That may have been true in the past when there was no restriction on downvotes, but now there is a -8 karma limit per statement. I believe it was done so that someone would not get overly penalized for a statement but they would still get the message that the statement was not within the guidelines of the community.

I dislike self-promotional bloggers too. But I believe Derek Sivers is pretty sincere and is actually doing stuff for love rather than money (if you know anything about his history, you should realize this even more). If you don't get anything out of his posts, obviously don't waste your time but I've noticed after reading his posts I always feel just a little bit more inspired to transcend myself. Doing a startup is as much about being able to stay inspired as it is about understanding the nuts and bolts of technology. Staying motivated and optimistic is key and any little bit of help we can get from each other's experiences will not go to waste as long as it's coming from the right place.

How is Derek Sivers' personal blog a "agenda-having promotional blog"? What do you see him promoting on that post? He sold CDBaby for a gazillion million dollars so he doesn't really need to push stuff in your face like Tim Ferriss - you can't put them in the same ball park.