John Daly came out and said he’d lost between 50-60 million on Gambling. Barkley later confessed he’d lost around 10 million dollars. You might ask yourself what the hell this has to do with the Web 2.0 and its really very simple.

Venture Capitalist of the original era of the Internet have the same problem that the Web 2.0 Venture Capitalists have. They love to gamble. So does Charles Barkley. So does John Daly. But when is it so bad that you have a problem. I think the Venture Capitalists have a problem. I however don’t think Google has a buying problem yet. Neither does Yahoo. MSN obviously doesn’t either.

Shocking headline of 2007 (after the big web 2.0 venture capital bubble pops):
Venture Capitalists lost 100 Billion on Web 2.0

It could happen and this is why I say let’s stay far far away from Venture Capital. Chris Pearson and I are getting ready to launch out a new project. It’s very web 2.0 and should have a lot of traction in the real world and the web world. The Web 3.0 (or what the Web 2.0 has done wrong) is going to be a small yet bright movement of people who learn from the blunder of trying to snag as much cash from Venture Capitalists as possible. It’s also going to be about learning from mistakes. Let’s talk about a huge mistake Michael Arrington made.

Edgeio Vs TechCrunch
Michael Arrington should have been blogging about Garage Sales,Craigslist, and changing the way people sell online. He shouldn’t have been blogging about Web 2.0. He should have never started a site that tracked all that’s happening in Web 2.0 unless he was going to be starting a venture, a business, or somehow manages to find a way to fulfill his audience. Otherwise all he’s left with is a huge bust. Yes I’m accusing/predicting that TechCrunch could go the way of Pets.com. Well sortof. I’m just saying that Mike Arrington could find a lot more fulfilment if he had used his blog to develop his brand. Instead of creating a brand around something unrelated to his true passions. That is unless Web 2.0 lasts forever and his audience doesnt get bored with all the hyping. ( I could be wrong)

Here’s a huge lesson: Make your blog your brand.
Don’t make the mistake of creating a blog that’s outside of your main product. Your product should be you. Liz has been beating this drum for a long time. .

Just a rerun. One of the classic posts from JOAB. And 2005. Read the comments these peoples are nuts.

Keeping to our policy of being controversial and well just plain silly. We rank the 10 most powerful women in the blogging industry

1. Ana Marie Cox (http://www.wonkette.com) of Gawker Media has done everything right in her blogging career. Starting with working for the Blogger Don himself Nick Denton. It appears in some circles that Ana Marie is eclipsing Nick Denton, and well she is a damn good writer too. Sometimes a writer can be bigger than her publisher.

2. Heather Armstrong (http://www.dooce.com) is a sleeper pick for number one for next year. She seems so average and yet she is so damn popular. She could take over one spot if she set her mind to it, and joined up with a blog network.

3. Jen Chung of the Gothamist Empire (http://www.gothamist.com) is a strong candidate to become the net’s leading lady in 2006 as she sits atop one of the net’s fastest growing blog empires. She doesn’t work for Nick or Jason which gives her added points from our secret panel of judges.

4. Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing (http://www.boingboing.net) has just snuck on this list by being linked to so many websites we can’t even count them all. She secretly desires to be much more powerful according to some of her closest allies. She could be a heavy player if she ever decides to leave BoingBoing behind.

5. Wendy Cheng (http://xiaxue.blogspot.com) has one of the largest internet followings for a twenty-something from Singapore. While none of our adult panelists even had ever heard of her, our teenage panelist all gave her number one votes to catapult her way into the middle of the top ten. If she ever decided to get into this on a more professional level she could rise to number one overnight.

6. Elizabeth Spiers, formerly of Gawker Media could have been numero uno had she stayed with Nick. She had a huge bunch of potential instead she sold out for instant success. Rumors have her returning to start her own network to take on Nick. We’ll have to watch and see. Just this rumor makes her powerful enough to hang out in the top 10.

7. Jessica Coen of Gawker Media (http://www.gawker.com) has made a name for herself as a skilled writer who can talk about more than Paris Hilton. Although that’s not always good for business. She was Nick’s handpicked succesor for a bunch of nobodies, and she is starting to eclipse Elizabeth Spiers as the new queen of Gawker. Longevity pays off in this business. And rumor has it Jessica is a Gawker lifer.

