’t understand. It was this community that helped me find my way.

Aaron Finn pulled me aside to explain how display ads really work. Udai Shekawat, I remember, had to spell out what SEM stood for on a hike to Snow Lake. And the great Brad Silverberg – if there was a baseball card for software geniuses, I’d have his rookie card -- invited me to his house for an otherwise lonely holiday.

Later, after Redfin had picked a fight with the whole real estate industry, and our blog posts were routinely attacked by Realtors out for blood, I thought, “Now these people, these people are animals.” I was relieved by the certainty that the folks in tech were my people. I had your back -- I still do -- and you had mine.

Well now the civilized conversations are happening on the real estate blogs, and we’re the ones tearing each other part.

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