Sex, Bugs, and Evernote

Essays Front Page

For years I’ve compulsively collected the ridiculous thoughts that flutter through my head.

Many of these reside in Evernote, the Silicon Valley firm that raised over $200 million to become your “second brain”. Alas it took this inspiration too literally.

This story begins in late 2013, when Evernote “forgot” one of my notes and the ensuing support process proved infuriating. I channeled my angst into a blog post, as one does, and published it on a quiet Friday afternoon:

Evernote, the Bug-Ridden Elephant

To say this post pains me would be an understatement. More than any other technology…

It blew up. A hundred thousand people read that post over a weekend. The company’s CEO wrote a public apology. BBC News covered it, and included this passage about yours truly.

He said it was only his “paranoia” that prevented him from sending over some “deeply embarrassing musings” about sex that he had written earlier.

It’s been downhill for me ever since.