Phil Boiarski - Comments + Likes

Duncan Riley - The Inquisitr

OMFG! Joe the Plumber heading to Gaza as a war correspondent

17 hours ago - inquisitr.com - Link

Kol Tregaskes, Brad Butner, cjmart and 27 other people liked this

Had I been drinking anything I would have just now ruined my computer. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

39 more comments

Massive fail - Mo Kargas

OHELLNO! - Helen Sventitsky

Talk about capitalizing on your 5 minutes. he's the energizer bunny that just won't quit. - Jason Shultz via twhirl

We can only hope he does the same for pjtv.com that he did for the McCain/Palin ticket. - Dan Glass

Between this and the porn industry asking for a bailout, I had one hell of a derisive snort-filled afternoon. - Ayşe E.

why does he look like a cleaned up dance viking? - alphaxion

I can't wait for his first report: "What Are All These Jews and Arabs Doing in the Holy Land?" - Steven Perez

Joe the FAIL. - Clay Newton

Unbelievable. This is too serious a subject to play with. Please somebody arrest him before is too late. - Carlos Lorenzo

He has a jaw that could bend steel. - Jason Shultz via twhirl

WTH? This cannot be true. WHY?!? Like there aren't more qualified people out there?!? really?!?! Puke. Again the system FAILS! - Anna Lynn M.

He looks like that guy from Ghost Hunters, only slightly slimmer. - Brian Norwood

@Brian maybe it's the plumber "look" :) - Steven Hodson

if he didn't even have the proper credentials to be an unfamous plumber, why would he seek them out for any other "career" choice? - JoEllen

I think it's a stroke of genius! For the intended audience this is perfect. He's taking a pretty risky move here which could catapult him to bigger and bigger things. Dude has balls. I'm totally not interested in his reports, but I wish him well. - Tad Goes to 11

Look at that picture - there are about 20 members of the so called press following this douchebag. How many are covering the actual war? - this is why nobody is buying your newspapers. - Mark Bean

W.T.F. - Mohomed=genieyclo

didn't R.E.M. write a song about this? - Sarah Crisman

@Anna The system didn't fail in this regards. He's free to do whatever he wants to do. If he wishes to go to a foreign country and dodge Israeli bombs or Hamas fighters then he has that choice. I don't see how you can fault the system for this? - Jason Shultz via twhirl

Just another Ohio boy, high in the middle and round on the ends. - Phil Boiarski

The shark has jumped The Fonz - Micah Wittman

Woah Woah Woah. Is this a joke? WTF?! - Ethan Baker

If Panetta can run the CIA and Franken is a senator then I guess Joe being a reporter isnt' that much of a stretch for me. - tsudohnimh

As opposed to the Like feature on ff, there should be an Oppose, so that we may show either support or distaste. - Phoenix

at first this didn't make any sense, so I read the article - he was hired by PajamasMedia, which is not exactly known for its journalistic integrity - they employ Michelle Malkin - William Harryman

Gee's people this guy isn't this bad. I think he is cool. - Colide81 (James)

here's him talking about it - http://tiny.pl/63d1 - William Harryman

James, I think the frustration is that he's not qualified as a journalist, just as I'm not. I mean, people got annoyed when Geraldo became a war correspondent, and he'd at least had experience as a 'reporting TV personality'. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

I thought this was an Onion article before clicking on the link. - Type Micah

@Tina Well Obama didn't seem qualified to me, to be President, but I am not sitting here complaining about it. I am just going to wait for Obama to start to screw up and then I will laugh. If Joe is as bad as you think he is then just wait for him to screw up. Anyhow you haven't seen him do anything having to do with journalism we have no idea how good or bad he will be. Give him time. - Colide81 (James)

And oh to those that think Joe the Plumber helped McCain lose, no he didn't. It was because of McCain, and no one else. - Colide81 (James)

McCain was responsible for his own loss, but he got a lot of help from Palin and Joe the Plumber. Chosing them was his choice, too. - Rod Bauer via twhirl

Valid argument, James, but to me moving from one role to another within an industry (i.e. politics) is very different from moving from one industry to an entirely different industry. Your second point is still valid, all we can do is watch to see what happens. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)

wow...what the f**k? - Enrique Gutierrez

lame - Kyle Weller

Take a easy. We all know that it is a show. He just needs more 15 minutes of fame. - attesafan

I don't really mind that he is a professional journalist. You don't need J-school to have a voice. How many of us bloggers have been to J-school? How many of us would like to oppotunity to be paid full time for reporting and blogging? Good for Joe. - tsudohnimh

"Here's the reason why Gaza is is trouble... A wad of tissue was clogging everything" - Outsanity

What? Well, I dont' know much about Joe the plumber, other than, well...his name is Joe, and he is a plumber. But when did he turn journalist? - Adriana

Who? ... Oh now I think I remember his three seconds of fame. Oops. Did I say that outloud? :P - Mona N.

lol outsanity...a comment that was actually funnier than the story! - cjmart

April Russo

“What can you do with $1?”

