Although this was an annonymous comment left at this blog, I have a very good idea of who the author is and I am a little surprised at the venom that emerges in certain parts of the message. I hereby reproduce his entire comment in full;
I have read your blogspot almost since it started. I have a little advice for you.
1) At the beginning when you were more neutral, you got more balanced readership. There are young entrepreneurs of Kenya who will survive P.N.U and O.D.M and you should have retained their faith in you as a balanced commentator. This group is critical to you as a businessman.
2) When you write about your frustrations as a publisher in Nairobi, you omit the following basic reasons for your failure:
a)You had zero knowledge about marketing. In addition, your opinions were shallow and could only cater to the type of people who had been reading 'Scandal' at Lenana School.
b) Your failure to go and study Architecture limited your general Education and scope of life. You could still have gone on to University and pursued a better Education, which would reflect in the quality of your articles. Currently your lack of further education comes through in your writing, e. g you are unable to support your views on issues like Majimbo with well reasoned argument.
3) Your grammar also requires some improvement, but this is tied to number 2(b) above.
4) I know you must add colour to your stories but at times, it is a tad much for those of us who know you well. You were a pretty good sportsman no doubt, but you were not the star player you implied playing for the first eleven in Form One. In Rugby you did well but failed to stay at the top long enough because you lacked some real hardness, you were surprisingly timid for a big guy.
Most of all, your sporting ability was not derived because you were naturally athletic, it had much to do with the fact that you came to Form One a couple of years older and hence much bigger than the average boy. Age advantage in the tender years gives clear sporting superiority.
Your recent suffering at the hands of your son and grandson reported by you are not because of age. Unless you have done something about it, I last saw you ten years ago and you were at least 20kg overweight..
Many international sportsmen today are 40 plus and doing well, so your analogy was misplaced. The problem is how you have handled your age.
5) I recommend you to be a bit more open and balanced. Avoid personal attacks, after all how would you feel if all those old stories about you and the likes of the young beautiful Muchiru made their way to the web? I do wish you success in Kumekucha however and do try to cater for all the readers that you have. This is part of that business savvy I mentioned above, and you must appreciate that lobby groups fade all the time while real business ventures survive regimes.
A business in which I have substantial shares is advertising on Kumekucha. Let me know when you are in Nairobi and I will take some time to say hello. I hope you are coming for the Elections...
Publish Reject (Anonymous) 12:48 AM
My (Kumekucha’s) answers in bold below
I have read your blogspot almost since it started. I have a little advice for you.
1) At the beginning when you were more neutral, you got more balanced readership. There are young entrepreneurs of Kenya who will survive P.N.U and O.D.M and you should have retained their faith in you as a balanced commentator. This group is critical to you as a businessman.
Thank you for your constructive criticism. Point taken. Although my being neutral has got more to do with perception than reality. Still I am working hard on that. By the way I do agree that both groups are important to me as a web entrepreneur.
2) When you write about your frustrations as a publisher in Nairobi, you omit the following basic reasons for your failure:
a) You had zero knowledge about marketing. In addition, your opinions were shallow and could only cater to the type of people who had been reading 'Scandal' at Lenana School.
I would hate to be seen to be bragging so I have to be very careful how I put this; But the fact is that my knowledge of marketing (especially online marketing) is much more than what you think it is and is one of my major strengths. I have read a lot and observed a lot to get to where I am today.
My friend you were an avid reader of Scandal yourself. Do you include yourself in this group?
What you refer to as "shallow" is my deliberate policy of simplifying complex issues so that people can grasp and understand them quickly. I was wildly sucessful with it in my Nairobi publishing operations. It is one of the reasons why Kumekucha is so popular. The publisher I admire most is Alfred Hamsworth (Lord Northcliff) whose guiding principal was "simplify, explain, clarify." No wonder he was the greatest publisher who ever lived. Surely even you do not come here at the end of a hard day to read some thesis, do you?
b) Your failure to go and study Architecture limited your general Education and scope of life. You could still have gone on to University and pursued a better Education, which would reflect in the quality of your articles. Currently your lack of further education comes through in your writing, e. g you are unable to support your views on issues like Majimbo with well reasoned argument.
OK I have no problem with constructive criticism and I will revise and refine my arguments on Majimboism amongst other topics that will be covered here in the days to come. But what does architecture have to do with publishing and writing?
Your quick judgment about my failing to take the opportunity to study architecture at Nairobi University and attributing my early struggles to that is misplaced and confirms a lot of what I already know about your conservative old hat values and outlook in life. Whatever assets you gained from your University education, a sober understanding of what life is really all about was not one of them.
