Scott McNulty wants a press pass to MacWorld

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The Unofficial Apple Weblog doesn’t get a press pass to MacWorld, but Dave Winer does, and Scott McNulty is pissed.Personally, I’d invite Dave to any conferences I’d do. And I’d invite other bloggers too. Speaking of which, Microsoft is going to announce a conference soon and I’m helping them decide on bloggers who should get invited to cover the event. It’s hard to be fair to everyone when you only can hand out a dozen or so free passes.

Published by Robert Scoble

I help entrepreneurs build their technology business' story, help with getting ready for investors, with other launch plans, and many other strategic things that can help your new startup. Call to talk: +1-425-205-1921 (text first).

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24 thoughts on “Scott McNulty wants a press pass to MacWorld”

  3. Robert, the problem is one of space. If you give every blogger a media badge, you have two choices…

    1) Create a “Uber-press” category that still pisses people off

    2) Stop doing the press room, et al.

    You can’t have half the attendees with a media badge, it gets unmanageable, and honestly, you don’t get THAT much with the damned thing.

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  4. Robert, the problem is one of space. If you give every blogger a media badge, you have two choices…

    1) Create a “Uber-press” category that still pisses people off

    2) Stop doing the press room, et al.

    You can’t have half the attendees with a media badge, it gets unmanageable, and honestly, you don’t get THAT much with the damned thing.

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  5. I also find that basing one’s treatment on how others are treated is a zero sum game. I’ll bet Mossberg doesn’t even have to ASK for a Media/VIP/GetToSitWithSteve badge. Does that mean that I am somehow slighted if I don’t get the same treatment?

    Of course not.

    Life is not fair, and just because Winer got a goodie isn’t indicative of what McNulty should get

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  6. I also find that basing one’s treatment on how others are treated is a zero sum game. I’ll bet Mossberg doesn’t even have to ASK for a Media/VIP/GetToSitWithSteve badge. Does that mean that I am somehow slighted if I don’t get the same treatment?

    Of course not.

    Life is not fair, and just because Winer got a goodie isn’t indicative of what McNulty should get

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  7. That’s true John, though I am interested in how they pick the sites that do get press creds. TUAW meets all the requirements that Macworld outlines, and we also get much more traffic than say… Macsimum News does and yet Macsimum News got a press pass.

    It most likely has to do with the fact that we have ‘blog’ in our name. Ahh, well what can ya do? Well, other than write a snark filled post about it (I’m a blogger after all!).

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  8. That’s true John, though I am interested in how they pick the sites that do get press creds. TUAW meets all the requirements that Macworld outlines, and we also get much more traffic than say… Macsimum News does and yet Macsimum News got a press pass.

    It most likely has to do with the fact that we have ‘blog’ in our name. Ahh, well what can ya do? Well, other than write a snark filled post about it (I’m a blogger after all!).

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  11. Macsimum News is run by Dennis Sellers. Dennis has been a Mac/technology reporter for years. I met him in 1994 at MacWorld Boston and I’d heard his name from before that. Like Winer, it is probably that long time reputation that gets him a pass before you.

    Personally, I think that if you get posted regularly on MacSurfer that should be good enough. But MacWorld can set whatever rules they want.

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  12. Macsimum News is run by Dennis Sellers. Dennis has been a Mac/technology reporter for years. I met him in 1994 at MacWorld Boston and I’d heard his name from before that. Like Winer, it is probably that long time reputation that gets him a pass before you.

    Personally, I think that if you get posted regularly on MacSurfer that should be good enough. But MacWorld can set whatever rules they want.

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  13. Scott, traffic has little to do with it at all. Macsimum news is, as pointed out by James, run by Dennis Sellers, formerly of MacCentral. He does a bit more than just blogging.

    Getting posted on MacSurfer isn’t that hard. Send them an email is usually all it takes. Bynkii.com gets posted on MacSurfer, I still don’t think it qualifies.

    But I can say that snarking off like a teenager is SO not going to help your cause at all. See, BEFORE that post, you could have waited until the show, and talked to some people there in person. Present yourself reasonably, and maturely, and see about working with them.

    But now? I don’t see that post helping much, and it probably reenforces the correctness of their decision in their eyes, especially bitching that “Winer got one and I didn’t”. What does Winer have to do with you?

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  14. Scott, traffic has little to do with it at all. Macsimum news is, as pointed out by James, run by Dennis Sellers, formerly of MacCentral. He does a bit more than just blogging.

    Getting posted on MacSurfer isn’t that hard. Send them an email is usually all it takes. Bynkii.com gets posted on MacSurfer, I still don’t think it qualifies.

    But I can say that snarking off like a teenager is SO not going to help your cause at all. See, BEFORE that post, you could have waited until the show, and talked to some people there in person. Present yourself reasonably, and maturely, and see about working with them.

    But now? I don’t see that post helping much, and it probably reenforces the correctness of their decision in their eyes, especially bitching that “Winer got one and I didn’t”. What does Winer have to do with you?

