I can remember times when I enjoyed almost every single blog post from the 37signals guys. This blog entry seems to have taken one of their mottos ('You can always do less') to new extremes.
Too much fluff for my taste recently.
We have over a hundred thousand readers at SvN. Some just joined, some has been with us for a decade, everyone is different in some sense.
I write about what I care about and what I think about without too much concern as to whether everyone will love it all.
I'm thinking in particular of this post: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2233-not-for-sale . The language is over-the-top, especially in the first couple paragraphs. It feels appropriate for a pep rally, which I guess doesn't appeal to me any longer.
Beyond the tone, I found the content lacking. Can you really not understand why someone would want to sell their company? I mean, here you are denigrating serial entrepreneurs because they exhibit no understanding for why someone would want to hold onto his company. And then you proceed to spell out why serial entrepreneurs have no good reason whatsoever for wanting to flip.
You're using this hyped-up language to create this perception of a religious war - even using "worshipped", "non-believers", "holy grail". And for what? I just don't understand it. Why'd you write this article? If you have the time to respond, I really would like to know. I respect 37s immensely and you in particular, and I really do want to understand.
So you have different values than an archetypal serial entrepreneur. Well, so what? Why are your values so much better that they're "servants" and you're not?
I think the topic is interesting, but the way it comes across, it's like you're having a shouting match over whether blue or green is the best color in the world.
I don't think the language is any more colorful than it's always been. I prefer to put my writing in strong terms with clearly marked boundaries. I'm usually just writing a handful of paragraphs, not a dissertation. So the "ifs, buts, and maybes" have to be read between the lines.
With that being said, I've thought a lot about my comment yesterday and have come to the conclusion that I need to work on finding the core spirit of posts and address that rather than the particulars. It's easy to pick apart blog posts because like you said, it isn't a dissertation and you can't address every edge case.