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Yale-educated Leo Laporte is losing his dream studio to a neighborhood bar

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Could TWiT soon broadcast from a run-down abandoned church in the woods?
Could TWiT soon broadcast from a run-down abandoned church in the woods?
Our #OneAss, #JCDTrollArmy expert journalist team previously covered the story in “Leo’s “Million Dollar” Studio May Soon Be Priced Beyond His Reach.”

One might wonder why he has poured a million dollars — if you believe him — into the TWiT studio he is leasing. But then again, he’s a Yale dropout, so he probably knows better than we do.

Here’s what the obese piece of shit had to say to his sycophants in #twitlive:

<~Leo> our rent is about $13K now - it will go to $20k or more
<~Leo> we don't really want to spend that much
<~Leo> it's overpriced for what it is
<~Leo> we can cut our rent to $5K
<~Leo> we'll build a new and more beautiful set
<~Leo> but we do get some stuff here we can't duplicate
<WaterBoy> Leo should move the studio to his home Garage
<~Leo> we actually considered that WaterBoy
<thubten2001> Sounds like you need a good to comercial agent to negotiate for all options
<~Leo> we have an excellent one thubten2001

120 thoughts on “Yale-educated Leo Laporte is losing his dream studio to a neighborhood bar”

  2. I think they make him pay for the basement square footage which Twit doesn’t pay currently. If I remember right.
    We can look forward to Leo the pitchman on the Home Shopping Netcast, live out his garage , soaking tub and Casper mattress.

    The move is going to be a live broadcast event , Leo smashing all the overpriced BRICKS (the fools bought) with a sledgehammer. Peter Gabriel is supposed to deliver the background soundtrack.

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  3. What is the point of the brick house? They had so much space they never utilized that could have been used for shows such as the new screen savers. Except they insisted on staying in a little tiny corner. Mostly because they didn’t want to do the work of moving the main table. They could have had an actual show that had a real vibe of the screen savers. Sure the screen savers started as a show with only two people, but later in it’s prime, it was more then just two people and they seem to forget that.

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    2. To be fair, before Brick house, he was already a multi-millionaire (~ 7 millions in his bank), but probably spend a few millions on the Brick house.

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      1. He is probably regretting building the expensive studio. He could have retired very comfortably with his 7 millions in the bank, and just do his weekend radio talk show. But now he just want to retire.

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  5. Wait. Are you telling me he didn’t have a lease option and right of first refusal when he did the deal originally? That’s a no-brainer and costs nothing. It was just sold out from under him? Then he says he’s got a good agent/negotiator? Who?

    Madness.

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    1. I haven’t listened to TWiT for a while. Can’t say I didn’t see this coming. I never understood why he would spend that much money on a studio and not own the building. Or like you said have a lease option and right of first refusal. What a stupid twit. He should get a good business manager that has a clue about business.

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      1. It’s hard to make a good decision when the former office slut at the accounting office who is now your CEO is sucking your dick during the business meetings.

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    2. He may well have had first refusal but if the other bidder offered more and L&L didn’t want to match, highest bidder wins. From what Leo said, “it was overpriced” so he was outbid and pride I’m sure prevented him in making a matching offer.

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  8. How could a building Laporke didn’t own be sold “out from under” him? Pretty pathetic to not have a right-of-first-refusal clause in his lease agreement.

    Complaining that he has to pay for space, the basement, TWiT occupies? Wasn’t that already in the lease? It’s not uncommon in a down market to have such a concession given by the landlord for a couple of years.

    Some great commercial agent he’s got there. Fingers crossed it’s a Century 21 agent who was a member of the ceHO’s bar fly posse.

    Laporke needs someone to tell him that in order to play the victim card, it has to be grounded in truth and one must be sympathetic.

    Follow The Geeks
    Chapter 9 – The Mogul?
    More like – The Lard-Ass Whiny Bitch

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      1. actually if you believe twit that was padre trolling us . leo even said it on air he was clueless about studio c. mods in chat said that was padre trolling. wouldn’t shock me if it was another lie but who knows.