16 hours ago - Link

Roney Smith, Fraser, J. Abdul-Qahhar and 11 other people liked this

I am looking for the common answers that examplify what and how much $1 will buy, for the average person. I may use your answer on my website to contrast against what $1 means to me, to encourage more people to support the idea of donationware by opening their wallet and giving at least $1 when they download an application. - April Russo

21 more comments

roll it up and use it to snort stuff - Morgan Haley

buy a million dollar bill with it. - Mohomed=genieyclo

Enter it into Where's George? http://www.wheresgeorge.com/ - Rochelle

Call someone up and talk for 20 minutes! - Alex Scoble

Give it as allowance. - Clay Newton

Change it for quarters at the bowling alley so you can play 4 pinball games! - Clay Newton

Use it as a tissue while I cry over my financial situation. Then dry it out and get a taco. - Anika Malone

I heard you can get 4 quarters or up to 100 pennies for a $1 bill. Could be a rumor though. - James Ferguson

I can roll a perfect joint with one - Monique

Can you still get 2 Jack in Box tacos for $1? - Lindsey in Love

I'd buy a scratch off lottery ticket :) - Lindsey in Love

Buys four canned drinks in front of my local grocery store. - Trish R

go to the washroom - Steven Hodson

It costs you $1 to pee, Steven? - Rochelle

It also buys a grilled cheese at Sonic. - Trish R

@Rochelle I was thinking of a use for the paper :) - Steven Hodson

It costs fifty dollars to make me holler, I get PAID to do the wild thang... - Derrick

LOL @Derrick. - Anika Malone

I can buy three cheap guitar picks... - J. Abdul-Qahhar

I know all you guys have a sense of humor, and normally I love that, but I am being quite serious here. To you and the average software user it's just $1, and I want to know what you really do with it. To me that $1 is enough to bring my family above the poverty level and help me sleep at night without worrying about if I'll be able to pay the rent, so I really need a good list for contrast. - April Russo

I bought a mini bottle of hand sanitizer for $1. - Rochelle

Go to Wendy's. - Phil Boiarski

4 or 5 ramen meals - The Amber

Mona N. - Twitter

“Should you be held accountable for what you publish online? - Cnet "Yelp user faces lawsuit over negative review" http://tinyurl.com/7uwtom”

23 hours ago - Link

Gordon Swaby, Parth Awasthi, tony and 42 other people liked this

A review? No. It's your personal opinion. Are we censoring that as well? - Shevonne

44 more comments

Censorship and accountability are two different things, no? - Mona N. via IM

Here I think it's combined. The only way that chiropractor can win is if he can show that the events the guy said happened, didn't. - Shevonne

There's a big difference between saying "The food was too spicy for my palate" and "This guy is a liar and a cheat". If you say the latter, it better be true and you better have solid evidence to back it up. - Logical Extremes

Exactly, logicalextremes. This is a good wake up call. Everyone's entitled to their opinions, but more people must think before they speak - especially with the ease of data distribution. - Mona N. via IM

It seems like the chiropractor filing court papers is what lowered his referrals. Therefore, it shows that he is the cause for himself losing business; not the patient. "Biegel, who was a "sponsored" advertiser on Yelp and encouraged customers to write reviews on the site, received about as many referrals per month from Yelp while the review was up as before, but fewer after the lawsuit was filed, Blacksburg said, citing Yelp documents." - Shevonne

Libel is libel... what is the debate? - Brian Roy

This case seems to be somewhere in the hazy gray area in between. Unfortunately, in practice our legal system often favors the party with more access to money. - Logical Extremes

"seems" which is not a fact. - Mona N. via IM

Reading this guy's other negative review, his comments can go both ways. I wish I could have read the original review. Maybe if I email him? Hmmmm.... Here is his Yelp profile, if anyone cares: http://www.yelp.com/user_detai... - Shevonne

Of course you should. Libel laws should apply online just as they do to print. - Dave Purrington

Interesting, though there is not yet solid case precedent... "Accusing a business owner of unethical conduct would constitute defamation unless it is true, said Aaron Morris, an Internet defamation attorney in Santa Ana, Calif. However, if the defendant can successfully prove that posting the statement was a matter of public good then the plaintiff would have to show malice and that the defendant knew the statement was false or had reason to believe it was false, he added." - Logical Extremes

From the grad class I took, this is very hard to prove. This is one of the reasons celebrities don't even bother sometimes. There was another case where a business owner was sued by a company for her negative review. I think they settled out of court. - Shevonne

What if you spread the review by sharing it into FriendFeed or Twitter? Should you be held accountable for that? - Mona N.

