I just spent some time looking into the new window problem. It turns out to be an iPhone/Safari bug. I think I figured out a work-around, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow to release it (because I should be asleep, not pushing lightly tested code). - Paul Buchheit
Are there plans for a fuller UI on mobiles? I miss not being able to like or comment from my phone (Windows Mobile) - Colin Walker
what is iphone URL of FriendFeed? I'd like to try it on my S60v3 Nokia phone ;) - silpol
Hmmmm. I use the friendfeed app on facebook and it publishes "via ff" on everything in my mini-feed. Does it publish that in my friends' new feeds? I may be totally annoying people and not even know it. Crap. Update to my comment: thanks for clarifying, Bret. Now I feel better. - Ginger Makela
The "via" in the Facebook actually applies to the service from which the item came, like Google Reader or del.icio.us, and it links to your profile on that service. We put it there because the FB API does not allow a custom icon or link, so it would be confusing to, e.g., post a Twitter message there without mentioning that it came from Twitter. "via FriendFeed" only appears if you posted a link directly on FriendFeed. - Bret Taylor
I don't see why people make a deal about it, you have seen the same thing in twitter forever. - BCK
via twhirl
@BCK: But Twitter presents it differently - it's out at the end of the line and has a smaller font size than normal text. - Cyvros/fyc
I think of it as poor quality advertising, of the same sort as the Acura sponsorship that NPR podcasts carried for a long time. Of course, I'm not interested in AlertThing or Acura, so seeing the advertisement over and over is sooooooooooooooo not exciting. otoh, I do like Paul's via <user agent string>, because I care immensely about the browser version details of the people I'm talking to. - j1m
Hulk for President: Hulk Smash Taxes! - Chris Reed
After what's been happening in American politics over the last decade, I might be open to a "Hulk/Thing '08" ticket. There one thing that worries me: Many believe our current administration does not benefit from staff that is willing to question the President's decisions. I suspect any staff would also have a tough time questioning the Hulk's decisions. Unless they were super heroes too. - Cyrus Lendvay
I'm not sure how well The Hulk would do in the debates. Would he start out as David Banner? Would his presence deter his opponent from cutting at him during the debate? (Don't make him angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry.) Also, interesting to think which super-heroes would be best candidates for the various cabinet positions... - Kevin Fox
Stephanopolis Make Hulk Angry! Ask About Issues, Not Things Hulk Smash in Past. GARRR! - Kevin Fox
Stephanopolis: Thank you Mr. Hulk. If I can follow up, we understand you once attended an event at the home of the former leader of the Weather Underground, and you don't wear flag pins, and you think humans are puny... Care to respond? - Chris Reed
Obama: Stephanopolis, if I can just follow up your follow-up. You were in the Clinton White House, correct? How do you maintain such a high level of objectively during this primary season given your clear bias towards Mrs. Clinton? - Chris White
Hulk: Question for Hulk, not puny Obama.... Hulk smash! Though for record, Hulk like Obama more than Clinton. - Chris Reed
I'm not sure why Hulk would even be in that particular debate, though come September I could see his being on stage next to Obama and McCain as the Green Party candidate. - Kevin Fox
This is without a doubt one of my all-time favorite threads on FF. The Green Party candidate - that's comedy gold, my friends. Comedy gold. - Carla Thompson
I tried to order Comcast internet last night. After 'completing' my order a chat window popped up unexpectedly. This is the transcript of my conversation. - Kevin Fox
Oh that is *awesome*! I have two questions: 1. Were your prepared to send over photos of Danza and 2. Did this chat session resolve your problem? - Jason Shellen
I'll try to work "Do you like pictures of Tony Danza?" in all conversations with CSRs from now on. - Tudor Bosman
I think you should have requested pictures of Tony Danza FROM him. He's probably trained to provide spectacular customer service! You should have at least requested his favorite Tony Danza links. (Though looking at the transcript, it almost looks automated) - Cyrus Lendvay
Were you able to buy modem for your internet successfully? - ⓞnor
I like the part were you told him that "That is comcastic." - Stephen Mack
I'm now going to call them up and demand that self install kit #277433364 be sent to Siberia. - Stephen Mack
What a strange and surreal experience for you. Personally, I'd have screamed "Argh! Hacker!" and thrown my boxen out of the window. - Slippy Lane
I love the fact that he WANTED pictures of Tony Danza. He obviously doesn't bought modem for his internets yet... - Slippy Lane
"I'm sorry. I have to go now" - hahaha... :) - minus3
This brought back memories of AOLiza. - Ragani Harris
I hope this bit (snipped from the link) was a joke ... "I’m totally addicted to Google Shared Stuff, which is way better than Friendfeed." - Slippy Lane
edited: oh, i am not geeky enough... had to Google what an asciiroll is. [When I go to Blogoscoped today, it looks broken (there is an open "< a" tag and only part of the page is loaded). I have a feeling that I'm not understanding the joke because I don't see it :( What am I supposed to be seeing?] - Jennie Lin
i wonder how much the participants had to practice in order to keep from making too many mistakes or extra movements? amazing, creative, and very cool! i approve this message. - Mike Massey
That is the best explanation I have ever read about fragmented discussions. I used to agree with the "others", if I liked it once why not like it on every other story? Friendfeed's separate communities are great...sometimes they overlap, sometimes they don't; but distributing likes/comments across every community just wouldn't work. - Benjamin Golub
