Looks like John Robb is completely gone from UserLand

Looks like John Robb is completely gone from UserLandJUL 07 2003

Looks like John Robb is completely gone from UserLand.

There are 14 reader comments

Ryan Schroeder57 07 200311:57PM

yeah, that was quick wasn't it. I thought it was odd when dave didn't link to jrobb in his post and then even wierder when his site came up blank. s'pose we'll find out what's happening sooner or later.

Rubb Dubb06 08 200312:06AM

It's sort of depressing watching Winer melt down.

Chris17 08 2003 1:17AM

Dave still has a link on scripting.com "John Robb said a few days ago what I believe will turn out to be true..."

Didn't Dave invent the permalink? :)

I love Winer and see where he's coming from with the whole Echo thing -- but I don't get this.

luke43 08 2003 8:43AM

http://www.feedster.com/cache.php?id=2876569

Chris Thompson35 08 2003 9:35AM

For those of us who don't closely follow the soap opera that is blog software, could someone tell me who John Robb is?

Based on the cache that luke pasted, it appears he was a UserLand employee, but I'm not entirely certain why this is news.

Winer Mafia44 08 2003 9:44AM

It's an ongoing argument about Winer--either he's a quirky, misunderstood genius with rough edges, or an annoyingly quirky overgrown child who demands recognition and crushes anyone who doesn't agree with his standards, technical or otherwise. After x years of reading him (and I don't any more) I am leaning toward the latter.

Bruce02 08 200312:02PM

Yeah, for someone who routinely rants about how disrespectful it is to take down archives and so on, you'd think Dave wouldn't have acted in such a fashion. Must have been one hell of a final argument.

Mike56 08 200312:56PM

Latter here as well, Mafia. I'm tired of hearing about him.

pb02 08 2003 2:02PM

I love how Dave says he doesn't work at UserLand anymore. John Robb was UserLand's COO (not sure what that really means) for a year or two but there wasn't much discernible activity outside of the blog.

Gene59 08 2003 5:59PM

From JRobb's final post:

Also, if any company is interested in hiring (as a consultant, part-timer, or as a full-timer) somebody who has sold over $1/2 m in weblog software to companies, small businesses, educational institutions, and individuals, please send me a note (emphasis mine)

Is $500 k in weblog software a lot of money? I guess it's ~12,500 Radio licenses. But in the world of non-blog software it doesn't seem like all that much.

Wilhelm06 08 2003 8:06PM

OK. Picture this. You're the figurehead leader of a company selling a product that can for all intents and purposes be duplicated in a few pages of perl (and often is). You give it away mostly for free. The actual boss of the company is a certified, full-blown, out-and-out schizophrenic whose on-again off-again rantings against all and sundry, while amusing, are not exactly corporate in tone.

YOUR MISSION IS TO SELL OLD BUGGY CLIENT/SERVER SOFTWARE TO A TECH CLIENTELE THAT IS EXTREMELY, EVEN PATHOLOGICALLY, SOPHISTICATED. OH, YOU HAVE TO COMPETE AGAINST YOURSELF AND SELL IT FOR BEANS. GO.

John Robb, bless his paramilitary little heart, deserves the medal of honor with gold clusters for selling $500K worth of weblog software. None of the special operations missions he was ever on could be more nail-bitingly thrilling than the mission to attempt to run a company under Dave Winer. Who among us, I say, would dare step forward over that volunteer line?

Disregard if you must the piddling sums that have kept Userland and its mad blackhearted captain Ahab afloat on the seas of the Internet for the last few years...but give praise and thanks to jrobb, whose selfless jump-on-the-grenade-stylee actions in "running the company" have helped save you, me, perhaps a loved one from accidentally running Userland. Misguided? Certainly...heroic? You bet. History will write the name of John Robb large, mark my words.