<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://s2.wp.com/wp-content/themes/vip/newyorkobserver/stylesheets/rss.css"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:geo="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Betabeat &#187; circle jerk</title>
	<atom:link href="http://betabeat.com/tag/circle-jerk/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://betabeat.com</link>
	<description>Just another WordPress.com site</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 23 May 2013 17:11:57 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language></language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.com/</generator>
<cloud domain='betabeat.com' port='80' path='/?rsscloud=notify' registerProcedure='' protocol='http-post' />
<image>
		<url>http://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.png</url>
		<title>Betabeat &#187; circle jerk</title>
		<link>http://betabeat.com</link>
	</image>
	<atom:link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="http://betabeat.com/osd.xml" title="Betabeat" />
	<atom:link rel='hub' href='http://betabeat.com/?pushpress=hub'/>
		<item>
				
		<title>Tech Blogger Jon Mitchell Claims He Is @NextTechBlog [Updated]</title>

		<comments>http://betabeat.com/2012/11/tech-blogger-jon-mitchell-claims-he-is-nexttechblog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:27:02 -0400</pubDate>
					<link>http://betabeat.com/2012/11/tech-blogger-jon-mitchell-claims-he-is-nexttechblog/</link>
			<dc:creator>Steve Huff</dc:creator>
				
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://betabeat.com/?p=70640</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p><div id="attachment_70657" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 608px"><a href="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/nexttechblog.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-70657" title="nexttechblog" alt="" src="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/nexttechblog.png" height="166" width="598" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">screengrab</p></div></p>
<p><a href="http://readwrite.com/" target="_blank">ReadWrite</a>'s <a href="http://readwrite.com/author/jon-mitchell" target="_blank">Jon Mitchell</a> says he is @NextTechBlog, and he is "<a href="https://twitter.com/ablaze/status/269510029097443328">not stopping</a>."</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/NextTechBlog" target="_blank">@NextTechBlog</a> is a funny Twitter parody of the most ridiculous aspects of tech blogging and it has been an understandable source of intrigue since it was created--just who the hell is behind all those dead-on tweets satirizing tech blogging's sometimes endless cycle of hype and silliness, anyway?</p>
<p>Spencer Chen <a href="http://www.spencerchen.co/post/35846724813/nexttechblogs-identity-revealed" target="_blank">attempted to determine the author's identity</a> with some logical inferences based on thought process and tweeting style, but it turns out his guess, <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeIsaac" target="_blank">AllThingsD senior editor Mike Isaac</a>, was probably wrong.</p>
<p>Not only will @NextTechBlog continue, Mr. Mitchell is doubling down:<!--more--></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center"><p>How will it be different? I will call out bullshit specifically now, and I’ll link to it. Yes, ours. I made fun of us all the time.</p>
<p>— Jon Mitchell (@ablaze) <a href="https://twitter.com/ablaze/status/269512194255884288">November 16, 2012</a></p></blockquote>
<p>In an exchange with a Twitter follower, Mr. Mitchell also admitted there were other contributors to the parody account, writing that he has "several fairly consistent DM contributors, including<a href="https://twitter.com/CalebGarling">@<b>CalebGarling</b></a>."</p>
<p>Here are some of @NextTechBlog's greatest hits:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center"><p>Top 9,999,999 Apps For Staying Focused</p>
<p>— NextTechBlog (@NextTechBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/NextTechBlog/status/262656604841865218">October 28, 2012</a></p></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center"><p>Why Yahoo! Should Hire Scott Forstall To Build A Facebook Phone For Microsoft</p>
<p>— NextTechBlog (@NextTechBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/NextTechBlog/status/264521153895346176">November 3, 2012</a></p></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center"><p>How To Discard Your Obsolete 6-Month-Old Apple Device</p>
<p>— NextTechBlog (@NextTechBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/NextTechBlog/status/260927725596971010">October 24, 2012</a></p></blockquote>
<p>With just under 1,800 followers, @NextTechBlog is probably more fun for members of tech-related media than anyone else, but it's so funny and on-point we're glad to see Mr. Mitchell doesn't plan on using his big reveal as a preamble to shutting it down.</p>
