You may have heard about Wallstrip, the video blog that I’ve railed against in the past for its lack of originality and its poor management is in the news again. Last week they were in the NY Intelligencier with one of the worst reviews in new media history. I didn’t comment on this article to spare Howard Lindzon the shame.
In the past I’ve questioned the leadership of Howard Lindzon as a new media producer as he often takes cheap shots and does things I’ve learned the hard way just don’t work. Yes, I used to be an uber snarky attack blogger. In fact I once had an ongoing feud with Loren Feldman, a New York City based ‘snobishly snarky video producer’ who is really hilarious.
Recently, in a comment thread Howard called Loren Feldman, “a putz and a small time thief“.
Loren and I are good friends and the comment thread got rather heated as Howard took off on some rabid trail of anger lashing out at good people. Including some of my best friends in the industry. I’m no lawyer but I think he crossed some lines, and possibly his intent was to cause harm towards Loren Feldman, and Podtech.net a company Loren works for.
Here’s another case when competion gets ugly. In school we would say, Howard be a good sport. But this is the real world, and now he faces a tough scathing legal battle that doesn’t look good for Wallstrip, or for Fred Wilson, an investor in the startup video company.
Loren has a video up that shares a bit more details on what’s going on:
Public Disclosure: Howard Lindzon was banned from publishing comments at 901am after starting fights and making immoral comments toward 901am staffers.
Originally posted on February 13, 2007 @ 9:45 am
Lindzon – short
Wallstrip – short
Campbell – long, but she needs to stay away from Lindzon
Angel Investors – your money will be short
Agreed. But hey I’m not financial analyst. But I agree.
I was astonished when I saw that comment about Loren by Howard Lindzon.
To call someone a “putz” is one thing, to call him a “small time thief” is quite another.
As they say down here, “Them’s fightin’ words”.
I’ve had the opportunity of spending some time with Loren, and unlike a number of other people I’ve dealt with in North America, he’s 100% as you see him, straight down the line without any BS, and he’s certainly not a thief, indeed if he was he’s the sort of guy who would actually tell you, straight to your face.
My first cousin is named Debbie Feldman, so I am sure we are related somewhere along the way. If you get threatened, I get threatened. We are family, and I am standing by your side.
These developments are so weird. I remember when I first started encountering various characters in this drama, most everyone from Chartreuse to Loren were really open and nice to me when I showed up, even when I was overreacting to various things.
But Lindzon was dismissive from the beginning and really didn’t seem to have much to offer. To be honest, I don’t know what all’s gone on and, since people are pulling posts and comments, may never really get it all.
It’s sad, though. This seemed like a network of vibrant individuals with real possibilities that have all dispersed with little to show for their efforts together. I guess all this blogging and related biz sometimes just opens up new ways to do the same old things.