"The idea that journalists only convey statements from politicians rather than "create debates" is the classic Stenographic Model of "Journalism" -- "we just write down what people say. It's not our job to do anything else." Real reporting is about uncovering facts that the political elite try to conceal, not ones they willingly broadcast. It's about investigating and exposing -- not mindlessly amplifying -- the falsehoods and deceit of government claims. But our modern "journalists" (with some noble exceptions) don't do that not only because they can't do it, but also because they don't think it's their job. That's because, by definition, they're not journalists." - Brad Farris via Mento
"The idea that journalists only convey statements from politicians rather than "create debates" is the classic Stenographic Model of "Journalism" -- "we just write down what people say. It's not our job to do anything else." Real reporting is about uncove - Brad Farris
"Stopped in for lunch and had the Double Cheeseburger and Fries. The burger was delicious, well prepared and well dressed, with tomato, onion, and lettuce. Smallish. Now that I know that, I'll just…" - Brad Farris
From the article:
"What can the party do to reverse course?
Republicans need to be Republicans. The greatest threat to classic Republicanism is not liberalism; it's this new brand of libertarianism, which is social liberalism and economic conservatism, but it's a heartless, callous, soulless type of economic conservatism because it says "look, we want to cut taxes and eliminate government. If it means that elderly people don't get their Medicare drugs, so be it. If it means little kids go without education and healthcare, so be it." Well, that might be a quote pure economic conservative message, but it's not an American message. It doesn't fly. People aren't going to buy that, because that's not the way we are as a people. That's not historic Republicanism. Historic Republicanism does not hate government; it's just there to be as little of it as there can be. But they also recognize that government has to be paid for." - Brad Farris via Mento
leo - it is people like you (and Robert Scoble and Michael Arrington, just to name a few) that give twitter most its content, in my opinion anyway - acedanger
What's "large" ... if this baby's gonna scale... you'll eventually have hundreds of thousands or millions of followers... if it can't scale now what about the future? - paul walhus via Alert Thingy
@ev - Remember, if Leo, Scoble and Arrington get off of twitter, then twitter would lose some important value!! Thus I disagree. - Susan Beebe
BTW, when did you get over your brand name objections? Do you have a post on how your resolved the Twitter vs. TWiT issue? - Michael Markman
I disagree that the big players give twitter most of its "content". I mean it totally depends what you use twitter for. If you use it as a news aggregator from technology evangelists, then you might be right. In my thinking I use it for much more then just seeing what Scoble or techncrunch has to say. What do you think? - Akshay
I like the blend of "following" (& maybe conversing) with people I don't know yet, and connecting with people I do know. That's why I also like Spock. You can "friend" people that you know, and also "follow" the newsfeeds of others that you don't know (i.e. Politicians, movie stars, famous authors, sports stars). --- P.S. Spock just changed their interface to mimic FriendFeed. - Mitchell Tsai
It's about time for those jerks to get off of Twitter anyway! :-) - Robert Scoble
From the article: "What can the party do to reverse course? Republicans need to be Republicans. The greatest threat to classic Republicanism is not liberalism; it's this new brand of libertarianism, which is social liberalism and economic conservatism, - Brad Farris
Technically, I'm pretty sure Al Qaeda in Iraq was weaker before Bush's hamhanded handling of the Iraq War facilitated its creation. - Brad Farris via Mento
Pretty remarkable that a mainstream media outlet seems to have finally taken notice of the profoundly anti-American values that John McCain's "spiritual adviser" has been spewing. It's particularly remarkable given the wall-to-wall coverage afforded to Barack Obama's former pastor. Let's see how long it takes McCain to throw this intolerant pr*ck under the bus. - Brad Farris via Mento
Pretty remarkable that a mainstream media outlet seems to have finally taken notice of the profoundly anti-American values that John McCain's "spiritual adviser" has been spewing. It's particularly remarkable given the wall-to-wall coverage afforded to Ba - Brad Farris
Megan McArdle makes a point which is arguable at best, and the result is a lot of interesting argument. By all means, be sure to read the comment thread for some good back-and-forth on conservatism and liberalism. - Brad Farris via Mento
Megan McArdle makes a point which is arguable at best, and the result is a lot of interesting argument. By all means, be sure to read the comment thread for some good back-and-forth on conservatism and liberalism. - Brad Farris
From the article: "The biggest issue in the general election will be the economy. And despite what corporate cheerleaders and Wall Street optimists say, the economy is not reviving any time soon. We're in a chronic recession, or worse. What to do?
First, understand some history. " - Brad Farris via Mento
From the article: "The biggest issue in the general election will be the economy. And despite what corporate cheerleaders and Wall Street optimists say, the economy is not reviving any time soon. We're in a chronic recession, or worse. What to do? Firs - Brad Farris
It's only a matter of time until cellular providers are selling the necessary database information to marketers so that, not only can your location be ascertained within a shopping center, but you can be sent a text message with an advertisement or "special offer" for the store you're in. Privacy problems? Maybe. - Brad Farris via Mento
It's only a matter of time until cellular providers are selling the necessary database information to marketers so that, not only can your location be ascertained within a shopping center, but you can be sent a text message with an advertisement or "speci - Brad Farris
Nope; I check if they are actively commenting and post interesting information. Also I look at their linkedin/facebook/twitter/blog to see what they are like. I also almost never subscribe to private users. - Benjamin Golub
I check to see if they are interesting and go from there. Nobody really follows me, though. I stalk everyone else. - Rahsheen Porter
I try to. But I REALLY wish for a page that shows who follows you but you aren't following, and vica-versa. - Matt Harwood
I do because I'm lacking friends and content. I'm also not sure how to find others with similar interests. - Vaughn via Alert Thingy
I spent about 3 hours the other day going through everyone who had subscribed to me and adding them. It's vastly improved the FriendFeed experience for me. So many great posts from everywhere. I wish there was a way to automate this. I prefer to cast a wider net and then use the hide feature to refine my FriendFeed experience. - Thomas Hawk
No, im being selective to those who I know at first, may open up later - Jeremiah Owyang
Yes, I do. I haven't yet run into a Friendfeed equivalent to the Twitter spammer yet so for now, everyone is welcome. - Morton Fox
I follow most -- but I check to see what services they are sharing and whether or not their content might interest me. And of course that they speak English. - Shey
I employ the shoot first ask questions later strategy - add 'em all now and unsub if its not a good fit - Marco
Nope, I checked their content and if I'm not interested I don't add them - Alejandro S.