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  10. Does anyone remember when Leo built this studio? He had drop cams all over it to show the fans how it was going. As I recall it was going to be ready in June, then July, then August, etc. It took forever. As I recall it was nine months late. Maybe longer. And that does not represent the design time. My point: if he is going to move, he’d better start now!!

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  11. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he announces that he is “selling” TWiT concurrently with having to move the studio. If not then, it’s coming soon. It seems like ad revenue is poor and the network is stagnate. Leo seems ready to scale back his involvement, and selling now would be opportune. He could cash out, scale back his daily involvement, and let somebody else take the responsibility for saving TWiT (or take the blame for it’s failure).

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    1. your right but who would buy it leo has said multiple times no one wants it and who would at this point its total shit. many hosts are horrible, advertisers are shit , ect.

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    2. Something tells me Leo would have sold out long ago if he could. He’s burned many bridges and missed a lot of boats, now it’s just a long, slow slide into has-been city.

      The best thing he can do is simplify his operation and learn some humility. Which means he’s pretty much fucked.

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      1. Is TWiT really much more than a name, a logo, some website code, half a semi-load of hardware, props, and office furniture, and some memories?

        Just askin’ and best regards

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      2. That’s exactly what their intention was since the beginning. To be bought out for a huge sum. To be fair, when he was trying sell TWiT they were the only ones doing what they were doing on a huge scale like he was. In fact, during the time they were trying to sell the company it was in it’s peak.

        The problem is, buyers dropped out because Lisa and Leo they were worth more than anyone was willing to negotiate for. What ended up happening was the corps that watched TWiT simply made their own and were even more successful at the end.

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        1. Any investor who did even minimal research would quickly realize that TWIT hinges on exactly one guy, who is also kind of an ass. Better off investing in dogecoin.

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    3. Sell what exactly? Leo often humble brags that it’s only his shows that pull in the advertisers and subsidize the others. So without Leo, (I doubt he’d stay on working for someone else) nothing but some old hardware and employees and their liabilities to purchase.

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  12. Oh, and The Patio isn’t a “brew pub”, ya dismissive prick, Laporke.

    It actually has several locations in San Diego that are well-regarded.

    http://thepatioonlamont.com/

    Really hoping the cheese cave shares the HVAC with Laporke’s office.

    Follow The Geeks
    Chapter 9 – The Art of the Deal

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  13. When he built the Soup-house many fans in his chat said it was a mistake. To rent a place for 156K a year and a build out that cost a million dollars, he would have been able to afford a place costing much less. Why did his fans know this and his CEO didn’t. If his business did great and he wanted to expand his landlord would have him by the balls. If his business did terrible he is still on the hook. Leasing/renting rarely makes sense unless you’re short cash.

    The problem is that instead of hiring a CEO he paid his girlfriend 250K a year and she did it.

    Question- does he pay 13K or is he lying by including Aled Lindsey’s portion too? It was in the brochure total drama linked a year ago.

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    1. not sure about pixel corps section. i had a feeling the brick house would faill. only because leo was all everything will be video ect. . however most of twits success early on was audio only shows. he got jealous of other sites like rev 3 ect. same old laporte shit. in the beginning i was optimistic that it would work . after seeing on air how he treated others i wasn’t surprised this happened. his very public airing of dirty laundry constantly is what killed there viewership . people blame the ceho and that’s true but leo could have always said no on shit ideas but he got greedy and forgot what got him in the brickhouse in the first place

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  14. Serves LL right, the pompous show off is getting his come uppings now and it’s all there for all to see. Fact is LL’s man parts are in a vise so tight courtesy of his Wife/CEO , that he’s just strapped in for the sad downhill spiral ride of the once great and twit network. I feel sorry for all the people that were dupped for so many months asking to buy twit bricks. Wonder if they can ask for their money back? Lol.

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        1. I prefer come uppings, myself. Reminds me of all the young men’s frantic thrusting as I devour their chipolatas while LaFuck drinks his Italian Wedding Soup.

