Anyone who enjoys a moderate amount of success combined with publicity, accolades or seeming "legions" of followers / blog commenters, inevitably becomes the victim of personal attacks.

Having an abrasive (see Calacanis), or egotistical, or whatever your bit may be, can be an effective way of gaining more readers and attracting a following.

The opposite would be waffling, and we'd all be talking about how Aaron doesn't seem sure of himself and waffles on issues he talks about.

So you're screwed either way, really.

But the 'startups' that get posted here from him are lame IMHO An on line book library catalogue thing? A text based wiki thing? I mean come on. Credit where credit's due, and it's certainly not due IMHO.

Almost all startups are lame when they're first created. Most people wait until they're somewhat less lame before releasing them, but Aaron seems to like doing everything in public. At least he's putting things out there, which is more than can be said for most people on this board (myself included).

I just wish he'd grow some balls and actually finish a project instead of giving up and moving on to the next thing. Successful startups that start out sucky keep on improving even though everyone says they suck. Aaron seems to move on to the next great idea in hopes that it'll suck less, and it inevitably doesn't.

>I just wish he'd grow some balls and actually finish a project

It has nothing whatsoever to do with cajones! This is a common trait of inventive individuals - they have so many great ideas that it's hard to keep on one track. What Aaron needs to find is his more conservative counterpart to wrangle his concepts into full-fledged businesses when he grows bored and moves on.

I think it does have to do with courage. The reason inventive individuals have trouble keeping on one track is that they're afraid one of their other ideas is better, or that they'll otherwise miss out on some other opportunity elsewhere. The courage comes in saying "Damn it, I don't care what else is out there, I'm going to pick this one project, take it down the rabbit hole, and see where I come out, regardless of what else is out there."

I say this as someone very much like Aaron, with a long trail of half-finished projects and a couple that I actually saw through long enough to bring to fruition.

It's fair to criticize an idea you don't like, but nastier to attack the person. Think of what you might say to his face, that's what's appropriate to post.

Point taken. Perhaps all the 'publicity' is actually unwanted. Perhaps he doesn't consider himself to be 'all that'.

Maybe he does, but do we really need to discuss it?

Do we really need to blindly upvote any article that mentions him? ;) ok enough...

You can't tell yet. A lot of good startups sound that lame when they first launch.

If I had heard the idea for reddit I would have shrugged and said "done already". In 94 or 95 I would have told Sergey, Larry, or Jerry Yang they could have great jobs at Lockheed Martin or Motorola with their resumes, quit that hobby web crap and get serious. And that was when I was in my 20's! So I would agree here.

Sure. Re-reading my comment it does sound a bit harsh, and I agree - the idea doesn't have to be earth changing to be wildly successful. I guess we'll see in time what becomes of his startups.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."