Alejandro AlzumondoFeb 10, 2024
Molly White

Motherboard found that firms linked to a16z and general partner Chris Dixon bought numerous copies of his new book promoting cryptocurrencies, which became an NYT Best Seller.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7emkx/chris-dixon-a16z-read-write-own-nyt-bestseller

#ChrisDixon #andreesenhorrowitz

How Tech Firms Made a Crypto-Boosting Book an NYT Best Seller by Gaming the System

Motherboard found that firms linked to a16z and general partner Chris Dixon bought numerous copies of his new book promoting cryptocurrencies, which became an NYT Best Seller.

Feb 9, 2024 at 1:36amWeb
Show threadMolly WhiteFeb 9, 2024

✅ gaming the NYT bestseller list
✅ buying full page print ads in WaPo
✅ elbowing onto Hard Fork, Pivot, other tech pods
✅ placing pre-pub features in Wired, Bloomberg, FT

smells a bit of desperation from a16z

Show threadMolly WhiteFeb 9, 2024
perhaps he should've released the book on the blockchain. he said it himself: "user-evangelists are more authentic and effective than corporate marketing programs run by hired teams"
Show threadMolly WhiteFeb 9, 2024
pumping and dumping his own book is a little poetic
Show threadCheDNFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff
Show threadAN/CRM-114Feb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff what’s the going rate for a Walter Isaacson hagiography?
Show threadJonathan HendryFeb 9, 2024

@flyingsaceur @molly0xfff

Lol they’re probably going to hire him to write one about blockchain.

Show threadAN/CRM-114Feb 9, 2024
@jonhendry @molly0xfff Is he still on that? I thought he moved on to human longevity and ending women’s right to vote or something
Show threadLarryFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff I mean putting out a BOOK, of all things, is playing right into the oldest of the old guard corporations. Definitely not disrupting incumbents here…
Show threadpeter sibleyFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff i’m sure he’d have made his own book based token if possible .
Show threadwraptileFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff AFAIK every single book on NYT list does this. It's like an open secret, isn't it?
Show threadGadgetGavFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff Imagine all the lobbies and couch areas of a16z companies just littered with unread copies🤣 Maybe they can make coffee tables from them or some kind of art.
Show threadeagerpebbleFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff The second and third sentences sound like he's making the case that tokens are securities. I'd laugh if this page ends up in evidence during an SEC enforcement trial.
Show threadMatunosFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff shocked to find someone effectively describing a MLM would do something so underhanded
Show threadJoanna HolmanFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff Sooo.... the affiliate marketing programs that have been around for a decade or so with an power heavy database and inconvenient payout system behind them
Show threadIanFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff If "tokens are self-marketing" then why does he need to write this book?
Show threadrholland_again-againFeb 9, 2024
@soviut @molly0xfff He wrote the book to put cash in his hands. He seeks good ol' Yankee fungible dollars, the stuff to worship.
Show threadIanFeb 9, 2024
@rholland_again @molly0xfff He's not making anything substantial off the book sales themselves since his organization is bulk buying a bunch of those copies. He's just hoping that gaming it on to the NYTimes best seller list will lend some legitimacy to the book and, in turn, the topic that his org is so heavily invested in.
Show threadKevin Granade has movedFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff I read peer-to-peer evangelion.
Show threadBadscrewFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff well, you need a book to be able to refer to as source from wikipedia or from « research » papers. It’s a long game.
Show threadmeagan hanesFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff word of mouth marketing, naturally. I'm still happy to have shut down blockchain projects pitched to my teams particularly in 2015
Show threadTRNottommyFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff
wait I thought you said that he said ‘casino bad’, this sounds pretty hucksterish
Show threadRichard CrowleyFeb 11, 2024
@molly0xfff all-time lol at “shout from the desktops”
Show threadBen RamseyFeb 11, 2024
@molly0xfff They are advocating for free labor (marketing) in exchange for company scrip (cryptocurrency/tokens).
Show threadDrew BreunigFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff These are the moves of someone overly concerned big money is ruining the web.
Show threadjsjFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff If they had a branded cologne it would be called Desperation.
Show threadwasabi brainFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff Scott did an okay job asking some hard questions about vc selling the bag on tokens, but both hosts wholly unqualified to push on the outlandish tech claims and/or going even 1-2 layers deep on the use cases Chris pushed
Show thread: j@fabrica:~/src;  Feb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff At least he isn’t running for political office and using campaign funds to buy books for “giveaways”
Show threadWord of Mouth 🍄  Feb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff Definitely desperation IMO. They need mass adoption to build a pyramid that's too big to fail, but nobody likes it, because it seems pointless and frankly... weird. It just annoys people. People are happy with just regular currency and the vast majority just wish these motherfuckers would shut the fuck up and go back to selling erection supplements on late-night TV.
Show threadAaron Bieber (no relation)Feb 9, 2024

@molly0xfff I listened to both the Hard Fork and Pivot interviews and neither made me want to read this silly book.