          What a fucking loser!

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  16. I’ve been saying he’s going to sell out for over a year and losing the studio to a neighborhood bar and grille….

    Wait…

    Does that mean that Petaluma will finally get an Applebees!

    Well it’s all worth it then…

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    1. “Ok Google…set up and standing reservation at the Applebee’s. Extra tip if they inject the mozzarella sticks straight into my colon!”

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  17. As another poster (The Peacekeeper) pointed out in the Dvorak thread, the parallels between Leo and Arthur Godfrey (and, by extension, Tom Merritt and Julius LaRosa) are eerily similar.

    The Wikipedia page about Godfrey are well worth a read. You could easily substitute “Leo” for “Arthur” and swear it was Laporte’s life that was being discussed. (For instance, the two men both hawked products — including mattresses! — that they loooooved, only later to turn on many of their sponsors.)

    Leo is well on his way to ending up just as Godfrey did: reviled by most of his former fans, and completely marginalized by the industry he helped build.

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    1. Stop being a troll, you jilted lover. Everyone loooves hits.

      Chris Marquardt and his ugly German face apparently recorded no less than a dozen hits today!

      What do we figure he pays for every hit? $9.99 or the equivalent in NatureBox snacks is my guess.

      Hits!!!!

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  21. This week’s TWiT was fucking hilarious.

    Leo Laporte spent about an hour arguing that VIDEO GAMES TRAIN CHILDREN TO MURDER. The guy is a fucking relic. He sounds like my fucking 98 year old grandmother. Fuck this fat fucking retard.

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  22. The show’s content and production do not justify the investment and space. Most of the shows are done via Skype, like a decade ago. This could all be done out of a slightly larger house than the Cottage was.

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      1. Yeah really, right? “I’ve been kissing ass in the radio business for 30 years, so I know what I’m doing. Aaaand we just dropped a guest on Skype. Let me verbally assault the female guests while we reconnect with whatsisface….”

        Every. Day.

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  24. Leo was overextended before he ever set foot in the brick house. He can’t very well move back to the cottage because #terrists!

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  25. At this point the only person I feel bad for is Jason. He seems like a decent family man that’s about to get screwed. I hope he has his resume up to date and is checking out prospects on the down low.

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    1. YES! I truly wish Jason gets the hell out of there. He’s only been there this long because he’s not a threat to L&L, but the writing is on the wall and he needs to leave there ASAP. He has many friends in the industry, surely someone can help him out!

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  26. How many bricks will the fans have to buy to create this new studio?

    This is totally the reason why Leo changed his mind about JCD when he saw how the fans reacted.

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  27. I used to be a fan of Leo’s going back to the TSS days but he has totally changed my view of him after following him on TWiT. I’ve had enough of his perv comments and sexual innuendos to female guests, talking-over guests, behind-the-scenes comments about current and former employees and guests., etc. The list goes on and on.

    You can see that he no longer puts in any effort into his shows. I usually listen to TWIT and MBW and I swear at times I gotta double check to see what show I’m listening to. I just don’t see how TWiT will stay around much longer. From past comments that Laporke has made, it sounds like he doesn’t want to be doing this for much longer and really who is going to want to buy TWiT and continue with it?

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  28. I guess no one has noticed that Leo’s ads are the exact same ads as many of the other podcasters that use Podtrack. For example Frog Pants podcasts. Currently it seems to be Casper matress. Leo has claimed that he asks around $1000 per spot for his sponsors. I highly doubt it. Other podcasters having the exact same sponsors tells me that Leo is just like every other podcaster tied in with Podtrack getting a percentage of what their discount codes sell. Let’s also not forget that the internet band width he has piped into the Shithouse is basically paid for by CashFly. If I’m not mistaken, it was Lisa that did the business for the Shithouse lease agreement did she not? Leo is nothing more than a Podtrack peddler that currently has two women taking him for everything he has. Let us not forget the money he will be paying out for his divorce. When you base your career on a popularity contest and whether it gets your dick sucked you’re eventually going to end up penniless with your friends pissed off at you.

