Scoble is Mini?

by on August 1, 2006

Ahh that’s a fun theory.

But it’s easily disproved. Jay Greene at BusinessWeek has met both of us. He’ll verify that we’re not the same.

Oh, hell, while we’re talking about Mini, a friend of mine said he had compared notes with all the journalists who’s met him and he thinks that Mini is done by a team of people. I don’t think so, though. It’s VERY hard to fake the writing style of someone else.

  • Wesley Parish
    Nah. Couldn't be. Mini wears a paper bag over his head. Scoble doesn't. And you never noticed a little thing like that? ;)
  • Andy
    Nah Robert is actually the person behind the Steve Jobs blog. :)
  • heh.
  • When this popped up in my aggregator, I thought that it was Mini-Scobleizer not Mini-Microsoft.

    "Hmm, Scoble *is* Mini-Scoble? That's an elaborate and snazzy marketing trick... But I'm sure I saw pictures of Patrick in Dave Winer's Flickr stream - that's gotta be hard to fake..."
  • Chris
    I thought it was common knowledge that Mini was Steve Ballmers kids?
  • Christopher Coulter
    It’s VERY hard to fake the writing style of someone else.

    Wanta wager on that? :)

    Here's the thing tho, several journo sources, conflict. So team or misinfo...but why bother with unmasking, more fun in the mystery. KISS with makeup, better than without.
  • Two friends and I were talking about whether Scoble is "mini" just the other week. The consensus: he may or may not be, BUT, more importantly, the execs at Microsoft know who "mini" is, but aren't saying. We think they have to know because of forensics, but for whatever reason (politics, publicity, timing) aren't disclosing it.
  • SheMini
    My bet is on one of the girls from HR. Mini is a "she" by the way she writes...
  • I said that a WHILE back. As a joke of course. I didn't have any fancy charts though, and my blog isn't too well read. it made for amusing conjecture though. :-)

    http://blog.sektormedia.org/2006/06/scoble_is_m...
  • Brian K
    How about this theory for who mini is: Adam Barr
  • I'd wager that Scoble isn't mini because of the way they write anyday.

    A person who specialises in analysing writing styles can tell you that. Is there such a profession?

    Some of these patterns in their writing are easy to distinguish (IMHO, from some very fleeting comparisons). With all due respect to Scoble, Mini has a better command of the language, a flair for the dramatic and is inclined to be quite longwinded. I dare say this person has been trained to write professionally for quite some time, judging from punctuation and structure. That and he TAKES the time to blog.

    Scoble, on the other hand, often makes very short, to-the-point entries and when they are long, they read as though he's typing very quickly (blogging at the speed of thought haha) and takes no time to sound witty or sharp about what he has to say. Just facts, a few punctuations, links, a few more facts and submit.

    Definitely not the same person.
  • Christopher Coulter
    Oh boy, conspiracy theory of the day, wrong however. And I know, as does Danny Westneat.
  • met
    When mini decided to stop about the same time you decided to leave Microsoft, I had my doubts too.

    Alternate theory I had was something wierd happened inside Microsoft (could be something that has been happening over a few months, too) hence mini stopped, you decided to leave and Bill Gates had to resign ;)
  • Andy B,

    I've wondered that for some time. The opinions Mini makes are informed, he seems passionate about Microsoft, yet at the same time, there is a "distance" to the language.

    Also, there are choice phrases which have a journalistic flourish. For example, the latest entry has this phrase: "The dissonance of change". Yes, many might use it, but this and other examples almost suggest a professionalism to their writing, an understanding that it is the garnish on the language that sets a professional writer apart from the weekend hobby writer. I also think its quite difficult to believe that he could have been writing the blog for so long without quite a few people at MSFT associating turns of phrase in reports or emails to the blog.

    My theory: Mini-MSFT, himself, is a journalist not working at Microsoft, and is writing the blog based on the opinions of several people inside the company. Maybe Jay Greene was the Peter Parker interviewing the Mini-MSFT Spiderman!
  • I think both blogs are inspiring. And use them both as example in our company and for our just started blog on channel64.net.

    So from me thank you both :-)
  • You're assuming that mini isn't an editor for a group of contributors :-)
  • Karim
    "team of people" = "multiple personality disorder"

    [author dangles hypnotic trance-inducing bauble in front of Scoble]

    "I want to talk to mini-Microsoft. Do you understand? I want to talk to mini-Microsoft now."

    It’s VERY hard to fake the writing style of someone else.

    Heh.
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