8. Joi Ito of Technorati (http://joi.ito.com ) has her hands in a lot of Web 2.0 companies, some you might not even know about yet. This makes her damn powerful. Often times the one you don’t know that well is the most powerful. My personal favorite because she seems to help people get shit done.

9. Mena Trott of SixApart (http://www.sixapart.com), she runs a good company, does it quietly. Doen’t piss people off, and does it well. She sneaks on to this list because so many people love to hate her.

10. Shai Coggins of B5Media (http://www.b5media.com) is a hot commodity she singlehandely built a small sized blog network merged it with another small sized network to create one of the largest blog networks overnight. She seems to be making a positive name for herself by making some smart moves here at the end of the year. Look for her to be a mover and a shaker for a long time to come.

A Few of My Sleeper Picks for 2006

Katie Getz of the Gothamist Empire ( http://bostonist.com ) is a passionate writer, and was really fun to party with when I went to the Patriots Super Bowl party with Tom Brady and Co. She took down more shots than Tom’s O-Line, and still was able to blog afterwords. Any woman that can do that deserves a shot in 2006, especially now that the Patriots suck.

Rachael Bohrer of the Gothamist Empire ( http://miamist.com ) is a party girl. I am in Miami on business when I meet up with her in a South Beach bar and she totally drinks me under the table. She gets a shot on the list just for that.

GirlSpoke.com( http://www.girlspoke.com )in the 9rules Network, yep the entire staff. The other day I am reading their site at work when I almost cream my pants. They write with passion and are totally hot. They sneak into my sleeper picks for next year just because their cool, and sexy.

About Our Algorithms:
We want to thank Technorati,BlogShares, and Google for their help. We also wish to thank Jason,Nick,Paul,Darren,Jordon,Ben,Mena,Kottke, and Andrew for turning down our invitation to join our judges panel. It really made it easy to find some unbiased panelists that were affordable.

There should be a legally defined mental disorder that allows one to get away with snark without being hammered for it. Call it…snarkolepsy. You don’t like someone’s outfit, you snark them for it, and when they get insulted you can simply tell them you are a tragic victim of snarkolepsy, which is a mental disorder that does not allow you to keep your opinions to yourself, especially when confronted by heinous crimes of fashion such as the outfit they’re wearing.

Think about it. We snarkoleptics could make the world a better place by snarking on the stupidity and eye-bleeding choices people make every day if we could express ourselves without fear of reprisal.

Misbehaving child in a store? “Grab your monkey faced brat and get your fat ass out of public until you both learn to behave like civilized people.” “I’m snarkoleptic, I just said what everyone in the mall has been thinking.”

Via Crochet Snark

Some call me BiPolar, others say I have multiple personality disorder. Me I think I have snarkolepsy.

Coming soon Blog Begging!

Yourmedia world is swimming with music, movies, television, radio, newspapers and the Internet. In jumps new forms of media such as blogs, podcasts, wikis, citizen journalism, and RSS news readers — all to help you gain control and take action. MediaShift is your guide to the digital media revolution. Mark Glaser hosts, but you’re the star.

So according to my inside sources the dipsticks involved  with this project are actually planning to launch close to 20 blogs in the upcoming year to beg their readers for money, just like they do on TV. I can”t wait to take part in the first Viewer Blogathon.  Maybe just maybe I can finally pick up that cheesy ass piece of art work I have been dying to pick up.
Go check it out.

Not a lot of people know me, i mean really know me. My name isn’t Cowboy. My name is hidden. I use a pseudonym. I’m actually a screenplay writer. I need a serious change of tone around here to lighten everyones mood. Im so tired of all the blog wars, hate mail, fake comments, and naughtyness running around. So I present to you a piece of my new play.

Adventures with Clemm Part One

In the beginning of the galaxy there were 3 rings. All greater than the next. There was much secrecy attached to these rings, and the holders of the rings were all mighty and powerful. (ok you get it now read the damn story.)

Clemm The Mighty Ring Lord:
Remember every decoder ring we hand out to you soldiers has an expiration attached to it so if anyone else is sharing their decoder rings we believe this is grounds for expulsion from the Brotherhood of the Ring. Hate sounding like the ring leader, but we try our best to keep things a big hairy mess until they are ready to be made overhyped and underachieved.
If you have a cruise missile aimed at us for any reason please tell us so that we can get the hell out of the way before it sinks the whole damn ship.

Grimlers:
OMG, who is sharing their decoder rings and why? Everyone in the brotherhood should know that is very naughty and if they read the Counsel of the Brotherhood they would know this sacred truth.

