Maciej Cegłowski: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Polish-American web developer, entrepreneur, speaker, and social critic}}

[[File: -.jpg|thumb|Cegłowski speaking at the [[]] conference in ]]

'''Maciej Cegłowski''' (born 1975) is a Polish-American web developer, [[entrepreneur]], speaker, and social critic, based in [[San Francisco]], California. He is the owner of the bookmarking service [[Pinboard (website)|Pinboard]],<ref name="readwriteweb-boring">{{cite web |url= https://readwrite.com/2011/02/10/pinboard-creator-maciej-ceglow/ |title= Hacker Chat: Pinboard Creator Maciej Ceglowski Talks About Why Boring Architecture is Good, and More |author= Klint Finley |date= February 10, 2011 |work= ReadWriteHack |publisher= [[ReadWriteWeb]] |access-date=December 30, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="economist-fame">{{cite web |url= https://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/04/price_fame |title= Price of fame: Stick a pin in it |author= G.F. |date= April 4, 2011 |work= Babbage |publisher= [[The Economist]] |access-date=December 30, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="Zuckerman">{{cite web|last1=Zuckerman|first1=Ethan|author-link=Ethan Zuckerman|title=The Internet's Original Sin|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/advertising-is-the-internets-original-sin/376041/|website=The Atlantic|date=14 August 2014 |quote= The fiasco I want to talk about is the World Wide Web, specifically, the advertising-supported, "free as in beer" constellation of social networks, services, and content that represents so much of the present day web industry. I've been thinking of this world, one I've worked in for over 20 years, as a fiasco since reading a lecture by Maciej Cegłowski, delivered at the Beyond Tellerrand web design conference. Cegłowski is an important and influential programmer and an enviably talented writer. His talk is a patient explanation of how we've ended up with surveillance as the default, if not sole, internet business model.|access-date=20 June 2016}}</ref> which he calls a social bookmarking site for introverts.<ref name="about">{{cite web|url=http://idlewords.com/about.htm |title=Idle Words - Maciej Cegłowski |publisher=idlewords.com |date= |access-date=2016-01-06}}</ref>

== ==

Cegłowski was born in Warsaw, Poland and "accidentally immigrated" to the United States with his mother at age six, in 1981, but calls himself "as American as gooseberry pie."<ref name="about" /><ref name="Web Design: The First 100 Years"/> He attended [[Middlebury College]], where he studied Russian, French, and studio art,<ref name="Middlebury">{{cite web|title=Middlebury College Students Receive Watson Fellowships|date=24 March 1997 |url=http://www.middlebury.edu/newsroom/archive/archive/1997/node/264328|publisher=[[Middlebury College]]|access-date=19 June 2016}}</ref> graduating with a BA in 1997. He then became a backend software developer and community manager at [[Yahoo!]]'s Brickhouse in [[San Francisco]]. While there, he created a visual search engine for airfares called FareMaps. With [[Joshua Schachter]], founder of [[Delicious (website)|Delicious]], and Peter Gadjokov, Cegłowski created LOAF (List of All Friends) as a way to share social network information through email without exposing private information.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Livingston|first1=Jessica|title=Founders at work : stories of startups' early days|date=2008|publisher=Apress|location=Berkeley, Calif.|isbn=978-1-4302-1078-8|page=229|edition=Pbk.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ktm885vGIXEC&q=LOAF+files+are+Bloom+filters&pg=PT237|access-date=7 January 2016}}</ref>