He's a confident speaker who has seemingly convinced himself of what he's saying, but it all still sounds impractical. The blockchain still doesn't solve any real problems. No convincing examples were given.

Show threadThomas Powell.🧻🐴💩Feb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff Clearly he dreams of being a real CEO that can use his company to buy books for all of the employees so that he can cosplay as an NYT bestseller author.
Show threadcountFeb 11, 2024
@molly0xfff Desperation? Oh no, this is simply “growth hacking”.
Show threadEmelia 👸🏻Feb 11, 2024
@molly0xfff they've probably yolo'd so much money up a hole that they're now desperate to get an exit from.
Show threadMattFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff I’m so tired of books becoming bestsellers due to this obvious manipulation, and the fact that NYT and others have no inclination to stop it
Show threadAshton WiersdorfFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff Pump-and-dump book edition
Show threadGeorge Liquor, AmericanFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff Damn, I thought this only happened with Republicans' political screeds !
Show threadJeremy KahnFeb 9, 2024

@liquor_american

And Dianetics

@molly0xfff

Show threadTHIS ACCOUNT HAS MOVEDFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff classic. Bet l Ron Hubbard is proud!
Show threadThe DoctorFeb 9, 2024
@noplasticshower @molly0xfff Talent copies, genius steals.
Show threadThe DoctorFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff Benioff did the same thing.
Show threadjimrayFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff a classic move of the right wing for going on 40 years. These chuckleheads really did take their masks all the way off.
Show threadfilmajFeb 9, 2024
@jimray @molly0xfff they're wash trading but for bestseller lists, a move they know well
Show threadNoah CookFeb 9, 2024

@molly0xfff And this is why incompetent people hate journalists.

(hopefully this comes across as the complement it is)

Show threadPoligofskyFeb 9, 2024

@molly0xfff

Why not just buy an ad in the Times?

Reminds me of people who cheat at multiplayer computer games.

They see themselves playing a different game, and winning, even though they are ruining the original game for everyone else.

Show threadjesseFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff the old Church of Scientology trick
Show threadadamriceFeb 9, 2024
@jessek @molly0xfff Came here to say this.
Show threadRaccoonsFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff This is an ugly word, this, “scam.” This is business - and if you want to be in business, this is what you do.
Show threadpeter sibleyFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff reminds me of the republican think tanks buying large orders of books for gifts by astute authors like jared kushner to get on the best seller list .
Show threadGordon_ObscureFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff the site by vice media seems to be offline or blocking access to iPad user with security settings on.. Sorry but I’m not going to read/forward/recommend your site to f&f when you won’t respect the public’s need to use lockdown mode..
Show threadPhil Stevens Feb 9, 2024

@molly0xfff Heh. How's this any different from the crypto grifters that he so harshly denigrates ("the casino") and blames for tarnishing the reputation of the rest of the tech accelerationist grifters like himself?

Pump and dump lives. His book launch was just a simulacrum of a web3 IPO.

Show threadNikhilesh DeFeb 9, 2024

@molly0xfff oh so that's the secret

Who knew

Show threaddr2chaseFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff the cryptocurrency heuristic ("anyone promoting cryptocurrency is an untrustworthy grifter") wins again. It's a simple rule, I do have a small bit of money to invest now, and I will try to keep it as distant as possible from anything tainted by cryptocurrency. That would certainly include all a16z ventures.
Show threadFarce MajeureFeb 9, 2024
@dr2chase @molly0xfff the problem is worse than that though: I get ~$4500 for filing a patent, and blockchain patents are popular with the people reviewing proposals. So there's a huge incentive.
Show threadFarce MajeureFeb 9, 2024
@dr2chase @molly0xfff ... That price assumes it's granted, but... They are.
Show threaddr2chaseFeb 9, 2024
@vathpela @molly0xfff LALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!!
Show threadFarce MajeureFeb 9, 2024
@dr2chase @molly0xfff yup.
Show threadɹ uɐp Feb 9, 2024

@molly0xfff 🤣

reminds me of don jr 🧀

Show threadsmegFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff the publisher or other interested party buying a book through a distributor or shell is how pretty much every book becomes a NYT Bestseller. It's been that way for decades. The designation indicates financially well endowed parties want the book to have that label, that's all.
Show threadRalf Lenz, BOFH Emeritus 🏴‍☠️Feb 9, 2024

@molly0xfff

pretty much anything #a16z does is shady

Show threadJavi A.Feb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff everything these people do is so sad. What a pointless existence
Show threadStephan SchulzFeb 9, 2024
@molly0xfff It's the free forces of the free market in action, giving us an unadulterated view on reality. Or do I misunderstand that religion?