O’Reilly:
I’m not really sure why some soldiers choose to attack us, we give a lot to the Brotherhood of the Ring as well as the entire universe, whenever a soldier does us wrong, I sit in bed at night and cry for my mother.

Grimlers:
Pronto.

Unos:
Sharing decoder rings is evil and should get any soldier booted from The Brotherhood of the Ring.
No exceptions at all.

IfOnly:
I concur magi Unos; it shows a clear lack of honor and dignity.

KCowChevy:
Moses, it’s one thing (and still wrong) just to share your magic wands, but to share your decoder this is a violation that should end in death. Certain Death.

Ryban:
Certainly makes you question the integrity of the new soldiers… but come on, it’s very clear in the Counsel of the Brotherhood that this is an evile abomination.

The end of part one.

Today’s Moral:
Never share your decoder ring. I especially love O’reily’s line about his mother. This role will be truly amazing. He shows flare, mystery, sarcasm, and probably will end up being the Lord of Rochester before the story ends. This is a six day series. Stay tuned….

6 Predictions for Me in 2006
I will leave Fine Fools to start a blogger promotional company. ( oh shit this happened already)
I will launch an advertising network second to none.
I will hire a voice over actor who narrated an academy award winning documentary to head up my podcasting community.
I will hire a gal from MTV who will set the digital media world on fire with her savvy.
I will stop believing all the hype coming out of every other blog network.
I will finally finish my last can of beefarino. Thank God.

A few predictions for the other guys.
Calacanis will buy KnowMoreMedia for more than a million.
Duncan will leave B5 for Erati Media his roll will be to head up our snarky division.
Denton won’t sell Gawker instead will launch a print publication for Fleshbot,Gawker,Gizmodo,and Wonkette with Conde Nast.
Melissa Gira will leave Fine Fools to work for Fleshbot.
Wurk.net will get bought and sold, and finally discarded at last.
Joel Johnson will find a way to piss off Calacanis again and again.
Ms .Cox will beg to come back to Gawker, when no one reads her books.

Thank you guys for making me what I am today. I appreciate Scrivs for all he has done in helping me build a name for myself and I have some huge things in store for 2006. As of today this is my last post for 2005 at Fine Fools. In the near future you are going to find me launching something really special with some great people. It’s more than a blog network its a family of blogs united around building people brands. I don’t want to hype this thing any more than it needs to. It deeply saddens me to leave and this is no hoax. For all my subscribers I don’t know what will happen with this domain. I hope someone cool gets to use it. Whoever it may be good luck and godspeed.

Keep posted at the Blog Herald, Blog Network Watch and Blogebrity for the announcement coming in a week or so.

I love every single one of you guys. All of my readers. So thanks for everything.

This is how the cookie crumbles,
Cowboy

Dude I don’t do predictions. And Im actually beginning my first day of blog strike. It’s where I don’t blog until Scrivs emails me an apology for ignoring Fine Fools for like 3 weeks. Keep posted and whatever you do don’t click on any of Scrivs Yahoo Ads. They will make him money. We don’t need that right now. What we need is for him to answer my emails, my forum posts, and apologize for not wishing us all at fine fools a merry christmas.

btw. I found this interesting site makes me wonder what Matt has up his sleeve. Does he have sleeves in his blog network?

The best blogs walk a very fine line between civility and anarchy, between passion
and privacy. We’ve all visited blogs where the writer lets her hair down just a little
too much. Okay, a lot too much. I don’t want or need to know about your cat’s
operation, thank you very much. Seth Godin

Apparently Typepad is giving their customers money again, this time throwing in free lap dances, anything to keep their customers from bailing on them in the wave of the anti-Six Apart movement that is sweeping the blogosphere after Mena’s temper tantrum and Ben’s accident in the server room. If you didn’t know the details apparently Ben spilled a guiness on one of the servers power boxes and fried a bunch of data. Mr. Barak Berkowitz who also happens to be the same guy who sent me strange requests to give him money in exchange for 4 billion dollars of his father’s inheritance.

So it can’t hurt sign up with Typepad today and in a few months get a payment. Im sure they are bound to fuck up again soon. It’s inevitable. Use the promotional code movable and get 90 days free.

technorati tags: typepad, sixapart, mena, trott, mena trott, ben trott, typepad sucks, Duncan slept with Mena