but, paul, you're not actually my friend, but here i am commenting on your feed. what do your actual friends, or you for that matter, care what i think? also, your post's intro called to mind something i saw in the theater on saturday right after "funny games" ended: http://missionmission.wordpres... - Allan Hough
I can see that there's a lot of hoopla going on about FF's strengths or weaknesses and how it's going to succeed or fail. I agree that it's not out to replace anything, it's just another option for socializing online. Frankly, I like options. The more the better, I say. - April Buchheit
I actually like the fragmented discussions for the reasons that you pointed out. But there are times where I'd like to see a wider view of the conversation. Have you guys given any thought to taking all of the separate conversations that are going on about a specific object and providing a view of all of the "swarms" on one page? It would also be cool to see a list of the most talked about objects listed somewhere - i.e. a "What's Hot" version of the "Everyone" feed. - Mike Doeff
Excellent article! Well said on many fronts. - Bwana McCall
Good points made. (Added to all that, sometimes the blog or article or what-not doesn't allow comments, or requires registration before commenting, making the FF option superior.) One thing though; the problem of fragmented discussions *within* Friendfeed is partly a different beast, and larger than "there are separate communities at Friendfeed so of course they should have separate discussions." The problem within Friendfeed is that even in your personal subscription prism, you often don't know where to comment due to fragmentation... as the same item pops up in related or similar friend groups. - Philipp Lenssen
PS: In regards to the more options the better, it would still be neat to more easily allow people to re-integrate discussions happening on Friendfeed into their own blogs. For instance, using a Creative Commons license here might clear up things. Perhaps even "content gadgets" somewhat similar to what Anil recently suggested. http://www.dashes.com/anil/200... - Philipp Lenssen
A future visitor to your article is never going to know if this, or other fragmented discussions took place, which as a blogger I think is a shame. Blogging for many is about the discussions it creates, I think it is the same for Twitter users, thus anything that might take something away from that conversation potentially has problems. I get links from forum discussions on a daily basis - I see the traffic in my stats, and often get a pingback or trackback - Andy Beard
pt.2 Taking your example, if the star of the movie was at the screening and was going to hang around afterwards and answer all questions, one on one with the audience and address their views, or maybe the author of the book it was based upon, wouldn't that then have an effect on where you decide to discuss the movie? - Andy Beard
Andy, I agree that there's also value in linkage, and something like a pingback might provide a good balance between between fragmentation and coordination. As for your movie star example, absolutely, and that's a great example of where a larger, public discussion can be quite interesting. My point is not that one type of discussion is better than the other, but that both types are valuable. - Paul Buchheit
Andy you got some valid points. But in a way, in this case Paul Buchheit's post itself was a comment on discussions that happened elsewhere -- many blog posts are. Do we find something truly original that is not in a way output based on other input? And then if we look at these fragmented discussions from a broader view then the end result is still global thought progress; every piece and bit whereever it may be written leads to better understanding of the situation, which influences future discussions in yet other, disconnected places. It's enough if just some of these fragmented discussion nodes are connected through some degrees, with -- ideally -- good arguments more easily spreading & mutating in this global idea pool. And this progress, to get back to your use-case, is also visible to future users researching a topic. But... again, that is just the ideal. - Philipp Lenssen
One of the nice things about FF-within-FF is that the discussion groups aren't tightly sealed from each other; conversations can "leak" fluidly across communities of people. It would be interesting to think about how to syndicate that, but it seems like we're still experimenting with the social substrate: witness all the discussions about FOAF and resolving "duplicates" and so on. There's a sense that people want more control, but nobody is sure what the knobs should be. - ⓞnor
Is this feature available? I'd definitely be interested in checking it out... I tend to watch movies at home with no people in site (just the way god intended it) but then I can't discuss it with anyone... so this would be very useful to me ;) - Noam
very well said. (Though as Philipp says, in the case of ff there isn't even a movie, most blog posts are somebody discussing something else that someone did/said elsewhere.) - j1m
saw (and suggested to you) this a while ago. why didn't you favorite when *I* told you about it? 8^P Seriously, tho, it's pretty hilarious. Also, there's a second one. - Chieze Okoye
huh? i found this through daniel wu's blog this morning. i screen all your emails, chieze : ) - Jess Lee
by "told you" I mean I used my mouth to speak the words "you should watch everyday normal guy." I know I know, who uses their mouth to tell people about stuff anymore, hehe.. 8^) - Chieze Okoye
congrats guys. you've built an excellent product, one i became addicted to very quickly. it will be interesting to see how it now evolves with a larger audience. - Carla Thompson