<p>After all, as <a href="https://twitter.com/Gromble/status/269513629928407040" target="_blank">one tweeter noted</a>, sometimes "we are all @NextTechBlog."</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> After @NextTechBlog <a href="https://twitter.com/NextTechBlog/status/269524321142202368" target="_blank">tweaked our noses</a> as only they could, we contacted Jon Mitchell to ask why he owned up to being @NextTechBlog now.</p>
<p>"I've been wanting to end the charade for a while, but I held out," Mr. Mitchell said in an email, "I outed myself to Mat Honan a couple weeks ago, and we talked about whether I should do it. He advised me to hold out, and I did, but today I thought I saw the peak. When Spencer Chen had the balls to actually blog about knowing who it was, and he picked someone totally wrong, who has repeatedly and publicly denied his involvement, it started one of those terrible tech blogger Friday Twitter circle jerks. I was so tired of seeing everyone distracted by this. More importantly, I was pretty sure it had reached the height of absurdity. It was never going to get any better than that. So I talked it over with Mat, and he said he'd be honored to do it in grand style."</p>
<p>"It felt great," Mr. Mitchell continued, "I'm totally relieved. People think it's going to cause me to be more self-conscious and stop being so brutal, but they obviously haven't talked to me about this stuff. The garbage encouraged by the economics of this business makes me so angry."</p>
<p>Here's <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/13b5kp/i_am_mat_honan_a_senior_writer_with_wired_and_i/" target="_blank">Mat Honan's Reddit IAmA</a>, in which he confirms @NextTechBlog's true identity.</p>
]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><div id="attachment_70657" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 608px"><a href="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/nexttechblog.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-70657" title="nexttechblog" alt="" src="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/nexttechblog.png" height="166" width="598" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">screengrab</p></div></p>
<p><a href="http://readwrite.com/" target="_blank">ReadWrite</a>'s <a href="http://readwrite.com/author/jon-mitchell" target="_blank">Jon Mitchell</a> says he is @NextTechBlog, and he is "<a href="https://twitter.com/ablaze/status/269510029097443328">not stopping</a>."</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/NextTechBlog" target="_blank">@NextTechBlog</a> is a funny Twitter parody of the most ridiculous aspects of tech blogging and it has been an understandable source of intrigue since it was created--just who the hell is behind all those dead-on tweets satirizing tech blogging's sometimes endless cycle of hype and silliness, anyway?</p>
<p>Spencer Chen <a href="http://www.spencerchen.co/post/35846724813/nexttechblogs-identity-revealed" target="_blank">attempted to determine the author's identity</a> with some logical inferences based on thought process and tweeting style, but it turns out his guess, <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeIsaac" target="_blank">AllThingsD senior editor Mike Isaac</a>, was probably wrong.</p>
<p>Not only will @NextTechBlog continue, Mr. Mitchell is doubling down:<!--more--></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center"><p>How will it be different? I will call out bullshit specifically now, and I’ll link to it. Yes, ours. I made fun of us all the time.</p>
<p>— Jon Mitchell (@ablaze) <a href="https://twitter.com/ablaze/status/269512194255884288">November 16, 2012</a></p></blockquote>
<p>In an exchange with a Twitter follower, Mr. Mitchell also admitted there were other contributors to the parody account, writing that he has "several fairly consistent DM contributors, including<a href="https://twitter.com/CalebGarling">@<b>CalebGarling</b></a>."</p>
<p>Here are some of @NextTechBlog's greatest hits:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center"><p>Top 9,999,999 Apps For Staying Focused</p>
<p>— NextTechBlog (@NextTechBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/NextTechBlog/status/262656604841865218">October 28, 2012</a></p></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center"><p>Why Yahoo! Should Hire Scott Forstall To Build A Facebook Phone For Microsoft</p>
<p>— NextTechBlog (@NextTechBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/NextTechBlog/status/264521153895346176">November 3, 2012</a></p></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center"><p>How To Discard Your Obsolete 6-Month-Old Apple Device</p>
<p>— NextTechBlog (@NextTechBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/NextTechBlog/status/260927725596971010">October 24, 2012</a></p></blockquote>
<p>With just under 1,800 followers, @NextTechBlog is probably more fun for members of tech-related media than anyone else, but it's so funny and on-point we're glad to see Mr. Mitchell doesn't plan on using his big reveal as a preamble to shutting it down.</p>
