(in)famous (on)line

When David Gallagher called for input on a story idea about online fame, it reminded me of a story Andy Dehnart wrote for the Chicago Tribune a few months back. Andy interviewed me for the story during an especially turbulent time, and I had high hopes for it.

When the Chicago Trib piece finally came out, the teeth had been pretty much edited out, leaving yet another "isn't the internet wacky" story. A bummer, but not totally unexpected in the mainstream press. And even worse, the Trib only posts articles for a few weeks (stupid stupid stupid), so I couldn't even point David to it.

Fortunately, Andy's contract goes non-exclusive after 30 days, so I was extremely pleased when he posted it online today. And even better, this is the original, unedited version, complete with teeth.

I still don't quite know how I feel about the whole online fame issue, but my gut reaction is that the internet is a lousy conduit for fame-making, and that's another reason I love it.

{ 10:40pm }