He established Pinboard in 2009, after leaving Yahoo. With [[Joshua Schachter]] and [[Beniamin Mincu]] he had been impressed by initial versions of the bookmarking service [[Delicious (website)|Delicious]], which Yahoo had bought.<ref name="Entrepreneurs Who Go It Alone — By Choice">{{cite magazine|last1=Dell|first1=Kristina|title=Entrepreneurs Who Go It Alone — By Choice|url=http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2094921_2094923_2094924-2,00.html|magazine=Time|date=24 October 2011 |access-date=20 April 2016}}</ref> However, he felt that it had been mismanaged by Yahoo! management and that it would be possible to produce a more successful website with the same concept.<ref name="McEwenCassimally2013">{{cite book|author1=Adrian McEwen|author2=Hakim Cassimally|title=Designing the Internet of Things|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iYkKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT153|date=7 November 2013|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-118-43065-1|pages=153–4}}</ref><ref name="An interview with Maciej Ceglowski of Pinboard">{{cite web|last1=Perrine|first1=Tom|title=An interview with Maciej Ceglowski of Pinboard|url=https://thuktun.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/an-interview-with-maciej-ceglowski-of-pinboard/|website=Thuktun (blog)|date=3 January 2011 |access-date=20 April 2016}}</ref><ref name="Quick thoughts on Pinboard">{{cite web|last1=Haughey|first1=Matt|title=Quick thoughts on Pinboard (review)|url=http://a.wholelottanothing.org/2010/12/quick-thoughts-on-pinboard.html|website=Whole Lotta Nothing|date=27 December 2010 |access-date=20 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="Ovadia2013">{{cite book|author=Steven Ovadia|title=The Librarian's Guide to Academic Research in the Cloud|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uGNEAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA124|date=30 September 2013|publisher=Elsevier Science|isbn=978-1-78063-381-7|pages=124, 172}}</ref> As of 2016, he remains Pinboard's only full-time employee. The business is a model of a small ad-free pay-for-service that emphasizes privacy.<ref>{{cite web|title=Maciej Ceglowski|url=http://www.webstock.org.nz/14/speakers/maciej-ceglowski/|website=Webstock 14|access-date=7 January 2016}}</ref>

In December 2012, Cegłowski announced a project called the Pinboard Investment Co-Prosperity Cloud, offering $37 and promotion for six [[Startup company|startup companies]], to encourage [[Bootstrapping (business)#Financial Bootstrapping|bootstrapping]] technology companies with low costs.<ref name="mashable-entrepreneurs">{{cite web |url= http://mashable.com/2012/12/18/pinboard-startup-fund/ |title= Why Entrepreneurs Are Competing for $37 From This Startup Incubator |author= Seth Fiegerman |date= December 18, 2012 |work= Business |publisher= [[Mashable]] |access-date=December 30, 2012 }}</ref><ref name="wired-cheapest">{{cite web |url= https://www.wired.com/2012/12/worlds-cheapest-venture-capitalist/ |title= Meet the World's Cheapest Venture Capitalist |author= Ryan Tate |date= December 14, 2012 |work= Business |publisher= [[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |access-date=December 30, 2012 }}</ref> He awarded winners in January 2013.<ref name="wired-spending">{{cite web |url= https://www.wired.com/2013/01/pinboard-spending/ |title= How to Spend a $37 Venture-Capital Infusion |author= Ryan Tate |date= January 21, 2013 |work= Business |publisher= [[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |access-date=March 14, 2013 }}</ref>

In 2016, Cegłowski entered a competition on [[Hacker News]] that would have allowed Pinboard to become a [[Y Combinator]] Fellow. In light of his frequent criticism of Y Combinator, he humorously described his entry as "a tremendous, huge opportunity to fund the Bay Area's slowest-growing [[Unicorn (finance)|unicorn]]."<ref>{{cite web|title=Apply HN: Pinboard – Make Y Combinator Great Again|url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11441480|website=Hacker News|access-date=25 August 2016}}</ref> Pinboard was not chosen for the fellowship, despite receiving the largest number of votes.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tell HN: Winners of Apply HN for YC Fellowship 3|url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11633278|website=Hacker News|access-date=25 August 2016}}</ref>

