I've had literally hundreds of interactions with MA and I believe he's fundamentally an OK guy. He's irascible, yes, but when he's harsh to someone it's not part of a calculated strategy to keep everyone in line. It's simply because he's mad.
IMO, the true test of a man's character is not how he behaves with his friends and peers, but how he behaves towards those with less power. Arrington's behavior makes me wonder.
To be fair, he has every reason not to piss you off. I found the Caterina Fake situation peculiar at best, and the GroupMe scenario (which I'm just reading about now) is really not cool.
"But there’s always the risk of winding up afoul of Arrington’s rules of the road. That’s what GroupMe did last month with news of a major acquisition. Arrington’s response was classic Tony Soprano. Speaking at a CEO summit in New York, he berated a GroupMe executive in the audience. “You fucked me over,” Mike said from the podium. He told everyone GroupMe was now cut off from his site, and threatened to do the same to anyone else who doesn’t let him dictate their press coverage."
Whether rumor mongering is designed to have a chilling effect or not is nearly irrelevant as to whether or not it happens. Further, while I value others' personal opinions of him, looking at the data of the Caterina Fake article and the GroupMe comments it's hard not to come to the conclusion of the chilling effect being designed.
Even beyond that, it's more than just venting anger. The rumor mongering in the Caterina article is just plain being an ass.
Well, if you had your interestes aligned to Hitler's, I am sure he would seem a nice guy too. Apparently he was very loving to his dog.
We tend to see people's worst side when they are feeling uncomfortable. I can't see how he's "coverage" of Catarina Fake makes him an OK guy. It's like the wife beating husband who's great when on a good mood.
He may very well be a nice guy, but as a journalist his behavior is pretty questionable. It isn't as if the Caterina Fake incident is the first. He's a professional, he ought to behave like one.
