So Merlin Says to Me…

I saw Merlin Mann before the Talk Show last Tuesday, and he thanked me for letting him play in my internet treehouse.

I completely misunderstood. He was talking about a small and specific thing (I realized later) — while I thought, at the time, he was doing a thing Merlin would do, which is to thank a software developer for helping to build up the world of blogs and podcasts where Merlin does, indeed, get to play (and be awesome at it).

(What you don’t know about Merlin — or maybe you do — is that he’s one of the best at liking people. It’s creativity and Jonathan-Winters-meets-James-Joyce — but mainly effort and empathy. So he would say what I thought he said.)

Anyway, my answer didn’t make any sense, surely, when I said, “We built it all for you.”

(Because he’s thinking of this one small thing and I’m thinking of the web.)

But it struck me that, as a reply to what I thought he said, it was absolutely correct. We — and I mean me and many thousands of people like me — worked hard to make the decentralized web, the web of blogs and podcasts, a place where all the Merlins would thrive.

Blogs are the Pad Thai, the rib-eye steak, the bowls of spaghetti of the web. Podcasts are the mashed potatoes, the tacos, and the hummous. You could get by for a little while with Skittles (Twitter) and peanut butter cups (Facebook) — but eventually you need something more filling, something you can sit down with and take your time.

* * *

I realize that decentralized-web fanatics are often looked at as if we’re the Libertarians of the web. Or the crazy-conspiracy-theorist-uncles. Or as if we’re stuck, sadly, in a rosy past and we won’t move on.

Think whatever you will. But wonder if, if all this goes away, could there be any more Merlins.