Yesterday I wrote about our Internet Week panel at NYU.  

It's going really well. We have two panelists signed up, and a bunch more invites out. I expect this to be a sell-out, blockbuster, fun, interesting and controversial. There may even be some news made here. 

Every good panel needs a contrarian, someone who isn't a believer, who hasn't drunk the Kool Aid, one who will call us on our religion. We hope with respect and humor.  

I couldn't think of anyone better than Gawker Media founder Nick Denton. 

I've known Nick since the beginning of the blogging boom in the Bay Area, the mid-90s. Back then he was a tech entrepreneur, starting the aggregator Moreover. We both embraced syndication technology, Nick from the content side, me from the tech and community side.  

I haven't always liked what he's done -- I'm thinking of the much-despised Valleywag, which viewed Silicon Valley as if it were Hollywood. It wasn't a good fit, yeah people sleep with each other, but they're actually married to their jobs. If you're looking for scandal, it's there, but it's not the personal who's-sleeping-with-who kind. At least not in the normal sense of "sleeping with." "> 

But Valleywag is now good -- with Ryan Tate doing the editorial, and digging into the meaningful disasters of Silicon Valley.  

Nick is very thoughtful, direct and much in the news. His latest controversy swirls around the role of sources and reporters in the new world of online news. Couldn't be more on-topic, in a contrary way, to "Sources Go Direct." 

I couldn't think of anyone better to be our contrarian than Nick Denton, and he accepted, so here goes! 

The panel will be at 2PM on Wednesday June 9, one week from today. At 20 Cooper Sq. It will be open, but seating will be limited. We'll have an invite page up very soon.