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    1. Oh I’ve noticed and laugh every time I read about a new sponsor on TWiT. The Ho isn’t bringing anyone in on her own. That have the same shit ads from shit companies that EVERY podcast has. How the mighty have fallen.

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      1. Which makes you wonder how much they are really bringing in from these sponsors. I’ve listened to countless other podcasts out there that have been sponsored by Stamps.com, Squarespace, NatureBox, etc. I just don’t see how they can manage to pull in the amount of revenue that they state are pulling in. How hard are they working to pull in advertisers when they’re using https://podtrac.com/.

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  31. Let’s see – according to the twit.tv wiki, it took “over 7 months” to build the brick house studios back in 2011. Between his excessive vacation time and general laziness, he’s on a very tight schedule. He’d better start coming up with a dirty fund-raising scheme quickly.

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    1. Dirty fund-raising scheme? Lisa can get a dirty panty business going.

      With her reputed ‘heavy flow’ they can make many a dollar. Plus we know she can use craigslist, since we know she uses craigslist over sponsor ZipRecruiter to find new souls she can consume.

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  32. The thing that stopped me from buying a brick back in the day was that i heard he was renting the space instead of owning it,If you are going to invest all that money in building a studio buy the bloody building

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  33. If someone with a lot of free time and some editing skills, I would love to see a video of the rise and fall of Twit. Including all the bits about the delay with the Brick House, the NY Office, all the shows going on a “hiatus”. Hosts coming and going. etc

    Also it’s been 5 years since the last show with Ray Maxwell, I use to enjoy his ramblings, does anyone know if he’s still with us?

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    1. I don’t remember exactly how it happened, either Ray called into TTG or ??? But Ray explained to Leo that he had been sick and was on the mend, of course Leo sounded concerned, but wasn’t. Ray’s show was one of those niche shows that Lisa should have never axed.

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      1. Leo stated that Ray Maxwell will still be appearing frequently in other shows on the network.
        Maxwell’s House was retired on the TWiT Network with its release of episode 78 on June 27, 2010.
        Ray hasn’t been back once …

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      2. Ray was told when he called in that he would be a guest on Padre”s drone show. Lots of bull shit. There is an article on this blog about it, look around date of video. You an probably also find the full call on inside twit around the date.
        The saddest part was #soup knew he had cancer and never even called him, yet he just loooooooves him so much.

        Video of maxwell call http://youtu.be/pOdX0wItxGI

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        1. I think the only person Laporke loves is himself. Just look at his comments back when he heard that Erik Lanigan died. You would have thought that Erik was some janitor that worked at the Brickhouse for a couple of weeks back in the day. He used to talk about how great he was and how he had a bright future ahead of him but now he suddenly just passes him off as some schlub that worked at TWiT long enough to have a cup of coffee.

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        2. Thanks Dan H I knew I heard Rays voice recently… With Leo’s vast following, I’m sure he receives updates on almost every present and past TWiT host etc. I’m willing to bet he received a call from the local medical examiner or sherif when Erik passed away. They will pursue possable reasons for self inflicted deaths…

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    2. The rise of TWiT would be when Leo viewed Lisa when she first entered the cottage and the fall of TWiT is the first ‘business’ trip Leo and Lisa took together…

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  34. I just placed a bid to purchase the Brickhouse building. If I win the bid, I will lower soups rent, just so we can keep TD going and going and going and going and…

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    1. That would be hilarious if they do a brick campaign for whatever hole they end up moving into after this and everyone buys a brick and names it “From Total Drama, big fan” 😀

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    1. Hahaha, Johnny Jet Set Radio, awesome.

      Johnny Jetski is creepy as shit, and not merely because of that herpes sore that appears on his upper lip from time to time. What kind of freak travels nonstop? Why marry some Canadian rando? Why does he never stop smiling? Why are his tips always lame as shit? The questions are endless…

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  36. only a matter of time before lisa kicks leo out. but it’s ok, i am sure the bastard will set up a paypal account for donations from his mindless fanatics.