Read any biography and you will observe that every successful person went through early struggles to arrive at their destiny. It is called paying the price to reach your destiny. It is an experience that is critical in building character and which to me (in retrospect) is the most valuable education I have ever had.
You take an arrogant assumption about my life and education not withsanding the fact that education is not always formal learning. Especially in this Information age.
I am also aware that many guys from our year in school support the view that the end justifies the means and have no problem making money from corruption or as a result of contacts with corrupt persons (some of whom feature prominently in the Kroll report.) This eliminates the need for any "struggle". And as long as they can impress everybody else in town, nothing else matters. Sad, because they never stopped being school boys.
You seem to be sure that I struggled at the beginning because I did not do architecture at the university. Correction, it is because I chose to follow the straight and narrow. One of our schoolmates once told me; "it is so difficult to make it in what you are doing."
3) Your grammar also requires some improvement, but this is tied to number 2(b) above.
My grammar seems to be good enough to allow me to generate content for very fussy clients (all based in North America). I suggest that you study the nature of blogs a little more and you will quickly realize that your criticism is a little on the harsh side. Read any leading blog in the world today and compare the grammar standards there to Kumekucha's and then judge me on that.
Still I always endeavor for very high standards and I will be more careful in future amid all the chaos and hectic nature of creating content for blogs.
4) I know you must add colour to your stories but at times, it is a tad much for those of us who know you well. You were a pretty good sportsman no doubt, but you were not the star player you implied playing for the first eleven in Form One. In Rugby you did well but failed to stay at the top long enough because you lacked some real hardness, you were surprisingly timid for a big guy.
FACT: I played for the school first 11 towards the end of the season when still in Form 1. Was in the starting 11 for the first match of the season in Form 2 but was cut down by a serious ankle injury.
FACT: This chap you say is surprisingly timid for a big guy, was invited for Kenya national rugby team trials when I was in Form 5. In that same year I was voted the best combined schools player in Kenya. I played for Kenya in the year I did my form six (shortly after my final exams).
Correction: what ended my rugby playing career a little prematurely was not the fact that I lacked “real hardness.” Rather it was women and booze in that order. Rugby players are of course famous for these vices, but then I was an extreme case. Mercifully I met JC and all that changed. You see, you really don’t know me as well as you think you do.
Most of all, your sporting ability was not derived because you were naturally athletic, it had much to do with the fact that you came to Form One a couple of years older and hence much bigger than the average boy. Age advantage in the tender years gives clear sporting superiority.
Please elaborate and clarify what you mean by that last sentence. You appear to be contradicting yourself. And besides how was this “age factor” an advantage when I was playing International rugby with much older people while barely out of school?
Your recent suffering at the hands of your son and grandson reported by you are not because of age. Unless you have done something about it, I last saw you ten years ago and you were at least 20kg overweight..
Many international sportsmen today are 40 plus and doing well, so your analogy was misplaced. The problem is how you have handled your age.
I know you visit a gym regularly, but I wonder how fit you are after that stroke you suffered shortly after the Central Police issue.
5) I recommend you to be a bit more open and balanced. Avoid personal attacks, after all how would you feel if all those old stories about you and the likes of the young beautiful Muchiru made their way to the web?
Are you suggesting that I was a homosexual in school? I challenge you to publish here evidence that I was involved in that kind of relationship. The truth for the record is that I have never had a weakness for my fellow men, if anything my biggest problem/weakness shortly after high school was women and NOT men. The fact that I befriended persons in lower forms was not a unique thing in the strict rigidly hierarchal system that relied a lot on bullying and the creation of fear at Lenana in those days. The fact that I hated the system and went against it by befriending people whom I should have bullied instead probably speaks volumes about my true character, but let me not be the judge of that. By the way, you too had quite a number of very close friends in lower classes, and I know you are straight. So where did this come from?
I do wish you success in Kumekucha however and do try to cater for all the readers that you have. This is part of that business savvy I mentioned above, and you must appreciate that lobby groups fade all the time while real business ventures survive regimes.
Thank you fo the advice. Will carefully consider it.
A business in which I have substantial shares is advertising on Kumekucha. Let me know when you are in Nairobi and I will take some time to say hello. I hope you are coming for the Elections...
How do I let you know when I am next in Nairobi and yet your comment is anonymous? To be honest, although I strongly suspect I know who you are, I could be wrong. Please drop me an email at umissedthis@yahoo.com if you are serious about this invitation. It seems that in a way you’ve accepted me for who I am, I gladly extend my hand of friendship to you on the same terms. You were not such a bad guy.