You should be held accountable for things you say whether online or not. Interesting here is that the dynamic of power has changed. With traditional MSM the outlet is generally in possession of money and legal resources and can legally defend itself. With individual publishing capability almost universal (via blogs and micro blogs) the publisher no longer is capable of strong defense. - Brian Sullivan

Someone up there said it, defamation is defamation and the same legal standards apply regardless of venue of the communication. Only functional difference is the publishing requirement, which would likely be deemed satisfied as a matter of law when you post on the internet. Same whether on Yelp, Friendfeed, Twitter, Facebook, Seesmic, anywhere. - Martha

So what about people that spread / share the information? - Mona N.

You *are* accountable for what you say, whether online or not. The same legal standards apply: if it's knowingly false and with ill intent, it's defamation. That includes people that spread or share the information: if they *know* it's false and the intent is to harm, then they can be sued. - Glen Campbell

Of course you should. You can seriously hurt someone's business by what you write online, therefore you should give it due consideration before you write it. The real debate might be more about how fair libel laws are really. Obviously if people feel worried about what they write in reviews, then it might reduce willingless to post reivews. Then again, if people have to consider the implications of their review more carefully before they broadcast it to the world, that might improve the quality of reviews in the long run. In some ways its good that this is coming to court, as that is one way that we can settle some of the gray areas around this kind of content. - Sam via twhirl

@Sam - In this particular case, the chiropractor admits that what hurt his business was HIM filing the lawsuit; not the review. - Shevonne

this chiro is digging himself a big hole and knows it. However, you CAN edit your own Yelp reviews so perhaps there is evidence of libel somewhere (as mentioned above by Mona, "seems" would likely rule out libel/defamation). But, yeah, Yelp is a prominent feature of Facebook connect and cross-posting to one's profile, this litigous chiro will set an example of what not to do, imho. - Andy Sternberg

Sam - bingo. It's about causing people to THINK before they act. Too many people don't, imho, since I haven't heard of a case (yet) where people are actually held responsible for their actions. Censorship? That's a load of crap. - Mona N. via IM

held accountable sure, litigated for personal opinion.... HELL NO. - Joshua Schnell

This is opinion so the chiropractor has no case here. He should have just made things right with his customer and the guy would have likely altered the review. It would have saved a lot of time and a lot of money. - Seth

Simple rule: write reviews from fact and your perspective, not emotion. If you're angry or upset, wait a day or more to write the review. Explain the details as you saw them and not what you thought was happening nor what you thought the other person was doing or thinking or trying to do. Only _your_ side of the story and how _you_ experienced it. - ·[▪_▪]·

Bingo - and many do not possess the rudimentary writing skills, Robot. Hence, this case. @Seth: Disagree!! - Mona N. via IM

@·[▪_▪]·, you're right. Always wait until you are calm enough to write a sound review. =) - Shevonne

"A word flies out, a sparrow; it returns, an ox." - Polish Proverb - Phil Boiarski

If I am not mistaken, Scales V. Noto, as determined by the Supreme Court, states one cannot be held accountable for the actions of a group they participate in. Not sure if this can be applied to a website where you publish your own reviews, but who knows? - Brandon J. Mendelson

That is a very interesting law, Brandon - Mona N. via IM

Ridiculous. I can freely give my opinion on whatever I like. If you wanna waste money and sue me for it, so be it. - Andru Edwards

Mona, you know I'm going to say no, you should be able to express your opinion freely. - Kol Tregaskes

Censorship != accountability. - Mona N. via IM

I think this starts to tread close to unbearably sticky ground, namely because I doubt anyone has tapes of the conversations, so it gets down very quickly to "he said, she said." I also wish I knew where the burden of proof was for libel. I feel like it might be too easy for people to go on suing sprees if they got their way too easily. Either way though, I think this is a little... ambitious on the chiropractor's part. At least he's suing the actual reviewer instead of Yelp... - David Wynn via fftogo

Mona and others - check this overview of SLAPP and Cal's new Anti-SLAPP legislation here http://www.thefirstamendment.o... Not an easy area at all to tread. While I am all for speaking freely, I am always careful about controversy, particularly on the internet. Having a real legal claim and being able to file suit and cause someone huge headache are two very different animals. Go Anti-SLAPP! - Martha

@koltregaskes exactly. But that's the point. There's a fine line between opinion and fact. It depends on how it's worded. "You're a cheat!" or "I felt that you cheated me!" - ·[▪_▪]·

