WebMediaBrands CEO Alan Meckler
Sleepless in Tokyo
It is near midnight in Tokyo on Tuesday (the posting time of this entry will be incorrect as it is timed with Jupitermedia's servers in Darien, Connecticut USA whereas I am in Tokyo).
I arrived here a few hours ago and had a dinner meeting. Now I am catching up on email and attempting to stay up until 1:00AM so that I can "get onto an Asian sleep pattern." Anyway, I was checking out a bit of history a few minutes ago about the origin of our JupiterWeb properties and came across a 1994 interview in which I believe I created the concept (that is now the rage) of horizontal and vertical Web sites.
The interviewer, one Gordon Cook, was angry with me for killing the original plan of JupiterWeb which was called MecklerWeb. If readers have a few minutes, this interview makes for good reading. I was taken to task by not only Gordon Cook, but also by Jared Sandberg in The Wall Street Journal and Forbes magazine.
Pioneers got shot in the back all the time. I am glad that this pioneer survived and proved to be correct 11 years later!
Alan,
I certainly remember the cancellation of MecklerWeb. It was a big shock to us at the time. I also remember Gordon Cook (The Cook Report), he was a bit overblown even then. It would also be right, I guess, to namecheck Chris Locke as part of MecklerWeb, subsequently RageBoy and of the Cluetrain Manifesto. It certainly all comes around. I have been blogging those days at http://www.themanwhoinventedtheinternet.com. We're all still around I guess. You once invited me to chair Internet World, for which I remain grateful to this day!