Bruce Judson, the Internet pioneer, is taking a turn at pretending to be a Web 2.0 expert, blogging on Henry Blodget's Silicon Alley Insider. Yes, the very same Bruce Judson, Time Warner Internet vet turned hawker of free crap we wrote about a week ago, who's pawning his reputation as a marketer and business leader from the first Web boom to pitch his new venture, Free for Today. Why, oh, why, is Blodget handing Judson a megaphone? The fallen star's ruminations on Web 2.0 are obvious and boring, and a thinly veiled pitch for his free-crap website. Ah, yes, this is the real Web 2.0: Garnering attention through self-promotion, no matter how spurious your ideas or transparent your motives. Maybe Judson gets it after all.

Bruce Judson has a long-held reputation as a successful Internet marketer and business leader. So why is his new venture, Free for Today, so lousy? Judson cofounded Time Inc.'s storied Pathfinder website back in 1994. At the time, it was a groundbreaking media portal, unlike anything else on the Web. He's written popular business books about the Internet. He's founded several Internet businesses. He's been profiled in the Wall Street Journal and Advertising Age. Judson even holds a senior faculty fellow position at the Yale School of Management. But Free for Today has all the marketing finesse and business savvy of a low-brow, late-night infomercial.