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  37. What happened to the fact that they can’t charge us for the basement because the ceiling is too low and is not up to code or did that just go out the window? Also the fact isn’t it illegal to raise someone rent over a certain amount. They been in the brick house for what five years now and they just going to say oh your rent is going up several thousand dollars a month?

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  38. Spend $Millions on a ‘studio’ you’re only leasing?
    Spend $100,000’s on gadgets?
    Spend $10,000’s on holidays?
    Spend $fuckall on talent?

    And now you can’t afford the increase in rent?

    HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

    Perhaps you should have bought the place you’ve spent millions on?

    I’ll look forward to watching Leo do his shows from his bed, he won’t be bothered to do it from his garage and yes he’ll still be late.

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  39. The fans have left. He has very few fans left. Have you noticed they do not do T-shirts anymore? They cant sell 100 of them.

    Most of the < > people left.
    Most of Scott Johnson fans left.
    Most of the Hak5 Darren fans left.
    Most of the Sarah groupies left.
    Most of the Tom Merritt people left.
    Now the JCD fans left.

    He is moving into a smaller studio, they think about moving to audio only, there are tiny sponsors, TWiT guests are pathetic, TNT co-hosts are worse.

    Not one thing that is better since 2013. The only new show is TNSS and it is arguably the most expensive and incongruous show within the network.

    Even half the mods left. It is sad.

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    1. Sad? Schadenfreude is the spice of life!

      Leo has become entirely unlikeable, even intolerable. Five minutes into WW pre-show and anyone can see he is seething with jealousy at Paul and Mary Jo’s background on Skype. CBS owns Cnet you see, and Leo is nothing but dismissive of them since he did a pilot or some shit for them in the 90s. He has a sick mind.

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      1. Yeah I saw that Jimmy. First, LL showed up 15 minutes late, he lives 3 blocks from the studio and rides a heavy duty Segway from his house to the soup-house, sheesh! And yeah he kept asking why and how was it that MJ and PT were there at CBS studios in NY, he just could not accept it, the jealousy was palpable! I hope PT and MJ are getting some kind of sweet offer to get a show going at CBS/CNET and dump this dude for good!

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        2. Yup, saw that too. So obvious. “Uh , why is CBS being so nice to us, uh , me uh…” “We thank them for their uh, support…?”

          Then it develops that it’s Paul’s connection to AZ that got him in the studio.

          The only thing the corpulent bastard LaPorke has of value is a decent set of pipes. (I don’t mean the one cunt4sale enjoys). Beyond that he is a big transparent zero.

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    1. Don’t think slog was Laporke because while the content def revealed an insider, the poster was too concise and used 3rd person pronouns which rules out Me Me Meo Laporke.

      T’was far too coherent to be the ceHO of obfuscation, and didn’t hawk merch.

      That leaves the one man in left the shallow end of the TWiT mgmt pool, Herr Rubenstein.

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      1. I saw the SLOG comments too, definitely an insider but not Leo or Lisa.

        And as someone who works with renting commercial real estate, Twit got taken so very very hard…honestly how much more could it have been to buy the thing outright? I’ve never seen the building building but how big/expensive could it be?

        TD, you’ve been putting out great content lately and have been a bit more civil about it. Not as civil as I’d like, but more civil. Keep doing the internet’s work

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      1. Don’t lose sleep over it – he didn’t seem any more knowledgeable than someone with access to Wikipedia for fuck’s sake. Typical of someone still in Leo’s employ, granted.

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  45. Watching TWiG discuss the new Google AMP HTML speedup initiative. Fat Fuck LaLudddite poo poos the whole thing because he “would have to hire an engineer” to upgrade his site to support 3 new HTML tags, saying “I would never do that to my site.”

    He’s got his feet stuck in the mud – not willing to spend a dime to improve the experience of TWiT on the web.

    What a piece of shit.

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