He was credited as a technical consultant for the 2018 season of [[HBO]] sitcom [[Silicon Valley (TV series)|Silicon Valley]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Maciej Ceglowski|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9730650/|website=IMDb|access-date=26 May 2019}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=December 2021|note=Content on IMDb is user-generated; see [[Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Perennial sources#IMDb]]}}

== Speaking and writing ==

In addition to promoting his business, Cegłowski is known as a critic and provocateur on social media and offline. Between 2013 and 2017 he delivered a series of talks criticizing the contemporary Internet and the Silicon Valley tech industry.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://idlewords.com/talks/ |title=Idle Words: Talks }}</ref> In November 2016, he founded Tech Solidarity to "to organize tech workers around an ethical agenda through collective action and the creative use of American labor law."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.techsolidarity.org/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=This article is more than 5 years old Silicon Valley revolt: meet the tech workers fighting their bosses over Ice, censorship and racism |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/28/tech-workers-silicon-valley-activism |work=The Guardian |date=29 March 2019}}</ref> Between 2018 and 2020 its focus shifted to raising funds from the tech community for a 'Great Slate' of candidates for office in the United States. <ref>{{cite news |last1=Janesch |first1=Sam |title=How Jess King spurred a Silicon Valley-led fundraising blitz that netted $200K for her and $1.7 million for other candidates |url=https://lancasteronline.com/news/politics/how-jess-king-spurred-a-silicon-valley-led-fundraising-blitz-that-netted-200k-for-her/article_8766d1e4-70ce-11e8-bbe4-e387a189b04b.html |publisher=Lancaster Online |date=17 June 2018}}</ref> He joined the protests against Hong Kong's National Security Law in August 2019 and reported how Hong Kongers were organizing.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://idlewords.com/2019/08/a_week_with_no_tear_gas.htm |title=A Week with No Tear Gas (Idle Words) }}</ref> Cegłowski argued that "While Hong Kongers took the threat to their freedom seriously and organized a vigorous political response, Americans (in October 2020) remain suspended between feelings of anxiety and a hope that transformative change can come on its own, without the hard work of harnessing protest to electoral gain."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://idlewords.com/2020/10/protests_and_power.htm |title=Protests and Power (Idle Words) }}</ref> In 2023 he returned to his blog and twitter to criticize plans by NASA and private corporations to land humans on Mars.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://idlewords.com/2023/1/why_not_mars.htm |title=Why Not Mars (Idle Words) }}</ref>

