What does it take to get a reporter to stop writing?

Being grabbed by the masses grovelling for you to put their names in print? False accusations from jealous fellow journalists? A death threat? Well, maybe. Michael Arrington, co-founder and editor of the blog Tech Crunch had second thoughts about his profession when the police told him about a threat from an ex-felon who owned a gun. But the final straw, believe it or not, came outside a digital conference in Munich, Germany, when an unknown attendee spat in his face.  
 
 Arrington has been a very visible and involved blogger who says of his company "We are aggressive proponents of the startup community, and do what we can to give exposure to new ventures that previously had little chance at public exposure. I generally enjoy attending and speaking at events, talking to entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, and debating whatever the topic of the day is with others." 

Tech Crunch has postings written about infamous and never-before-heard-of companies from Acquia to Zynga. They have even covered 13 companies, including Qualcomm, that start with the letter “Q”. Check it out if you need Scrabble ideas.  

Over its three and one half year history, Tech Crunch has added various tabs to its site which access different categories of information. For example, Crunchbase is a database anyone can edit about technology companies, people, and investors, somewhat akin to Wikipedia – use at your own risk. Crunchboard lets companies, for a fee, post jobs of interest to technology folks. Jobs are listed from Redwood City in California to Toronto in Canada.  

Nothing was said in Arrington’s "so long for a while" statement about Erick Schonfeld, Tech Crunch’s award-winning co-editor and specialist covering startups and technology companies. It is assumed he will continue in place, although rumour has it he has hired a "food tester", just in case someone takes exception to his future scribblings.  

Arrington hopes that a month on a beach away from his Iphone and laptop will give him time to sort out what to do next. With Arrington’s credentials, he could go anywhere. A celebrity in his own right, this Stanford Law School graduate worked as a corporate attorney and founded, operated, and sold several start up companies in the US and Canada. Time Magazine named Michael Arrington as one of the world’s 100 most influential men in May 2008. His biggest problem will be deciding what future he wants to pursue.
 
In the final analysis, why is Arrington quitting? In his own words: "I can’t say my job is much fun any more." X