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  15. I might point out that no where in my post did I say Dave shouldn’t get a pass. In fact I said, ‘hurrah for bloggers, right,’ thereby equating Dave and myself since we’re both bloggers. It seems to me that if Macworld wanted to issue pass badges to bloggers they would want to give one to a site that is focused entirely on Mac news, gets tons of traffic, and meets all of their requirements for ‘Online Media.’

    So we’re not getting a pass even though we get more than 1.5 million pageviews a month (of course, traffic has little to do with it, because why would IDG want a website there that gets lots of hits?) and have a paid staff that posts original content (along with pointers to other folks). It is IDG’s party and they can invite whom they want and so of course folks like Winer and Sellers will get passes. I’m just saying that I think I should too, but when you boil it all down they can do what they want. I’ll be at Macworld either way ‘just blogging’ it and it will be loads of fun. I might even get to go into the press room after all the big media types leave after the keynote.

    And the only snarky thing about my post was the word ‘hell’ in the title, at least to me.

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  16. I might point out that no where in my post did I say Dave shouldn’t get a pass. In fact I said, ‘hurrah for bloggers, right,’ thereby equating Dave and myself since we’re both bloggers. It seems to me that if Macworld wanted to issue pass badges to bloggers they would want to give one to a site that is focused entirely on Mac news, gets tons of traffic, and meets all of their requirements for ‘Online Media.’

    So we’re not getting a pass even though we get more than 1.5 million pageviews a month (of course, traffic has little to do with it, because why would IDG want a website there that gets lots of hits?) and have a paid staff that posts original content (along with pointers to other folks). It is IDG’s party and they can invite whom they want and so of course folks like Winer and Sellers will get passes. I’m just saying that I think I should too, but when you boil it all down they can do what they want. I’ll be at Macworld either way ‘just blogging’ it and it will be loads of fun. I might even get to go into the press room after all the big media types leave after the keynote.

    And the only snarky thing about my post was the word ‘hell’ in the title, at least to me.

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  17. Again Scott, you’re equating hitcounts with qualifications. That’s a false number anyway, (hit count tracking is utter bullshit, and someone with a little javascript knowledge can create pageview numbers that you wouldn’t believe). No one with a clue uses pageviews, etc., for anything anymore. If you’re going by hitcounts, there’s a few blogs out there dealing with Macs that EASILY get more hits than yours. Remember, hitcounts = BS numbers.

    As well, while YOU may not think your post was snarky past the title, you’d be one of the few in that camp. I’ve dealt with IDG before on this, and when you start playing this game with them, they dig in their heels, big-time. A tip from someone who works with them pretty regularly. A calm discussion on site will get you far better results than popping off in your blog. You aren’t Winer, you aren’t Mossberg, you aren’t Pogue, so it means you some times have to do a little more shuckin’ and jivin’.

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  18. Again Scott, you’re equating hitcounts with qualifications. That’s a false number anyway, (hit count tracking is utter bullshit, and someone with a little javascript knowledge can create pageview numbers that you wouldn’t believe). No one with a clue uses pageviews, etc., for anything anymore. If you’re going by hitcounts, there’s a few blogs out there dealing with Macs that EASILY get more hits than yours. Remember, hitcounts = BS numbers.

    As well, while YOU may not think your post was snarky past the title, you’d be one of the few in that camp. I’ve dealt with IDG before on this, and when you start playing this game with them, they dig in their heels, big-time. A tip from someone who works with them pretty regularly. A calm discussion on site will get you far better results than popping off in your blog. You aren’t Winer, you aren’t Mossberg, you aren’t Pogue, so it means you some times have to do a little more shuckin’ and jivin’.

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  19. Yes, I’m not Pogue, Winer, the Pope, or anyone other than me which means I don’t get special treatment, which is cool. However, I still don’t think I should meekly accept the fact that TUAW, a site that meets all the requirements, didn’t get a pass. I contacted IDG before I posted and they didn’t get back to me so I posted something since that’s what us snarky bloggers do. 🙂

    Anyway, it doesn’t really matter does it? I’ll be going to Macworld, and I may get a press pass yet (since I am doing more to get one than just posting a silly old post about it).

    Oh, and TUAW isn’t ‘my blog,’ but rather a blog that employs me. If you want to check out my blog click on my name here. 🙂 I didn’t request a press pass for Blankbaby… but maybe I should.

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  20. Yes, I’m not Pogue, Winer, the Pope, or anyone other than me which means I don’t get special treatment, which is cool. However, I still don’t think I should meekly accept the fact that TUAW, a site that meets all the requirements, didn’t get a pass. I contacted IDG before I posted and they didn’t get back to me so I posted something since that’s what us snarky bloggers do. 🙂

    Anyway, it doesn’t really matter does it? I’ll be going to Macworld, and I may get a press pass yet (since I am doing more to get one than just posting a silly old post about it).

    Oh, and TUAW isn’t ‘my blog,’ but rather a blog that employs me. If you want to check out my blog click on my name here. 🙂 I didn’t request a press pass for Blankbaby… but maybe I should.

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