Sure you should be held accountable; service providers should be held accountable for their practices. If this "doctor" doesn't want a bad review--he needs to treat his/her customers right. Can you imagine shitty restaurants or playwrites suing for negative reviewers? Give me a break. - Rob Michael

It goes both ways. The customer is not always right, you know. I've seen people cuss out retail workers over a bagel. A BAGEL., then had the audacity to write about it on Yelp saying the workers provoked him to behave that way. Are you kidding me? Give ME a break! - Mona N. via IM

And Rob, if you read the article, it was over a billing issue: "This is clearly Christopher Norberg's version of conversations with the doctor relating to a billing dispute and his opinion of how the doctor was behaving," - Mona N. via IM

Yes. - Dan Morrill via Alert Thingy

At my business, when a potential employer calls about a prior employee of our s, we only confirm the dates they worked, a bad review and the employee might sue for defamation, a good review and the new employer might sue if the employee proves to be no good. - Robert Hafer

And you are totally right to do that Robert, because of so-called "self defamation" in the employment context. - Martha

I hear what everyone is saying and I think it comes down to tact, common sense, common courtesy, and critical thinking. Unfortunately, with the ease of publishing, the above are not exercised as often as they should be, hence the need for radical action to be taken to make that statement. - Mona N. via fftogo

Rob Michael, apparently you don't have to imagine restaurants suing reviewers: "The Irish News must pay £25,000 plus court costs to a west Belfast Italian restaurant owner" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_... An interesting post with other links too: http://philafoodie.blogspot.co... - Micah Wittman

+++++++ Mona, word to that! - Martha

Yes you be held accountable for (among other things) what you publish online. Generally speaking it affords each of us a measure of protection and, at least in theory helps to establish or maintain an air of civility.That being said, I think the real sticking point here is that there is a world of difference between free speech which is the phrase every one uses, and protected speech which is what most people mean when they use the phrase free speech even on the internet. - J. Abdul-Qahhar

All location specific. If you return from a trip abroad and review services provided abroad, you are governed only by the laws of your locality. However, the courts may look at the business locations of the review publisher for liability. So if CNET has an office in London, it may be sued by a UK citizen for a negative comment made in it's site, even if posted by a US citizen from the US. - Cole Jolley

Steve Rubel - Micro Persuasion

Three Reasons the Internet is Eroding Apple's Mojo

yesterday at 4:30 am - micropersuasion.com - Link

Stewart Rogers, Mona N., Cains and 2 other people liked this

Some good points, but I'm reserving judgement 'til I see what Apple rolls out next. - Phil Boiarski

Michael J. Cohen (mjc)

“Picture programming as a way to teach a machine to dance: writing then, be it in code or prose, is the dance of an intellect within the boundaries of language.”

Tuesday at 7:26 pm - Link

Phil Boiarski and mikepk liked this

@mjc You hit that sentence off of the page. - Phil Boiarski

michael arrington - TechCrunch

Apple’s Lowered Expectations Pay Off

Tuesday at 7:37 pm - techcrunch.com - Link

eric, G. Saunders and Aditya liked this

I'll say it again, Apple wanted control of its own world. - Phil Boiarski

The gloss is starting to rub off - Donovan Slennon

LOLMolly

“How dare you (talk show host) accuse John Travolta & Kelly Preston of being bad parents because they are Scientologists. Give me a fucking break. Do we have the right to judge them? NO!!!! We don't have the right to judge them. So fucking stop judging them.”

Tuesday at 12:29 pm - Link

Tyson Key, Helen Sventitsky, Steven Perez and 3 other people liked this

I'm going to agree with you to a point. But generally when a parent has a kid die under their care it opens them up to judging. Everyone judges people on some level, I think its human nature. - Lindsey in Love

13 more comments

It always seems like the barkers trying to get you to come in for Scientology at the corner of Montgomery and Columbus are very attractive. I wonder if they use their most attractive members for recruiting or if it's just coincidence. - Thomas Hawk

Do you know about Scientology? I don't know about their child but if he was diagnosed with epilepsy, there's medication that can help. Of course, Scientology doesn't allow them to use drugs. http://is.gd/eJ92 Scientology is a dangerous cult. To raise children under it is child abuse in my book. - ·[▪_▪]·

*bites tongue* - LOLMolly

@Robot The same could be said about giving medicine. Many medications don't hold a cure and some of the side effects can be just as severe as the initial symptoms. I'm not pro-scientology but just because someone dies of a seizure doesn't mean they had epilepsy. I admit to not having read too much about the circumstances surrounding his death - Lindsey in Love

@newwavefan why state "how dare you ..." then bite your tongue when someone responds with how someone can dare? @eclipse115 the point is that doctors know better how to treat conditions than a cult. The reason the cult disallows seeing doctors is because they don't want the people under their control to be influenced and learn enough to be able to break free of the cult. - ·[▪_▪]·

