Oracle AppsLab

I was so sad to hear the news that FSJ had been outed by Brad Stone of the NYT. Apparently, Daniel Lyons, a writer for Forbes, no less, has been moonlighting as FSJ.

Why does this make me sad? Let me count the ways:

1. I have to assume you read FSJ. If you don’t, you should, and then, you’ll get why this is such a tragedy. It says all the things you wish you could say without fear of reprisals, while simultaneously making you laugh at yourself for being such a dork. Forbes.com will continue to “sponsor” FSJ, beginning today. Woo-freaking-hoo. This totally ruins all the fun. In my mind, FSJ was always some dude in his basement, a blogger superhero. Think Comic Book Guy. FSJ was a dude in the trenches, definitely not a writer covering the trenches.
2. Finding out that a writer at Forbes was FSJ makes me fell like the whole house of cards is collapsing. My paranoia has kicked in, and now, I feel like I’ve been had. All that seemed to be genuine makes me feel like I’m playing The Game, the shipped in a box to Mexico part, not the champagne and birthday party part.
3. I’m feeling empty. There are a few feeds that I read voraciously, checking them first if they have new items: uncov, I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?, Dilbert. Why? Because they make me laugh. I like to laugh. FSJ was on this list, but not anymore.
4. I had hoped from the beginning that FSJ was RSJ, i.e. the real deal masquerading behind a blog, or at least that it was some like Bill Gates, filling free time and skewering everyone for giggles.

So, now what? Who will fill the void?

Let me know if you readers find something.

Until then, maybe Paul can fill in, he invented AppsLab.

Maybe you’ve heard of it.