I was left in the lurch. No email. No explination. No contact. At that point it seemed fairly plausible that the idea might have been to proceed without me in a similar direction and I had many other things on my plate.

I’ve not given up on the idea, but the project I would have built with you would have been very different from the kind of thing I would have created independantly.

Morals are all well and good but without ethics the boast rings hollow. Claiming to make ethical choices in response to pressure is what politicians do and is called the path of least resistance. Has 9 rules published a clear (and that precludes vague pablum) statement of what it will, and won’t, include? Would you risk offending a ’star’ blogger to support an unpopular viewpoint.

I hope so.

What’s ST? I don’t follow 9 rules (no offense intended – just fact) and Googling 9 rules ST draws a blank…

Sam.

You seem to have the opinion that Scrivs caved to outside pressure which is definitely not the case. Scrivs, Mike and I made the promise to never sacrifice our principals and morals. We kept that promise. Through ST we pushed boundaries CEOs were not supposed to push, received our share of criticism, remarks about lack of professionalism, etc. 130+ podcasts we accomplished our goal: we’ll talk about what we want, when we want, how we want. The end result? Less than a year later sex is openly discussed on my.9rules and ST is moving to 9rules. Scrivs stayed true to his beliefs (we all did) and the path he picked had more risk because his words talking about the “taboo topics” have a stronger impression on the listener/reader.

I will be forever grateful that Scrivs even considered my thoughts on SNW because back then, I was a stranger as well. Looking back at all we went through and what we are doing now, I have no regrets (and I’m relieved Scrivs has none). I look forward to the boundaries Scrivs, Mike and I will push next.

I’m very pleased to see your response. It’s nice not to get burned but I guess that’s what happens when you play with… Scrivs?

As you’ll note, it’s taken me some time to recover. I don’t want to get burned again and I’m wondering if the idea’s worth the effort in 2007 (it’s not the only iron I have in the fire).

I’m sure in future you’ll again meet cirumstances where a mass of vvocal opinion will run counter to your own desires. A clear stand on core beliefs will become increasingly hard to avoid.

This time the ’sex is good’ crowd lost out. I hope you’re still of that view even if your bloggers are a bit more ‘fundi’.

That’s an easy one. It simply came down to listening to the people I trust (my partners) versus someone I never met. I loved the idea and still do like the idea, but if I expect them to trust me on my decisions I have to show that I trust them on their decisions and that’s what it came down to.

Would it have worked or failed if we pushed through with it? Who knows. Looking at what I do now though and my happiness with it I see no failure. I burned ya and I apologize, but burning them would probably rank up there as my biggest failure of all time and I can’t let that happen.

How would you describe courting a deal, then backing off when your bloggers prejudices (over sexual content) intervined and then simply refusing to respond to email?

Certainly a failure. Not as cool as the ones you mentioned though.

I’m far from perfect myself but that was pretty weak. I’m still curious.