One cult to another. But for the most part I agree, I just don't like to make absolute statements when judging another's life choices. - Lindsey in Love

Science is hardly a cult unless you consider all of civilized human society to be a cult. - ·[▪_▪]·

+1 Lindsey - Shey

I don't think anyone said that SCIENCE was a cult... Now Scientology, that's a different story! - Herb

I'm thinking that it's a lot easier to walk away from your doctor if you disagree with him/her than it is to walk away from your religion. - Victor Ganata

Maybe i misunderstood "One cult to another." I took it to mean from Scientology to medication, implying using medication is also a cult. Medication is mostly based on scientific study (though sometimes driven by the cult of capitalism), hence my defense of science and, by association, medicine. - ·[▪_▪]·

Thanks for clarifying! Understood and agree. - Herb

If they weren't rich and famous, no one would notice, but authorities should investigate no matter whose child dies. - Phil Boiarski

I don't know why I'm feeling ultra passionate about this. I just think people should let John and Kelly grieve. Don't you think all the guilty feelings they are having for not doing all they could? They need to have some things private. Now some of the gossip shows are asking why some things aren't being put into public. Um, because it's none of your fucking business? Leave them alone for God's sakes. *sigh* - LOLMolly

@newwavefan I understand your position but, personally, i'm so thoroughly disgusted by Scientology that it's hard for me to be sympathetic for the Travoltas. To me, it's like feeling sorry for parents that beat their child to death. It's a sad and horrible situation but it's also disgusting why it even had to happen and the Travoltas are worthy of some of the blame. - ·[▪_▪]·

michael arrington - TechCrunch

The Price Of Going DRM-Free: Apple’s Hidden $1.8 Billion Music Tax

Tuesday at 2:44 pm - techcrunch.com - Link

Phil Boiarski, Tobias Verhoog, ☂Marcos Marado and 4 other people liked this

Steve Rubel - Twitter

“Interesting discussion here about Apple and the innovator's dilemma - what's your view? http://ping.fm/DXG4Q”

Tuesday at 12:38 pm - Link

Apple want's control of its own world. That seems smart to me. - Phil Boiarski

Helen Sventitsky - Twitter

“RT @QueenofSpain as a former traditional journalist, this worries me and pisses me off http://tinyurl.com/888pdz”

Tuesday at 2:05 pm - Link

Phil Boiarski liked this

Derrick

“Good morning, all.”

Tuesday at 8:01 am - Link

Darren Heydon, Brandon, Ian May and 39 other people liked this

Good morning, Derrick. - Glen Campbell

25 more comments

Dizzammnnnn Derrick. That's a hot pic - Shevonne

Morning! - Nation Hahn

Morning sweetness! - Lindsey in Love

*swoon* - Live4Soccer

*who you winkin*? - AJ Batac

In my mind, it's Blair Underwood. ;) - Derrick

Are you snorting whipped cream? - Anika Malone

Ha, Anika! I'm trying to pose, but I'm not the best model. And it's yogurt. :) - Derrick

Good morning sire! - Nicholas Kreidberg

Please don't put that in your nose. - James Ferguson

You know he will James. - Lindsey in Love

Oh yogurt. Yogurt's okay. I thought I was going to have to do an intervention. - Anika Malone

Derrick needs to wake up, stop winking and find his mouth. He looks like he's inhaling and not eating. - Phil Boiarski

I'd hit it. - Kaia is Brand New, Bitch!

what choo eating? - Morgan Haley

if there was ever a movie about you, Craig Robinson (Darryl on "The Office") would be a good choice of actor - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm073... - Nathan Chase

Oh Nathan, I love his scene in Knocked Up where he's dealing with pregnant Katherine Heigl and her sister about letting them into the club. My favorite part of the whole movie. - Derrick

He was really funny in Zack & Miri too, especially the scene involving his wife - Haggis (Sean)

Gutten afternoon buddy. - FatOracle (Kamath)

Sean, I'll have to check it out. Kamath!!! What up? :) - Derrick

so Derrick, what choo eating in this pic? - Morgan Haley

He´s a lumberjack and he´s ok, he sleeps all night and he tweets all day! ;) Top o´the mornin to ya, D. Hope you´re in a good mood today too :) - Thomas Bøhm

Yogurt, Morgan. From my favorite place over in Hollywood. I think this trip was when I met Monique for the very first time, actually. Lovely Melissa took this pic. - Derrick

Coolios. Looking good as usual Derrick! - Morgan Haley

#1 "Best of day" today D, you da man. - Nicholas Kreidberg

I thought he was putting on some rouge - Outsanity

Anika, pretty sure whippets don't work that way :-D - Karim

Robert Scoble

“I'm seeing a TON of new people on both twitter and friendfeed. Welcome and let us know if we can help!”