<p>After all, as <a href="https://twitter.com/Gromble/status/269513629928407040" target="_blank">one tweeter noted</a>, sometimes "we are all @NextTechBlog."</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> After @NextTechBlog <a href="https://twitter.com/NextTechBlog/status/269524321142202368" target="_blank">tweaked our noses</a> as only they could, we contacted Jon Mitchell to ask why he owned up to being @NextTechBlog now.</p>
<p>"I've been wanting to end the charade for a while, but I held out," Mr. Mitchell said in an email, "I outed myself to Mat Honan a couple weeks ago, and we talked about whether I should do it. He advised me to hold out, and I did, but today I thought I saw the peak. When Spencer Chen had the balls to actually blog about knowing who it was, and he picked someone totally wrong, who has repeatedly and publicly denied his involvement, it started one of those terrible tech blogger Friday Twitter circle jerks. I was so tired of seeing everyone distracted by this. More importantly, I was pretty sure it had reached the height of absurdity. It was never going to get any better than that. So I talked it over with Mat, and he said he'd be honored to do it in grand style."</p>
<p>"It felt great," Mr. Mitchell continued, "I'm totally relieved. People think it's going to cause me to be more self-conscious and stop being so brutal, but they obviously haven't talked to me about this stuff. The garbage encouraged by the economics of this business makes me so angry."</p>
<p>Here's <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/13b5kp/i_am_mat_honan_a_senior_writer_with_wired_and_i/" target="_blank">Mat Honan's Reddit IAmA</a>, in which he confirms @NextTechBlog's true identity.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://betabeat.com/2012/11/tech-blogger-jon-mitchell-claims-he-is-nexttechblog/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
		<media:thumbnail url="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/nexttechblog.png?w=150" />
		<media:content url="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/nexttechblog.png?w=150" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">nexttechblog</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/12d391316d94afeef01bd9a987c847fe?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">shuffobserver</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/nexttechblog.png" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">nexttechblog</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
				
		<title>XOJane Blogger Almost Barfs Thinking About Reddit &#8216;Circle Jerk&#8217;</title>

		<comments>http://betabeat.com/2012/06/xojane-discovers-reddit-cries-circle-jerk/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jun 2012 16:47:12 -0400</pubDate>
					<link>http://betabeat.com/2012/06/xojane-discovers-reddit-cries-circle-jerk/</link>
			<dc:creator>Nitasha Tiku</dc:creator>
				
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://betabeat.com/?p=52686</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p><div id="attachment_52702" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 228px"><a href="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/reddit-logo.jpeg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-52702" title="reddit-logo" src="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/reddit-logo.jpeg?w=218" alt="" width="218" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Keep your hands where she can see 'em, alien.</p></div></p>
<p>Oh, XOJane! Adorable, <a href="http://observer.com/2012/06/cat-marnell-at-vice-only-logical/">anti-angel-dust</a> XOJane. It appears the time has come for the site to explain Reddit to its readers. And <a href="http://www.xojane.com/tech/people-reddit-can-sort-be-dckheads">blogger Kate Conway</a>, who has been "on and off Reddit for years," has bravely taken up the task.</p>
<p>Ms. Conway, who describes herself as "such a freaking sucker" (for feel-good Internet tales) breaks Reddit down into <a href="http://www.xojane.com/tech/people-reddit-can-sort-be-dckheads">The Good</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p> ". . . the site is chock full of gripping threads, including a <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/pzct6/reddit_in_the_contraceptives_debate_arent_we/" target="_blank">contraceptive health debate</a>, a crowd-sourced interview with "Animorphs" author <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gzhau/iam_ka_applegate_author_of_animorphs_and_many/" target="_blank">K. A. Applegate</a> and approximately one frillion photos of dogs doing moderately amusing things."</p></blockquote>
<p>And <a href="http://www.xojane.com/tech/people-reddit-can-sort-be-dckheads">The Barf-Inducing</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>"Tucked not-so-discreetly among all of the heart-warming human interest stories, though, are the turnstiles of horror that keep me from jumping on the Reddit-love funtimes-train. There are actual subreddits like “r/beatenwomen” and “r/picsofdeadkids,” neither of which I particularly recommend perusing unless you want to give yourself the barf-nightmares. There are also possibly illegal, definitely skeevy niches, like “<a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/Upskirt/" target="_blank">r/upskirt</a>” and “<a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/CreepShots" target="_blank">r/creepshot</a>,” most of which are garnished with such glowing commentary as “titty drive-by shot” or “I find this very easy to fap to.”</p></blockquote>
