I like Loic. He is a real entrepreneur and a cool guy. He did a terrific job as VP at Six Apart. Great weblogtools they have: TypePad, Movable Type, LiveJournal and VOX. I used TypePad and now I am using Movable Type.
It did not disturb me that his ego is important for him. Till yesterday. I think his ego has misled him to make great mistakes. He did not listen to the wind which was blowing to a wrong direction. And now he has created his own blogstorm.


More then 200 postings tagged in Technorati the day after this conference (150 yesterday), most searched upon in Technorati (more then 400 postings today, 75 yesterday), a lot of exposure in TechMeme. And right now one of the top items in TechMeme. But the thing is. Most of these postings are very negative. Bad for Loic’s reputation, for Six Apart’s image. I think Loic’s ego is very small now…
But what happened? Why are these postings negative?
As said before, Loic’s ego was the most important these days and not the guests (better should have been: participants). Not our topics, but his own agenda was what was leading him. Ok. That’s a mistake. Shit can happen. But the most miserable thing was at the end when most of the people already had gone home (a lot of them angry and sick). Then Loic said that he thought it was not that long, those politics. And that he should have done it again ….Who is important here?

To Loic:
My God, Loic it is not just YOUR time, it was OURS. WE decide what is appropriate and what is not. WE think it was far too much. And WE did not ask for those political shows, those bad wifi, too many speakers with too less time. When you had listened those days you could have known what direction the wind was blowing. Apologies are ok, but why doing it again next time? Are not you listening?
Bloggers and those other people on the conference are sensitive people. And Loic you know that, because you are also a blogger. Those people know when something is not right, not ok, not authentic/real. They know when they are foolished. That’s the reason why they are so angry. You are going mainstream. That’s ok, but we were not informed. It was not a grassroot conference, nor an underground movement and surely not an unconference (look what Dave’s ideas were about an unconference Loic and how David thinks about it right now). No it was just a marketingconference with more then one agenda. That’s bad. Because we were not informed. And it is also bad that people think you betrayed us.
I know that you are a decent guy. It was great to have Shimon Peres on stage. But why did not you listen? And why do you not repond? And why doing it again as you know that this blogstorm creates bad reputation a.s.o.?
Are you just waiting till the storm is over? I think that’s bad. The storm might even be stronger and stronger. Think what Shimon Peres said: “it’s the right to be different, the right to make mistakes and the obligation to correct them”.