Cegłowski is particularly known for his conference talks on the impacts of technology, and for posting on [[Twitter]], which he uses to joke about the failings and inflated claims of [[Silicon Valley]] companies.<ref name="techcrunch-comments">{{cite news |url= https://techcrunch.com/2016/04/09/dear-facebook-why-are-facebook-comments-so-unremittingly-terrible/ |title= Dear Facebook, why are Facebook Comments so unremittingly terrible?|author= Jon Evans |date= 2016-04-09 |work= [[TechCrunch]] |access-date= 2016-06-19 }}</ref><ref name="techcrunch-money">{{cite news |url= https://techcrunch.com/2015/11/21/and-realpolitik-for-free/ |title= Money For Nothing For Everyone |author= Jon Evans |date= 2015-11-21 |work= [[TechCrunch]] |access-date= 2016-06-19 }}</ref><ref name="register-ifttt">{{cite web |url= https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/30/love_our_open_api_talk_to_our_lawyers_says_if_this_then_that/ |title= Love our open API? Talk to our lawyers, says If This Then That |author= Richard Chirgwin |date= 2016-03-30|website= [[The Register]] |access-date= 2016-06-19 }}</ref> He has written and spoken extensively on the problems of advertising-funded services with dubious business models.<ref name="Inside Higher Ed">{{cite web|last1=Fister|first1=Barbara|title=Maciej Ceglowski's Internet Repair Kit|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/library-babel-fish/maciej-ceglowskis-internet-repair-kit|website=[[Inside Higher Ed]]|access-date=19 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="The Advertising Bubble">{{cite web|last1=Cegłowski|first1=Maciej|title=The Advertising Bubble|url=http://idlewords.com/2015/11/the_advertising_bubble.htm|website=Idle Words (blog)|access-date=19 April 2016}}</ref><ref name="Doctorow"/> He has described programmatically generated advertising and data mining as a business model that encourages the growth of surveillance.<ref name="Doctorow">{{cite web |last1=Doctorow |first1=Cory |title=Big Data's religious faith denies the reality of failed promises, privacy Chernobyls |url=https://boingboing.net/2015/10/07/big-datas-religious-faith-de.html |website=Boing Boing |date=2015-10-07 |access-date=2016-06-19}}</ref><ref name="huffpo-crossroads">{{cite news |url= http://www.huffingtonpost.com/advertising-week/digital-advertising-at-th_b_8989994.html |title= Digital Advertising at the Crossroads: Will Angry Consumers Block Brands? |author= Zak Pollack |date= 2016-01-15 |work= [[Huffington Post]] |access-date= 2016-06-19 }}</ref><ref name="Doctorow-">{{cite web |last1=Doctorow |first1=Cory |title=Big Data refusal: the nuclear disarmament movement of the 21st century |url=http://boingboing.net/2015/11/03/big-data-refusal-the-nuclear.html |website=Boing Boing|date=2015-11-03 |access-date=2016-06-19}}</ref> In particular, Cegłowski has compared large stocks of data on Internet users to the archives of Communist secret police services in his native Central Europe, as a threat to user privacy that may increase as archives remain in existence.<ref name="atlantic-sin">{{cite magazine |url= https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/advertising-is-the-internets-original-sin/376041/?single_page=true |title= The Internet's Original Sin |author= Ethan Zuckerman |author-link= Ethan Zuckerman |date= August 14, 2014 |magazine= [[The Atlantic]] |access-date= November 13, 2014 }}</ref><ref name="What Happens Next Will Amaze You">{{cite web|last1=Cegłowski|first1=Maciej|title=What Happens Next Will Amaze You|url=http://idlewords.com/talks/what_happens_next_will_amaze_you.htm|website=Idle Words (blog)|access-date=20 April 2016}}</ref><ref name="The Internet With a Human Face">{{cite web|last1=Cegłowski|first1=Maciej|title=The Internet With a Human Face|url=http://idlewords.com/talks/internet_with_a_human_face.htm|website=Idle Words (blog)|publisher=Beyond Tellerrand Conference|access-date=19 April 2016}}</ref><ref name="Datanami">{{cite web|last1=Woodie|first1=Alex|title=Big Data Really Freaks This Guy Out|url=http://www.datanami.com/2015/10/01/big-data-really-freaks-this-guy-out/|website=Datanami|date=October 2015 |access-date=20 June 2016}}</ref> He has also argued in favour of simplified, more minimal web design, arguing that immersive web design can be [[Software bloat|bloated]] and unsuitable for consumers with a poor internet connection.<ref name="Web Design: The First 100 Years">{{cite web|last1=Cegłowski|first1=Maciej|title=Web Design: The First 100 Years|url=http://idlewords.com/talks/web_design_first_100_years.htm|website=Idle Words|access-date=19 April 2016}}</ref><ref name="The Website Obesity Crisis">{{cite web|last1=Cegłowski|first1=Maciej|title=The Website Obesity Crisis|url=http://idlewords.com/talks/website_obesity.htm|website=Idle Words (blog)|access-date=19 April 2016}}</ref><ref name="Is Google's Fight With Facebook Undermining a Web That's Fair to Everyone?">{{cite web|last1=Dale|first1=Brady|title=Is Google's Fight With Facebook Undermining a Web That's Fair to Everyone?|url=http://observer.com/2016/03/google-accelerated-mobile-pages-facebook-w3c/|website=Observer|date=2 March 2016 |access-date=20 April 2016}}</ref><ref name="Doctorow-tools">{{cite web|last1=Doctorow|first1=Cory|author-link=Cory Doctorow |title=Tools, ads, and bad defaults: Web bloat continues unabated |url=http://boingboing.net/2016/01/01/tools-ads-and-bad-defaults.html |website=Boing Boing |date=2016-01-01|access-date=2016-06-19}}</ref><ref name="Doctorow-botwars">{{cite web|last1=Doctorow|first1=Cory|author-link=Cory Doctorow|title=Botwars vs ad-tech: the origin story of universal surveillance on the Internet|url=http://boingboing.net/2015/10/05/botwars-vs-ad-tech-the-origin.html|website=Boing Boing|date=2015-10-05|access-date=2016-06-19}}</ref><ref name="techcrunch-block">{{cite news |url= https://techcrunch.com/2015/09/26/i-like-to-block-it-block-it/ |title= I Like To Block It Block It |author= Jon Evans |date= 2015-09-26 |work= [[TechCrunch]] |access-date= 2016-06-19 }}</ref> [[Cory Doctorow]] has described him as a "characteristically provocative" writer of "barn-burning speeches about the Internet's problems".<ref name="Doctorow-human-face">{{cite web|last1=Doctorow|first1=Cory|author-link=Cory Doctorow|title=The Internet With a Human Face: Maciej Cegłowski on the things we need to fix|url=http://boingboing.net/2014/05/27/the-internet-with-a-human-face.html|website=Boing Boing|date=2014-05-27|access-date=2016-06-19}}</ref><ref name="Botwars vs ad-tech: the origin story of universal surveillance on the Internet">{{cite web|last1=Doctorow|first1=Cory|title=Botwars vs ad-tech: the origin story of universal surveillance on the Internet|url=https://boingboing.net/2015/10/05/botwars-vs-ad-tech-the-origin.html|website=Boing Boing|date=5 October 2015 |access-date=20 June 2016}}</ref><ref name='After a rush, aviation stopped "progressing" -- the Web might be next'>{{cite web|last1=Doctorow|first1=Cory|title=After a rush, aviation stopped "progressing" -- the Web might be next|url=https://boingboing.net/2015/07/21/after-a-rush-aviation-stopped.html|website=Boing Boing|date=21 July 2015 |access-date=20 June 2016}}</ref>