Monday at 10:02 am - Link

Anne Bouey, Tyson Key, Kev and 68 other people liked this

Great. - Roberto Bonini

52 more comments

http://www.kyte.tv/scobleizer#... has a video about friendfeed that I did that shows you around. You might find it helpful. - Robert Scoble

Thanks for getting me more involved in both! - mrkeroppi

You helped already with the video you posted up on Kyte.tv (http://tinyurl.com/7spgrp) - I was a member before and I had tied in all my RSS and various social network feeds, but I didn't really use Friendfeed. Just felt like a knock-off to Google Reader if I'm honest. Now, I know it's a tool not to mess around with. Extremely powerful, easily one of the best ways to get news for myself outside of Google Reader and I will be certain to explore it further once my exams are done. - Gaurav Patel

Thanks - I would have probably waited on joining FF if not for your video. The idea of cross-SM concatenation is brilliant, even if it's not quite there yet - FF is my SM portal of choice right now. - Jim Mitchem

Hello :) that's a good video, I actually started coming here more often after seeing it - Sebastian Dadał

you can help by paying attention to the massacre in gaza - people on twitter are, but there is hardly any discussion here - why is that? - ernie yacub

was just watching it; gave me some new ideas on how to use FF - Donald Townsend

ernie: I don't comment on it for several reasons. For one it's such a hot botton issue that I know that engaging on that issue will cost me 80 hours and I just don't have the 80 hours to give. Plus, no matter what side I'm on, there will be people on the other side and I still have bruises from the Obama election that are still healing. Finally, it's not something I can do much about. I'd rather focus my energy on things that I can control and have some influence in. - Robert Scoble

Twitter is a great place to give your opinion without too much risk that you'll get dragged into a long conversation. Friendfeed is a much better place to have a long conversation, which changes the dynamic of what you will find useful to discuss here. - Robert Scoble

ditto for me as well Robert. first introduced to FF by ed dale, but finally took the leap after your encouragement. am grateful most days! - Gregg

One more thing: friendfeed is an aggregator, so if you care about Gaza and Israel, I would open a room here on that topic, and start posting tons of stuff to it. If you are blogging about it, I'd make sure your blogs are being aggregated here. Those topics will find people who will engage. It's just that I'm resisting because this is CES week and I don't have the time. - Robert Scoble

If any of you new starters are interested in video games, http://friendfeed.com/rooms/el... could do with the extra life :) - alphaxion

If I accidentally hide something, how do I unhide? - Rutger Blom

Rutger: if you realize your mistake in time you can just "undo" right there. But, hidden items are at the bottom of the page in a link. Just visit there and click hide again and it will unhide. - Robert Scoble

Robert: Thanks! - Rutger Blom

@Robert I'm liking your comments here... A room for each side probably will do more... - Pico Seno

I refer you to my FF post from this morning http://friendfeed.com/e/84f580... Like literally I'm picking up 2 followers an hour, and I have no clue why. I just know I haven't suddenly became interesting, important, or influential. I'm the same screw off I've always been. - Matthew DeVries

Matthew: I'm gaining more than 100 per day here (more than 1,100 since Arrington's intervention with me) and more than 200 a day over on Twitter. These things are gaining steam. - Robert Scoble

Robert, that's interesting. More new followers in twitter than FF. Have you noticed any changes in that trend? - Tapio Kulmala

Well yeah, but you say things people care about. People lining up to follow me? In the world view? Come on.... - Matthew DeVries

AND I haven't changed at all since friday. - Matthew DeVries

Matthew: people have this believe that the one who dies with the most followers wins. It's just a game at this point to collect more followers. - Robert Scoble

Robert, do you sleep? Seriously :) - Bwana

not much last night. - Robert Scoble

I'm here because I saw your zillion posts on it. I like it! - Dave Gambrill

Robert: Really? Disappointing really - I'd rather have less than 10 interesting and informative people following me than 5,000 drooling idiots. I see enough of the later crowd on a daily and face-to-face basis to cover the "moron" category of my life. - Susanne "Renee" Bullo

poor Robert :) Get some Zzzzzzzzzzzs! - Susan Beebe

Bullo: that's what I figure it is. But Twitter is growing remarkably quickly now. People are figuring it out and with Mr. Tweet and other directories, you are probably on one of those as an influencer to check out. - Robert Scoble

Well, I may be playing wrong, but after the first 5 or so I stopped playing the "Courtesy Followback" game and started actually looking at their content and blogs and interests and made an informed decision on following back. Damn near almost followed some kind crazy PETA scientist bomber - Matthew DeVries

