Michael Arrington

Michael Arrington, the influential founder of TechCrunch, is taking a leave of absence from the blog after being spat upon in Germany and enduring death threats last summer. "...I can’t say my job is much fun any more," he writes in a blog post. 

A few folks have emailed me this morning to get my take on Arrington's decision. So, here it is. I've known Michael Arrington for a number of years, co-sponsoring events with him, sitting on panels together, profiling him and occasionally, sharing experiences about the pleasures and pitfalls of blogging about the tech industry. Arrington lives up to his reputation.

He's tough, gruff and opinionated -- qualities that have pushed him to the top of the blogosphere. He's a provocateur in the truest sense of the word.

But I've always believed that Arrington is much more than that, playing up that hard-edged persona in part because it was good for business. In some ways, he's become a caricature of himself -- something that happens when people attain a certain level of power. Now, he's facing some of the natural fallout from it. That's not to say he deserves death threats.

But storytellers and journalists have always faced scorn, threats and dangerous situations. (The Committee to Protect Journalists recorded 41 deaths last year.)

And the more polarizing the storytellers -- Arrington certainly would fall into this category --  the higher the incidence of angry readers.

I vividly remember my mom -- a reporter for The Akron Beacon Journal who covered courts, cops and politics -- receiving death threats related to her coverage when I was a kid. It was scary stuff, though she walked away from it with the sort of dark humor that journalists tend to build up.

Over the years, I've certainly ruffled some feathers with my reporting of stock frauds, layoffs and other bad news events.

It is not an easy profession. And it takes a special personality. You develop a thick skin.

Arrington, who didn't come out of the journalism ranks (in fact, he rightly wants to shake it up), has had to develop a thicker skin than most in part because of his very pointed commentary. But that just goes with the territory.

People often ask me if we are trying to emulate Arrington's success with TechFlash. I always take it as a compliment since I have enormous respect for what he has built, though our journalistic styles are worlds apart. 

We may take different approaches to the industry, but we both are passionate about what we do. In many ways, it is a labor of love. After all, here's what Arrington had to say about TechCrunch in a 2006 interview I did with him: "It is my passion, it is my hobby, it is my job, it is everything." (That should resonate with most entrepreneurs.)

Anyway, I hope Michael returns to the blogging world soon. Or he finds a new passion to pursue. Love him or hate him, he's got a voice that needs to be heard.