What is the missing clue in the Cluetrain Manifesto?

[Webwork]

[cluetrain.com...]

This post might be a koan. It might be an invitation to solve a pointless riddle. On the other hand it might be the answer to life, the universe and everything.

Serious, thoughtful and utterly silly answers invited.

Fear not. You will not be graded. This is for extra credit only.

[shri]

Isnt this an abandoned site?

Sad when one of the author's bios points to a NASDAQ listed company which has not been operational in years and whose domain is now err .. up for sale? :)

[Webwork]

Shri, it appears to be an abandoned project. The site appears frozen in time, perhaps maintained by a devoted fan/adherant, or by the author for the residauls?

From the site:

When we created Cluetrain.com in April, 1999, it kicked up some dust. A few thousand people signed their endorsement of the ideas. Lots of email, lots of press coverage. This is the site as it existed then. The conversations continue elsewhere. Please read and enjoy. But don't tap on the glass as it just annoys the animals.

[ronin]

It's not an abandoned site. It's a book.
And a very thought-provoking one at that.

A book when published, even if never updated, is not "abandoned". It may not be current, but a lot of the thesis is still pertinent.

[Syzygy]

I remember Cluetrain and it did indeed kick up a bit of dust for a while. They believed that a revolution was coming - the internet would set people free from the chains of big business in all its many guises.

Unfortunately though the Clutrain Manifesto didn't become big enough business... ;-)

Syzygy

[shri]

Ronin, The comment was on the site. The authors have moved on to whatever the buzz of the day is and abandoned their website and conversation.

[ronin]

I see no site.
I only see a book.

[Macguru]

Most of my clients never got the main lines.

The missing clue is corporate clients are still trying to shove products down consumer's troats on a media that was meant for interaction.

The best thing one can do with the web is to better respond to demand.

[hannamyluv]

The missing clue is corporate clients are still trying to shove products down consumer's troats on a media that was meant for interaction

I think the other side of that equation is that consumer's take and want that shoving. I think they get confused otherwise. If I remember correctly (it has been awhile since I read it) cluetrain revolution was suppose to happen not by the choice of the corporations, but rather the people. It was kind of like the concept of communisim (in that common man would overthrow the leaders) on an electronic level. It's not happening. People aren't forcing anyone to change.

I think the world that cluetrain imagined is still a few decades off, once we have a generation or two that has literally grown up with the internet and understands it better than (even) we do currently. Plus, the internet needs a deeper reach into the average household. More people still have TVs than computers & internet connections.

As much as the internet has changed the world, even the internet cannot change everything overnight. People are comfortable with what they know and will not easily let go of that.