In one of my postings a few days ago, related to the game industry here in Israel, I did not realize that I left out an important word in a sentence, which completely changed the meaning from what I intended. Later that same day Yadin Kaufman, founder and General Partner at Veritas , sent me (by email) a question as to my true intent...and Yadin was right, I left out a word. And then more people began to ask....Nice to know I already have readers, dangerous to see how easily wrong perceptions can get created.
So what to do? I am so new to the software I am using that I didn't even think to go back and correct the original, if I only commented that would not get seen as readily. Then in Tom Evslin's blog today I saw he had a similar need to correct a mistake (mine was a typo, he is not as sloppy, he has actually discovered new information). Tom explains that he is writing a full posting to highlight the change, and going back to change the original. Ah-hah, I said to myself -- that must mean that one can go back and change a posting (and as I am using the same software as Tom, if he can do it...so can I...says my geek ego).
And so I did! Then realized, wait, this is wild...I now have the power to reach back in the past and change what I have written. I feel like either God or perhaps even more the KGB in their heyday.
The software leaves no trail that I made a "correction," in other words the casual reader will never know if I simply changed my mind, went back into the past and "corrected." (That was not the case, I was just sloppy, but you get the point). Not sure what this all means, but as our media is delivered more and more in completely digital form, the possibilities for revisionism grow at enormous rate.
Perhaps there should be an automatic "highlight changes" feature...
OK, what was the missing word -- pretty important in the venture industry: I was talking about Elie Wurtman, my former partner, still very good friend (I hope, even with this mistake), who is now a partner at Benchmark. Elie has been, over the past three years, the most active venture investor in Israel in deals related to the game industry (Double Fusion, Game Array, and Funtactix). I wrote:
"I would be surprised if he invests more in this space." What what was missing? The word "NOT!"
Should read:
"I would not be surprised if he invests more in this space." Very relevant for deal flow!
In fact, I strongly believe Elie will remain a leading investor in Israel in the game and new media space, especially now from his perch at Benchmark.
I went back this morning and corrected the original -- new readers will not know of my past sloppiness, but to remind myself, I put "not" in bold...
And just to show how far back Elie and I go, see this picture, which I am sure will be the subject of future postings:
That's Yosef Abramowitz (see his blog) on my shoulders, Elie Wurtman to my left.
I leave it to you to figure out the year, and what we were protesting about.
1985, SSSJ?
Posted by: abe | October 22, 2006 at 03:06 AM
1985, SSSJ?
Posted by: abe | October 22, 2006 at 03:06 AM