Sometimes I am embarrassed to refer to my blog. Many times it seems an act of hubris to suggest that one's insights and perspective are grand enough to warrant public interest. My judgment is that blogging is rapidly becoming a cheap cliche'.In my search for truth, I began to investigate other VC blogs. I wanted to know what they [others like me] wrote about...and how. I was doing this to calibrate my self-opinion. I found sites that I liked and those I didn't. For those I liked, I sent the authors emails describing what I liked and why - I wanted to acknowledge the human being. I sent about seven such emails.
Interestingly...I heard back from only one blog author among the seven sites I visited - ONLY ONE. It made me start to wonder...why are people doing this...why I am doing this? It is a fair assumption (I think) that authors are doing this for public consumption and that somewhere in there...is a need on their part for feedback and acknowledgment - as opposed to divine world betterment. The Internet is, in fact, the most public medium ever created and therefore public consumption is implicit. I think VCs are particularly vulnerable to the need for acknowledgment as their entire world is about testing the theory, testing the theory, testing the theory. In addition, they have to wait years to see if their investment theories translate into investment successes.
If a peer's perspective judgmentally and expressly is supportive of the authoring VC's theories...it seems that some type of further human exchange would develop between the proud father of a new theory and his admirers. Get two passionate hobbyists in a room talking about their common interests and you can't shut them up.....but not here...why?
We live in a world of diminished individualism. Among the insecure human race this trend is harmful...individualism is a mechanism for acknowledgment which shouldn't be stifled. Publishing via the web should be a tonic through which in the individual raises his head above the noise and declares "I exist and look how smart I am." The problem is that the blog medium is losing its unique capabilities do to overcrowding. The noise level has been simply raised by this fast moving medium. Perhaps this is why the response rate to my emails was low. Perhaps the authors have figured this out. The once promising "blog" no longer offers the hope of recognizing individual achievement. If this is true...man can no longer find meaning through his blog........and if this is true.... then...... blogging just died.