Great initiative, thank you Robert! What I'd like to know is how many people forward their tweets to their friendfeed account. - Zack Brandit

Zack: I'm following about 6,000 here and a good percentage do. I hope people use friendfeed to aggregate their lives together here totally. We can hide things on the reading side if it gets to be too much. - Robert Scoble

Question - if you're subscribed to someone on FF, is it relevant to also 'follow' them on Twitter? Seems a bit redundant. No? - Jim Mitchem

Matthew: I quickly stopped the "courtesy followback" - and I do the same, check their profile, look at their website, etc. If people are offended, so be it. I really don't want to spend time reading about how your last bowel movement was or how cute your cat is. - Susanne "Renee" Bullo

Susanne: That could become a horrible Mash-Up tweet as well. - Matthew DeVries

Matthew: Oh the horror! - Susanne "Renee" Bullo

robert, u don't have to comment, you can like/rt, which you do a lot with other posts as do many of your colleagues, but curiously not about gaza which is immediate and critically important, especially for the people in gaza - they need to know that not everyone in the western world believes the msm propaganda. - ernie yacub

ernie: as opposed to their propoganda, right? Got it. This is why I stay out of this fight. Who threw the first missles? It wasn't Israel. - Robert Scoble

Here is a PROs and CONs to using FriendFeed conversation: http://friendfeed.com/e/03d22b... - Chris Herbert

Careful Robert. This is a battle you don't want, I don't think. (even though i agree) - Jim Mitchem

robert, you are wrong, which is why you need to engage in the conversation, or at least read some history - gaza is a prison camp with 1.5 million people cut off from the world, food, fuel, work, money, etc by israel - most are refugees who were driven from their homes by israelis. - ernie yacub

gaza =/= hamas, who Israel is fighting. Don't want to get bombed, don't stand next to a guy wearing a hamas sticker. - Matthew DeVries

Seems we're quickly straying WAY away from the original topic - take it elsewhere ernie, sheesh - Susanne "Renee" Bullo

What she said. - Matthew DeVries

well, he asked how to help us noobs - this one wants to pay attention to what's really needed from people like you who have the resources, tools, knowledge and experience to help prevent such atrocities - you were all excited about mumbai, why not gaza? - ernie yacub

Robert: I recently joined both friendfeed and twitter and with the help of my blackberry I'm becoming horribly addicted. I will admit that you were the first person I followed and I'm glad because I agree with your opinion that it's not about followers, but quality conversation. That said, I'm curious about how rooms work. You have any pointers? - Chris Brakebill

Robert: In case of an emergency would you call 911 or tweet? ;-) - Rutger Blom

Going through your video now...very helpful! - Alison

its getting strange when my mom's 65-year old best friend starts following me on twitter. How many a social media accounts lie dead after 1-2 posts? - karyn

Parents, grandparents and friends of parents may actually become a problem for many young users of Twitter, as karyn indicates. Might see an increase in private update accounts. - Ian Holton via twhirl

I posted a Diary on DailyKos mentioning Twitter and FriendFeed and got comments like "what isTwitter" I gave them Sarah_Palins twitter username and tauted this new means of information exchange. Will be doing a follow up posting later. today.http://www.dailykos.com/story/... - Robin

Robert, thank you for subscribing. I'm honored. - Greg

Thank you for subscribing to me, I never thought you would! - Web20Critic

Robert, is TON the measure of user body mass or the weight of their tweets/FF posts? Which leads to the next logical question: how much does a 140 character tweet weigh? The Guardian said 2 years ago that the entire internet weighs at most two ounces (60 grams)! http://www.guardian.co.uk/tech... - Micah Wittman

best think about friendfeed, still up now without the fourty minute delay that twitter is suffering from. - Richard Azia

Robert Scoble - Twitter

“RT svartling Great article about Cloud Storage for Consumers http://is.gd/eGbL”

Tuesday at 6:17 am - Link

Nicholas James, Rutger Blom, Josh Mize and 2 other people liked this

Anyone else nervous about trusting the cloud not to crash at a critical moment. - Phil Boiarski

Cloud computing scares the heck out of me, but I'm embracing it, or trying to. Everything I use is with Google and Dropbox as far as data. I think at a time we could have trusted Google, but I think they are getting a little too big, and the threat of "big brother" really irks me. Guess that's why I just got a G1 phone :P - slayerboy

Louis Gray - louisgray.com

DRM = Doesn't Really Matter

Tuesday at 12:28 am - louisgray.com - Link

ChangeForge | Ken Stewart, Nicholas James, Alex Haar and 13 other people liked this