Yes, because I'm lazy, and spammers haven't ben an issue yet. - Jason Kaneshiro
I have been adding every single "Friend of" user that appears on the feed. If I later find their updates non worthy I just "hide" them. - Gadiel Rivera
not really- but I did follow yo :)- - Peter Dawson
I usually do, but sometimes miss the emails. I also employ Marco's shoot first ask questions later system. :) - felix
As long as I see a similarity of interests, I follow...That has mostly been the case so far. Once FriendFeed branches out past the early adoptors that'll probably change. - Chris Rossini
Usually, but I'm in the "lacking any friends" camp. There will probably be a time I need to dial the noise down. - Derek Dysart
If someone thinks I'm important enough to subscribe to, I like to return the favor. :) - Shawn Farner via twhirl
I don't follow a whole bunch of people (yet) and I don't have a lot of followers either. But I do check out who they are before I add them. - Rosana Kooymans
if someone follows me then i'd follow them. just to see who's crazy enough to follow me, lol - Outsanity
No. It's not that some people are streaming bad stuff or anything. I'm not just interested in some of what they care about. - Hutch Carpenter
I try to. I'm very happy with the quality of people here and I've yet to be disappointed. - Vince DeGeorge
Wow; and it looks like commenting on this entry has caused a flood of subscribers coming my way! - Benjamin Golub
I follow almost everyone who follows me. Eventually, I'm sure we'll get the people who are using FriendFeed for s/p/a/m/ marketing, and the folks who are using it to connect with special-interest groups I'm not a part of, as we've seen on Twitter. But for now, as far as I know, I follow everyone who follows me -- so long as most of their posts are in English. - Mitch Wagner
I follow similar rules on FriendFeed and Twitter. If you haven't generated any content, or if your content solely consists of links and sales pitches, I usually won't follow you. - Ontario Emperor
Mostly. I'll do a quick check to see if what's been posted is of interest but I usually do. I figure you can always unsubscribe later. - Kevin Cearns
Not everyone. If they have similar interests and I find their blog or web presence to be compelling then I'll follow. I just follow too many people as it is. - James via Alert Thingy
@Benjamin Yep, this post made look and realize that I was not yet subscribed to you though I seem to see you all the time on common shared items. Glad you reciprocated. - Vince DeGeorge
No. I check if they are interesting and not post to much photos first... - Svartling
I'm more selective on FF than on Twitter - Sarah Perez
i try follow everyone that follows me, no real reason not to? - Chris Jones via twhirl
I always give it a try, and remove my subscription if it gets too noisy - julian_marain
I follow everybody that follows me and more. - possible248
nope. i look at their last 10-15 comments and make sure they are interested in the same things I am. plus i also look at how many followers they have. if they have more then 500 or so then i am pretty confident that i won't subscribe. - Chris Harris
ree with or has had nothing interesting to say for a long time. Sad but true. - Brent Newhall via twhirl
I am following every interesting person that follow me ... I try to avoid those with a enormous amount of people followed ... they seems to be a lot of spamming account. Same thing with twitter. - Christian Farley
From the article: "Doctors for the Massachusetts Democrat say tests conducted after Sen. Edward Kennedy suffered a seizure this weekend show a tumor in his left parietal lobe. His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy." - Brad Farris
"Character assassination, outright lies, and guilt by association are hardly new to American politics. Aaron Burr, New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, Senator Joe McCarthy, and J. Edgar Hoover were avid practitioners. But the modern media, coupled more recently with the blogosphere and YouTube, have made these kinds of attacks even more potent. Political consultants -- those snakelike creatures who slither through the swamps and sinkholes of politics -- have turned all three into low-brow but highly lucrative art forms, cynically valued by the media for their effectiveness. And so-called “527’s -- the headless and mysterious bodies that grow in the interstices of our election laws -- have become their launching pads. In the logic of this underworld, "going negative" is no longer considered a campaign option; it is a necessity. Although it may injure the perpetrator (if it can ever be traced back), it will cause greater harm to the opponent." - Brad Farris via Mento
"Character assassination, outright lies, and guilt by association are hardly new to American politics. Aaron Burr, New York City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, Senator Joe McCarthy, and J. Edgar Hoover were avid practitioners. But the modern media, coup - Brad Farris
F.B.I. agents complained repeatedly, beginning in 2002, about the harsh interrogation tactics that military and C.I.A. interrogators were using in questioning terrorism suspects, like making them do dog tricks and parade in the nude in front of female soldiers, but their complaints appear to have had little effect, according to an exhaustive report released Tuesday by the Justice Department’s inspector general. - Brad Farris via Mento
F.B.I. agents complained repeatedly, beginning in 2002, about the harsh interrogation tactics that military and C.I.A. interrogators were using in questioning terrorism suspects, like making them do dog tricks and parade in the nude in front of female sol - Brad Farris