<p>Who is to blame for this "faint, grimy layer of jerk patina"? Without any demographic data, Ms. Conway concludes it's a "whole lot of jerky teenage dudes." (Nevermind that misogyny isn't solely the provence of the youth.)</p>
<blockquote><p>"Again, it’s that 17-year-old boy effect rearing its ugly head. Reddit prides itself on its refusal to censor the vast majority of its users, which means that they’re all free to arm themselves with the vaguely misogynistic jerkassery that some boys love to lug around in lieu of actual rhetoric.</p>
<p>. . . But unless it makes a concerted effort to clean up its teenage-boy act, I'm never going to be able to see it as anything beyond a largely mean-spirited circle-jerk."</p></blockquote>
<p><em>Shhh</em>, no one tell her about 4Chan or she'll never be able to keep her lunch down.</p>
]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><div id="attachment_52702" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 228px"><a href="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/reddit-logo.jpeg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-52702" title="reddit-logo" src="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/reddit-logo.jpeg?w=218" alt="" width="218" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Keep your hands where she can see 'em, alien.</p></div></p>
<p>Oh, XOJane! Adorable, <a href="http://observer.com/2012/06/cat-marnell-at-vice-only-logical/">anti-angel-dust</a> XOJane. It appears the time has come for the site to explain Reddit to its readers. And <a href="http://www.xojane.com/tech/people-reddit-can-sort-be-dckheads">blogger Kate Conway</a>, who has been "on and off Reddit for years," has bravely taken up the task.</p>
<p>Ms. Conway, who describes herself as "such a freaking sucker" (for feel-good Internet tales) breaks Reddit down into <a href="http://www.xojane.com/tech/people-reddit-can-sort-be-dckheads">The Good</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p> ". . . the site is chock full of gripping threads, including a <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/pzct6/reddit_in_the_contraceptives_debate_arent_we/" target="_blank">contraceptive health debate</a>, a crowd-sourced interview with "Animorphs" author <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gzhau/iam_ka_applegate_author_of_animorphs_and_many/" target="_blank">K. A. Applegate</a> and approximately one frillion photos of dogs doing moderately amusing things."</p></blockquote>
<p>And <a href="http://www.xojane.com/tech/people-reddit-can-sort-be-dckheads">The Barf-Inducing</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>"Tucked not-so-discreetly among all of the heart-warming human interest stories, though, are the turnstiles of horror that keep me from jumping on the Reddit-love funtimes-train. There are actual subreddits like “r/beatenwomen” and “r/picsofdeadkids,” neither of which I particularly recommend perusing unless you want to give yourself the barf-nightmares. There are also possibly illegal, definitely skeevy niches, like “<a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/Upskirt/" target="_blank">r/upskirt</a>” and “<a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/CreepShots" target="_blank">r/creepshot</a>,” most of which are garnished with such glowing commentary as “titty drive-by shot” or “I find this very easy to fap to.”</p></blockquote>
<p>Who is to blame for this "faint, grimy layer of jerk patina"? Without any demographic data, Ms. Conway concludes it's a "whole lot of jerky teenage dudes." (Nevermind that misogyny isn't solely the provence of the youth.)</p>
<blockquote><p>"Again, it’s that 17-year-old boy effect rearing its ugly head. Reddit prides itself on its refusal to censor the vast majority of its users, which means that they’re all free to arm themselves with the vaguely misogynistic jerkassery that some boys love to lug around in lieu of actual rhetoric.</p>
<p>. . . But unless it makes a concerted effort to clean up its teenage-boy act, I'm never going to be able to see it as anything beyond a largely mean-spirited circle-jerk."</p></blockquote>
<p><em>Shhh</em>, no one tell her about 4Chan or she'll never be able to keep her lunch down.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://betabeat.com/2012/06/xojane-discovers-reddit-cries-circle-jerk/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/3a428e5c49eee7c95feb75990765f682?s=96&#38;d=identicon&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">ntikuobserver</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://nyobetabeat.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/reddit-logo.jpeg?w=218" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">reddit-logo</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
