— — -Original Message — — — 
From: Jason Calacanis 
Sent: 23/01/2010 8:00:20 pm 
Subject: [Jason] Why We Should Boycott ComScore (and *perhaps* why traders should short their stock)

Jason’s List: Why We Should Boycott ComScore (and *perhaps* why 
traders should short their stock) 
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Comscore is the technology industry’s biggest bully, and today I’m 
calling for an industry-wide boycott of their services.

I’m asking journalist and bloggers to stop covering their stats, I’m 
asking advertisers to not use their services, and finally, I’m asking 
startup companies to not support their new and widely reported on 
“$10,000 to get your stats correct” extortion ring.

If I was a stock trader I would short the stock — but I’m not — so I 
won’t (I keep my money in bonds and angel investments for the record). 
Also, if you own Comscore shares, I’m not going to tell you that you 
should sell them, but if I were an analyst — and I’m not — I would 
probably tell folks to sell every share they had, and as quickly as 
possible.

Additionally, I’m asking Comscore to drop their “pay for correct 
stats” model in the next ten days.

Let’s get into why.

Comscore’s Reign of Terror 
 — — — — — — — — — — — — 
For over a decade, I’ve railed against our industry’s leading metrics 
company ComScore with little result.

It all started when I was a journalist in the 90s for the Silicon 
Alley Reporter. I listened to company after company from Silicon Alley 
to Silicon Valley complain about how ComScore’s method of counting 
traffic websites, via a sample of users, was incorrect.

People couldn’t understand why the internet industry, with it’s 
ability to track traffic perfectly, would ever adopt the failed 
sample-based methods used on television and radio. Comscore’s ideas 
were antiquated and unnecessary.

Entrepreneurs would show me their internal stats, which were typically 
three to five times larger than Comscore’s numbers, and beg me to 
correct them in the Silicon Alley Reporter.

However, I noticed a pattern: the big companies didn’t complain about Comscore.

Why?

Well, from what multiple people shared with me, you simply had to 
follow the money. According to these folks it was an unspoken truth 
for years that if you paid Comscore they fixed your numbers, and if 
you were a small company and didn’t, well, you suffered. Comscore 
would probably deny this, but their recent “pay to play” product shows 
their true stripes.

They screwed me at Weblogs, Inc. 
 — — — — — — — — — — — — 
It wasn’t until I started Weblogs, Inc. that I really felt the sting 
of not participating in the Comscore protection racket. You see, 
advertisers love Comscore and they make advertising buys based on it.

Our small, but growing blogs, were under reported month after month 
and Comscore basically told me to pound salt when I complained. It 
cost me money, and I promised myself that if I could ever support 
another service that wasn’t based on payola I would.

Here you can see a smoking gun from 2005 when Comscore did a “study” 
on blogs with Gawker Media as a sponsor. Interestingly, Gawker’s blogs 
did really well in the study. The only problem was that Comscore’s 
numbers were different than the SiteMeter traffic that Gawker and 
Weblogs Inc. were publishing at the time.

Denton privately admitted to me he support Comscore because he had to 
because of their reputation in the advertising industry. He thought I 
should bite the bullet as well and get in bed with the bullies. Not my 
style, sorry.

[[ Some links from 2005 Comscore: Show us the data or get out of Dodge 
http://bit.ly/4I7S6i and ClickZ: http://www.clickz.com/3526851 — Fred 
Wilson throws me under the bus: http://bit.ly/8BpFnh ]]

I publicly complained about Comscore but no one would really listen. 
Actually Jeff Jarvis did support me: http://bit.ly/8zW0GF

My good friend Fred Wilson, who had invested in the firm, turned away 
and watched the bullies he invested in pummel me when I complained 
about Comscore. Fred is outspoken and an advocate of startups — except 
with Comscore. He’s turned a blind eye while letting his huge venture 
return in Comscore color his objectivity. In fact, it must be obvious 
to Fred that Comscore is, in fact, holding back his other startup 
investments by extorting money from them!

Fred’s been an amazing supporter of mine over the years, but I’ve 
never been able to get over the fact that he invested in and supported 
these guys. Fred’s continued support of this company is unconscionable 
at this point. He needs to come out and say that Comscore charging 
$10,000 for this product is a pure shake down.

Do it Fred… you know you want to! 🙂

ComScore Tries to Buy Me Off 
 — — — — — — — — — — — — 
This summer the tough guys at Comscore approached me with a 
clandestine deal after I continued to publicly complain about their 
methods. The message was clear: if I stopped criticizing them and 
publicly supported their server data measurement program they would 
not charge me. The $10,000 it would cost a year for this service would 
be free for me if I threw my fellow entrepreneurs under the bus.