DRM doesn't matter until you want to buy a music player from someone other than Apple. Sure, nobody makes a music player that can compete with the iPod -- today. I don't expect that will be true the rest of my life. And all those people who subscribed to music services that went under and got screwed - they got screwed because the music on those services was DRMed. - Mitch Wagner

DRM sure does matter if I want to play anything bought from iTunes on my Squeezebox. Or use the tunes to DJ at club using Traktor. I find DRM very intrusive into my music listening habits. If Apple can kill it, iTMS just got a whole bunch more useful for me - they've got more content than most other stores. - Scot Mcphee

Maybe no one competes with iPod touch. There are certainly a number of solid competitors to the iPod. I use a Sansa. Plays mp3s, FM radio, and has a built in voice recorder. Got it for $35 off w00t. Works great with MediaMonkey's superior media player. Meanwhile, iTunes breaks my Vista machine. No thanks. - mrshl

Overheard at Best Buy, "Mom, that's cheap and clunky, I only want an iPod!" - Phil Boiarski

Robert Scoble - Twitter

“@ericjodom the number of followers you have really does NOT matter. All you need are one or two good followers.”

Tuesday at 7:06 am - Link

Phil Boiarski, Ron West and Rob Diana liked this

hmmm - Robin

helps us "unknowns" small fry :) - Robin

Dave "Freedom 35" - Twitter

“Just received a DM telling me I won a iPhone! Just follow the link. What the heck? Another phishing DM?? Anybody?”

Monday at 9:11 am - Link

Tyson Key liked this

I got it too. - Stephen (a) Francoeur

2 more comments

Yes. You got phished. - Robert Scoble

careful... http://blog.twitter.com/2009/0... - Luke Rosenberger

Damn! No sense keeping it around. I deleted it. - Dave "Freedom 35"

There's a pony there, too. - Phil Boiarski

Richard - Twitter

“Twitter Security Collapses; Obama, Fox and Britney Accounts Hacked http://bit.ly/ODxN”

Monday at 11:08 am - Link

rogersdc (Chris), Kiran Patchigolla, Nicholas James and 5 other people liked this

That may be off topic, but I consider none the less important: > Fox News said that "Bill O'Reily is gay" (not that there's anything wrong with that) I do hate O'Reily's guts too, but that is just the wrong tone, Marshall. At the very least, it really doesn't show your superiority, if you're using the same style as the same guys you want to criticize. - Igor Schwarzmann via FriendFeed MT Plugin

4 more comments

Igor, somebody thought that was a Seinfeld reference. I'm not familiar. I just didn't want "gay" to be used as an insult without note. I'm not sure how else to do that without sounding like a real pedant. suggestions? - Marshall Kirkpatrick via IM

That was a total Seinfeld reference, not that there's anything wrong with that. - Clay Newton

sorry, I haven't had a TV is 15 years, so it was a second hand reference if anything - Marshall Kirkpatrick via IM

Seinfeld might be a totally awesome reference in the US, but I can assure you, that it's not a good reference in Europe. And since RWW isn't being "transmitted" only into the US-Internet like Hulu, I'm guessing, that it won't change a thing even if it was a Seinfeld reference. ,) - Igor Schwarzmann

@ Marshall Seinfeld has been off the air for 10 years, and was on for 9 prior to that, so 15 years w/out tv is specious. @Igor - saying that Europe doesn't get Seinfeld is rahter narrow - I have plenty of friends who get it. @all of you who aren't getting this - Richard himself didn't say this, he's quoting the hacked text. Y'all need to acquire a sense of humor AND some reading comprehension. - TxVoodoo

I thought this was a new marketing move, appealing to a new majority, since the right wing is all knuckle-dragging red necks. - Phil Boiarski

Michelle Martinez

Sheriff: 4-Year-Old Shoots Teen Babysitter for Stepping on Foot

Monday at 1:44 pm - wsaz.com - Link

Ontario Emperor, Richard Bradshaw, Rochelle and 2 other people liked this

"Deputies say a bizarre shooting Sunday night involved a 4-year-old wielding a shotgun. The Jackson County, Ohio, Sheriff says some teenagers were babysitting some younger children in a mobile home just outside Jackson. The police report says a 4-year-old got angry after 18-year-old Nathan Beavers stepped on his foot. The reports say the boy then went into a back room, loaded a shell in a 20-gauge shotgun, came out and shot Beavers in the arm. The babysitter was hospitalized, but the injury was not life-threatening. Another teen was also hit with shotgun pellets. The sheriff says possible violations include aggravated assault against the 4-year-old, and child endangerment against the babysitting victim. Right now, the sheriff is not sure yet if anyone will be charged." - Michelle Martinez via Bookmarklet

8 more comments

WTF? - Michelle Martinez