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| author = Maciej Ceglowski, in a public appearance<ref name="brokeassstuart">{{cite web |url=http://brokeassstuart.com/blog/2017/06/08/prankster-tricks-y-combinator-into-supporting-the-homeless/|title=Prankster tricks tech incubator into supporting homeless people|author=Matthew Gering|date=2017-06-08|access-date= 2017-06-16}}</ref>

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[[(festival)|XOXO ]] ', ', "<ref name="wired-slowly">{{cite web |url= ://www.wired.com/2013/11/the-next-big-thing-you-missed/ |title= Why the Most Ambitious of Tech Startups Should Fail Slowly |author= Ryan Tate |date= November 19, 2013 |work= The Next Big Thing You Missed |publisher= [[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |= December 17, 2013 }}</ref> Cegłowski discussed prioritising simplicity and stability over using cutting-edge technologies for building Pinboard in order to reduce cost and allow his company to remain simple and practical for a single person to run.<ref name="readwriteweb-boring" /><ref name="The Website Obesity Crisis" />

Cegłowski writes a Pinboard blog on topics including new features, site growth, the benefits of paying for services in general,<ref name="guardian-goodbye">{{cite web |url= https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2011/dec/16/goodbye-delicious-hello-pinboard-bookmarking-guardian |title= Goodbye Delicious, hello Pinboard: why we'll pay for internet plumbing |author= Charles Arthur |date= December 16, 2011 |work= Technology Blog |publisher= [[The Guardian]] |access-date=December 30, 2011 }}</ref> technical aspects of running Pinboard, and critical commentary about social websites like [[Facebook]].<ref name="oreilly-graph">{{cite web |url= http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/11/social-graph-cloudera-kaggle-gps-law.html |title= Strata Week: The social graph that isn't |author= Audrey Watters |date= November 10, 2011 |work= O'Reilly Radar |publisher= [[O'Reilly Media]] |access-date=December 30, 2011 }}</ref> Cegłowski has discussed prioritizing speed and stability over using cutting-edge technologies for building Pinboard.<ref name="readwriteweb-boring"/>