Their email to me included something out of the a Sopranos episode: 
“Normally there is a cost to implement, but in this case we will 
gladly waive the charge if you are interested.” Yeah, and if you’re 
not interested perhaps you would like to come on a fishing trip with 
us this weekend.

You bastards think that after a *decade* of me trying to stop your 
extortion you can by me off by simply waiving some fees? I could 
easily pay the $10,000 fee today but I will never give you guys a 
dime. I will remember what you did to me when I was coming up forever.

I’d rather lose half my revenue from advertising as Mahalo grows from 
a top 1,000 site (2007), to the top 400 sites (2008) and now a top 200 
site (2009), and eventually even a top 50 site I hope (2011?) — than 
give you even one ounce of my support.

I wrote back: “You guys are evil for charging companies — I would never 
support you. Quantcast and Google are going to crush you guys…. And 
I’m telling everyone I know to support Quantcast.”

They never contacted me again.

Comscore formalizes their extortion ring 
 — — — — — — — — — — — — 
This week you may have read over at the excellent “All Things D” that 
Comscore is now willing to do real metrics on your website if you give 
them $10,000 a year. They claim this is to pay for their servers. 
More: http://bit.ly/6Fqrhe

This after they spent the last decade criticizing the direct 
measurement methods of their competitors like Quantcast and Google 
Analytics as being flawed! Now they say pixel tracking — actual 
measurement on the server side — is the best method. What a bunch of 
slim buckets.

Could it be that enough publishers and advertisers have told you to go 
f — yourself in the past year?

Could it be that Quantcast has a product that is 100x better than your 
service and it’s FREE?

Could it be that Compete.com is secretly testing a server-side testing 
method like Quantcast’s and is about to kick your ass?

>F
rom where I sit, this is Comscore’s desperate Hail Mary pass to try 
and save their dying protection racket. Comscore has ZERO value when 
Google Analytics, Compete.com and Quantcast allow you to publicly and 
freely track your stats.

Bullies, Ethics & Your Part 
 — — — — — — — — — — — — 
As a kid growing up in Brooklyn, I learned that when you or your 
friends were being bullied there was really only one solution to the 
problem: punch the bully directly in the face as hard as you can the 
second they approached you. Like really, the second they come at 
you — the second the first word comes out of their mouth — punch them in 
the face. Don’t let them even finish their sentence. If they say “I 
want your milk money” your fist should make contact right around the 
“want” mark.

BANG!

At a young age I tested this technique and it resulted in a couple of 
multi-day suspensions from school and black eyes, but it is a 
life-long strategy for success that has never failed me. Do not let 
yourself or your friends get bullied — ever. Even if you get your ass 
kicked, at least you got your shot in and you held your ground.

When someone from Comscore approaches, you should tell them to go 
hell. (Note: do not literally punch them in the face — I’m not 
advocating physical violence here, I’m advocating voting with your 
dollar.)

I put up a good fight for a decade but made little progress and 
frankly got my ass kicked by Comscore in the Weblogs, Inc. days. 
However, their obnoxious behavior has finally been publicly exposed. 
This means that we — as an industry — can finally run this bully out of 
town.

Again, here is what I’m asking for in the Comscore Boycott. Feel free 
to republish this article in whole at your blog.

The Comscore Boycott: Play Your Part! 
====================== 
1. Startups: Do NOT pay a single penny to Comscore — ever. 
2. Startups who are getting this program for free (I suspect a good 
number): Opt out and tell Comscore to f — themselves. 
3. Press & Bloggers: Please do not run Comscore’s inaccurate numbers, 
and please expose their extortion ring. 
4. Advertisers: Do not use Comscore to plan your media buys: use the 
free and more accurate Quantcast. 
5. Google: Please release your version Comscore killer (based on 
Quantcast’s model), or better yet PLEASE BUY QUANTCAST! 
6. Compete.com: Please release your Comscore killer. 
7. Stock traders & Analysts: Please think deeply about the potential 
revenue destruction that Comscore could be facing. 
8. Fred Wilson: publicly state that you do not agree with ComScore’s 
mafia-like methods. 
9. Republish this email at your blog. 
10. If you have information on Comscore that should be exposed send it 
to me in confidence (say anonymous up top)

To My “Friends” at Comscore 
 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 
You know I’m right.

As such, I’m asking for complete and unconditional surrender. Make 
your tracking pixel program 100% free in the next 10 days or the 
boycott will continue.

If you’re a current or former executive at Comscore and you have an 
opinion on this please send me your thoughts in confidence, and I will 
republish them to the list without your name.

If you’re a current employee who can’t deal with this any more, please 
add me on LinkedIn and ask for a LinkedIn introduction to the Google 
Analytics, Compete.com or Quantcast teams. I will gladly forward 
talented people from Comscore on to companies I think are more 
ethical.

All the best,

Jason

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