Idle Words: "Stated simply, the problem is this: Dave Winer is the writer of several widely-used Net protocols, and his journal is the most linked-to weblog on the Internet, but he has the emotional maturity of a hamster. Specifically, a bipolar, sanctimonious hamster with weak technical writing skills.

This shouldn't matter. Pocket Napoleons abound online — that's what the Internet is for.

But people see Dave Winer's contributions to blogging, his seniority in the community, and his large audience, and naturally assume that he must be cut from the same cloth as a Linus Torvalds, Bruce Perens, or Larry Wall. In other words, a wizardly, technically adept, emotionally stable leader of a large online community.

It takes a while to realize that he's actually a freaking nutbag. "