Well, bad things do happen to good people. The assiduously cultivated store of animus that once flowed forth with free books appears to have dried up. I have not received a menacing book in weeks. I suspect the madness has passed from the 'retail' click-happy region near the Precentral Gyrus of the subject. Perhaps it has migrated to the Wernicke's Area? Only the collocutor will know.

Stay tuned, but don't hold your breath.
posted by Amol Sarva at 5:33 PM

One last note on all this, regarding Reuben Steiger. I spoke to this fellow today, and I must say: Oven is not in the running for 'the account'.
posted by Amol Sarva at 7:59 PM

Interested to pursue Oven a bit more, I found the following notes of interest:

* Red Herring Note of 1/17/01

TOP STORY: OVEN DIGITAL SHUTS DOOR ON 53

Admitting to the capitalist sin of over-expansion, Oven Digital,
a New York B2B Web designer, closed its London office,
sending 53 employees to the unemployment lines. Its sales
office in Paris was also shuttered. "From a business
perspective, it made no sense to keep the London office
open," said Reuben Steiger, Oven's chief strategy officer. "Like
everybody else, we grew way too fast, and, if you haven't
noticed, there's a storm going on."

Oven (http://www.oven.com) has been weathering that storm
better than many of its Web design competitors, and for good
reason. It hasn't fed at the troughs of VCs, despite pressure
to do so. It's been self-funded since its inception in 1996.
Oven even eked out a small profit last year on $23 million in
revenues.

Still, Oven found it hard going in Europe. It had little luck
penetrating the UK market, and the playing field in France was
stacked squarely against it. "Doing business with the French
was even worse than doing business with the Japanese," Mr.
Steiger said. He cited huge capital investments as another
reason for Oven's European misadventures.

The painful cutbacks at Oven have taught the straight-talking
Mr. Steiger some valuable lessons. "The inclination is to look
back at these things and say that everyone was acting like
idiots. The truth is, this is the Internet economy, and
everybody was doing stuff on the fly. You shouldn't bite off
more than you can chew."

Still, Mr. Steiger adds, Oven continues to enjoy success in
North America, having designed Web sites for a number of
well-known operations including Tiffany & Co. and New York's
Museum of Modern Art. Yet many of its clients are IT startups,
and with the failures in that arena mounting, Oven may find it
tough sailing.

FUNDING DETAILS -- Location: New York City; Status: 53
people laid off, 170 remain; Total VC: None; No. of Rounds:
N/A; Backers at Risk: None, self-funded.

* Red Herring from 2/5/01

TOP STORY: UNNAMED INVESTOR RESCUES OVEN DIGITAL

Oven Digital nearly had its pilot light snuffed out Wednesday
after being stiffed by a major customer. Luckily an investor
stepped in at the 11th hour to keep the flame burning,
according to a company insider. The incident has prompted the
company to rethink its business model.

On Wednesday, all 160 Oven employees were told to hand in
their keys, only to be told Thursday to return to work. Oven
(http://www.oven.com) was founded six years ago and has
been self-funded since its inception.

The insider declined to name the customer, which refused to
pay an amount equal to 20 percent of Oven's value. Part of
Oven's woes stem from the fact that many of its clients are
startups that have folded. But not all. Oven has designed a
number of sites for high-profile clients like Tiffany, New York's
Museum of Modern Art, and hip-hop standout HOOKT.

Oven's strategy shift means it will attempt to break into the
broadband arena while moving away from Web site
development, according to the insider.

The company posted $23 million in revenues last year, but it
wasn't enough to stave off layoffs. Reuben Steiger, Oven's
strategy chief, blames his company's woes on overexpansion.
Last month, Oven shuttered its European operations, sending
about 55 employees packing. And once the company
restructures, more layoffs will likely occur, the insider said.

FUNDING DETAILS -- Location: New York; Status: Undetermined
number of staff may be axed soon, currently employs 160;
Burned VC: None, self-funded; No. of rounds: N/A; Backers at
risk: N/A
--Richard Byrne Reilly

* Finally, F---ed Company's scuttlebut on Oven is not insubstantial!
posted by Amol Sarva at 7:58 PM

The authorities will be interested to note that there is fresh information. Firstly, there has been a new contact. I received an email today providing a link to a page at http://www.bluejake.com. The page was a 'blog' similar to this one with a some meaningless comments and then one specific one about me: "Amol Sarva is so and so."

Secondly, there are more interesting facts that can be drawn as an inference from the first. Namely, since this page was set up only a day or two ago, the quick 'reaction' is informative. In particular, Jake checks the pages at drownout.com with relative frequency. Either that or he has set up Intellisync or some similar service to monitor for changes on the page (a situation I judge to be unlikely).

Not being a 'mental health professional' myself, I find it difficult to draw conclusions from this level of express obsession in events long past. Knowing what relevant facts I do about Jake's turbulent recent history, I think it should be worrisome. At the minimum, it would seem such information would be interesting to Jake's own psychiatrist or therapist. Perhaps his employer would be similarly concerned--whatever that employer is. If indeed he is put in charge of instructing some sort of night school sessions on graphic design, perhaps these people are in some sort of danger? Though it is already clear that teaching jobs at barely-accredited 'certificate programs' are about as respectable as English Schools for illegal immigrants.
posted by Amol Sarva at 7:24 PM

Quick note: the source of the quote is the Amazon profile.
posted by Amol Sarva at 6:04 PM

A point of some misfortune follows from Google's remarkable ability to index the web, and the existence of particularly vituperative comments published therein. I mention this because the following two links are among the top few results on a search on Jake Dobkin's name. What's a girl to do? A mystery!

Jake Dobkin, the no-talent graffiti blow-hard

Jake Dobkin, 'graffiti idiot'

posted by Amol Sarva at 4:27 PM

This past week I figured that some misery must have passed Dobkin's way of late. I deduce this from the following facts:

1. I received an Amazon wishlist 'notification' about a jdobkin@oven.com.

2. I noticed some news on www.fuckedcompany.com about the misfortunes of Oven Digital, a web consulting company located at www.oven.com

3. Jake's most recent occupation was web designer for Barnard College.

4. He had expressed some dissatisfaction with that job in the past.

-----

Therefore, I presume he left Barnard, joined Oven, setup a wishlist with that email address on Amazon, and got himself axed (hopefully) by the fishtailing Oven Digital.

It is of further note that I have run into Oven in the past, when I once worked in the employ of Owen Davis of DotcomDev.com, now TheThinkingMedia.com or Sonata.com (the latter I think).
posted by Amol Sarva at 4:17 PM