Sponsor: Meh.com

Way back in 2014, Meh.com sponsored John Gruber’s Daring Fireball with the headline “Fucking Amazon.” Quoting the ad:

I sold Woot to Amazon and they made it shitty. So I quit. Then I got bored.

A brilliant ad.

And since now part of my job is finding sponsors for Lex on Tech, I emailed the Meh.com CEO:

My name is Lex Friedman. We have one thing in common: We each ran companies acquired by Amazon. (Yours sold for more, for what it’s worth.)

I run an Apple-centric tech blog called Lex On Tech.

…

Also, in case you Google me, I want to be clear that I’m not the other Lex Fridman. (Please see https://lexfriedman.com/friedman)

Three minutes later, I got a reply. Later that day, we closed the deal. And the Meh.com marketing geniuses (which I mean 100 percent sincerely) asked if I would be cool if they parodied that classic ad with the headline “Fucking Gruber” instead.

How could I say no?!

It’s funny, it’s clever, and it’s the first f-bomb ever published on Lex on Tech. I’m into it.

As I predicted and mostly don’t resent, the “Fucking Gruber” is the most popular story on my site this week.

And I’ll say this: I had a few folks reach out saying they understood I disagreed with John about X, but they didn’t like seeing this fighting, and this was mean-spirited, etc. And to those folks, after some consideration, I say: thank you, and also, I’m not a monster. I do appreciate the concern. But also, of course Meh and I got John’s approval before the ad ran. (Gruber’s classic responses in its entirety: “Of course. Anything that feeds my ego is good.”) It’s just not funny to say “by the way, Gruber approved this message.” Looking like we’re crossing the line is the joke. Jiminy.

Anyway, Meh.com offers insanely great deals, and I’ve probably spent as much money there over the past few years as they’ve spent on their sponsorship of Lex on Tech this week. And even if you don’t buy whatever they’re selling in a daily deal, you can’t deny the writing on that site is absolutely hilarious. They are brilliant, funny people. They deserve your support.

Unlike Woot, which Amazon ruined. Fucking Amazon.

This week’s sponsor