His personal blog, Idlewords, includes blog posts and short essays Cegłowski has written since 2002, mostly about travel and food, including his 36-day voyage to [[Antarctica]]'s [[Ross Ice Shelf]] in 2016, which he financed through [[Kickstarter]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Cegłowski|first1=Maciej|title=An Antarctic Appeal|url=http://idlewords.com/2015/07/an_antarctic_appeal.htm|website=Idlewords|access-date=25 August 2016}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=December 2021}}

He has written occasional features for ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]''.<ref name="How to Hide from the Internet while travelling">{{cite magazine|last1=Cegłowski|first1=Maciej|title=I'm Going to Antarctica for the Penguins and to Hide From the Internet|url=https://www.wired.com/2016/03/how-to-ditch-the-internet-while-traveling/|magazine=Wired|access-date=20 April 2016}}</ref><ref name="Meet the World's Cheapest Venture Capitalist">{{cite magazine|last1=Tate|first1=Ryan|title=Meet the World's Cheapest Venture Capitalist|url=https://www.wired.com/2012/12/worlds-cheapest-venture-capitalist/|magazine=Wired|access-date=20 April 2016}}</ref> and opinion pieces for [[The New York Times]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ceglowski|first1=Maciej|title=We Need a More Forgetful Internet|url=https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/12/11/privacy-and-the-apps-you-download/we-need-a-more-forgetful-internet|access-date=7 January 2016|work=New York Times|date=2012-12-11}}</ref> His ideas have been quoted in [[Time (magazine)|Time]],<ref name="Entrepreneurs Who Go It Alone — By Choice" /> [[The Atlantic]],<ref>{{cite news|last1=Zuckerman|first1=Ethan|title=The Internet's Original Sin|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/advertising-is-the-internets-original-sin/376041/|access-date=7 January 2016|work=The Atlantic|date=August 2014}}</ref> [[The Guardian]],<ref>{{cite news|last1=Arthur|first1=Charles|title=Goodbye Delicious, hello Pinboard: why we'll pay for internet plumbing|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2011/dec/16/goodbye-delicious-hello-pinboard-bookmarking-guardian|access-date=25 August 2016|work=The Guardian|date=16 December 2011}}</ref> [[The Economist]],<ref name="economist-fame"/> [[TechCrunch]], [[Wired (magazine)|Wired News]],<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Thompson|first1=Clive|title=Clive Thompson on the Problem With Online Ads|url=https://www.wired.com/2011/08/st_thompson_onlineads/|magazine=Wired News|access-date=25 August 2016}}</ref> [[Bloomberg News#Bloomberg View|Bloomberg View]], [[Mashable]] and [[Gigaom]].

==Selected publications==

{{expand section|date=March 2022}}

* {{cite web|date=6 March 2010|url=https://idlewords.com/2010/03/scott_and_scurvy.htm|title=Scott and Scurvy|author-link=Maciej Ceglowski|last=Ceglowski|first=Maciej}} c.f. [[Scurvy]], [[Vitamin C]]

== ==

{{|30em}}

==External links==

* [https://idlewords.com Personal ]

* {{twitter}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1975 births]]

[[Category:American ]]

[[Category:Middlebury College alumni]]

[[Category:American technology company founders]]

[[Category:People from San Francisco]]

[[Category:Yahoo! employees]]

[[Category:American ]]

[[Category:Engineers from California]]