Bradley Goetsch - Likes

That poor cat looks so confused. - Kendra <3 Three Lions

but it's so warm on top of the scanner! - DJF

Time for a cat scan! - Jemm

Iz I the right way up for printing? - Vicky

This is clearly not my cat. If this was my cat he's have one arm shoved down into the printer trying to tear up all the internal whirling bits with his bare claws. - Soup

LOL, Soup! - Kol Tregaskes

that is one adorable kitten! - Anna Lynn M.

<3 - Furkan Tunalı

Too Funny! Reminds me of the San Mateo Cat Shelter where one of the cats loves to sleep on top of the laster printer where the paper comes out... - Greg Lato

Kitty!!!! - Janice

keep trying! - Morgan Haley

FEED ME A CAT - teh Dork Knight aka Kenny

Kol, it is NOT impossible. And that's all I'm saying. - Steven Perez

Push harder - Josh Haley

LOL@Jemm - AJ Batac

آخی - یک بابک

Hehe, Steven. I won't ask. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Gosh, just noticed this post has nearly 150 likes! :-D - Kol Tregaskes

1 closer....hilarious! - Jeffrey Marsh

There we go 150 likes. :-D - Kol Tregaskes

I'm in ur faxx masheen -- sendin de faxxez.... - Stephanie Segel

I think you mean a LIVE cat… - Glen Mistletoe

thanks, i needed a laugh - chaz2b

FAXCAT IS NOT AMUSED - Karl Knechtel

iz dat some copycat? - bora "head" basman

LOL, now nearly 200 likes! :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Thats no fax machine, thats my new patented kitty juicer! - Threepwood

Just one more like... please. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

it's over two huuunddreeeed - bora "head" basman

MOAR! - Pat Hawks

I need 9 copies please ! - Faraz Mullick

A cute cat :) - Mohammad Abdurraafay

Haha, Faráz. - Kol Tregaskes

Next target, 250 likes. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

اخي...گناهي - noonii

Friendfeed loev faxcat :o - Karl Knechtel

;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Pussy by fax. What will they think of next? - Mattb4rd

X)) - Nia

OMGosh, next up is the 300 likes mark. Anyone care to join in? ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Honestly, i'm not generally a fan of the Cat memes... But that is classic. - Alistair (alpinefolk)

You know this is the 7th most liked entry on FriendFeed ever: http://beta.friendfeed.com/search... !!! - Kol Tregaskes

Kol, this thread is pure genius. - Alex Scoble

But only almost 50 comments.. :) - Simon Wicks

Simon, there's not much to comment regarding the picture :) But meta-comments are more than appropriate! - Ivan Zuzak

Simon, yeah we need 1500+ comments now, who wants to start? ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

there we go then for the 1500+!! - Jaap Willem

1600+ to beat the FFundercats live chat thread. I think with this real time now on all threads we're going to see some truly epic comment numbers. - Simon Wicks

Ivan, no the picture speaks for itself. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

OK, now it's the 4th: http://beta.friendfeed.com/search... - it's gonna take a huge effort to break the record of 452+ likes here: http://beta.friendfeed.com/imified... - Kol Tregaskes

OK, now this is the 3rd most liked entry: http://beta.friendfeed.com/search... :-D Crazy! - Kol Tregaskes

Too bad I am fresh out of likes of I would do it again. - JSNFLMNG

¡Excelente! - Marcos Vicente

I'm using this photo in the latest chapter of can haz murder - anna sauce

Hehe, Anna. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

One more for 350 likes, LOL. This is mental! :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Come on, 350 cats for a cat getting crushed? You guys are mean. :-P - Richard A.

I'd like again if I could :-) - Dobromir Hadzhiev

bump - Simon Wicks

Richard, LOL! - Kol Tregaskes

Awesomely funny! - Martha

Next target: 400 likes? ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

theres one more for you Kol - Toby Graham

Toby, you're very kind. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Cute *_* - Sybelle

Hehe. - Kol Tregaskes

Just 6 more likes for the 400 then I'll leave you alone. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

can you spare a cat 6 likes? - JSNFLMNG

sweet - Eric Hofmann

Haha, Jason, wow 406 likes, madness! :-D - Kol Tregaskes

Madness? THIS. IS. FAX CAT. - Mike Nayyar

Well 452 likes is the record, hmm I think that is pushing it. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Awesome. - Alex Scoble

this is underfaksink at its worzt - Petr Buben

Petr, I have no idea what you mean, but thank you. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

@Kol .. :] that, partially, might have been the purpose.... I don't know it exactly either. :] .. was I reflecting on a cat under the fax, and that it is hard to fax that way ... /?:] ... "underfaxing at its worst" .. - Petr Buben

Ah, OK, Petr. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

there ya have me ! :] .... see, to be honest with you, i saw this pic couple days ago, but i let it go, without posting it ..... what does that make me? :] - Petr Buben

:-) - Kol Tregaskes

OMGosh, just 23 more likes to beat this: http://beta.friendfeed.com/imified... ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

433 Like ! Wow ! - Like

Freemor, yes very cute! :-D - Kol Tregaskes

cute~ - Chan Pen

that's why is called a cat scan and not a cat fax. - Phil Maxwell

oh ... a scan. not fax?! .... it looked to me like she was faxink - Petr Buben

Just 5 more likes needed. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Try rolling the cat through a press first. Flat cats fit into the fax easier. - Bob Blunk

Fax, Petr. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

even a flat cat... faxes just can't handle the hair. You'd have to shave the cat first, else the hair will burn and stick to the drum... a mess! (I am extrapolating from transparencies, mind, i don't have access to a cat to test) - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

Hehe, Joelle. This is now tied for the 'likes' top stop. One more then, hehe. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Ok, over the top now. - Greg Guitarbuster

Hehe, Greg. Blimey! Erm, is that not far from 500 likes now? ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Bloody marvelous, Kol. Wish I could like it again... too cute (and help u to 500 likes). - Roberto Bonini

I couldn't believe it when I logged on from the morning over posting it and saw it was at something 200 likes! You all have a strange fetish with cats and fax machines, hehe. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Am I the only one who saw this and their first thought was - My goodness did someone break that cats neck? It still freaks me out a little - Steve C

Steve, it does look a little out of place, but cats are pretty bendy. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

They fax much better if you flatten them first. What? - Kevin Pedraja

LOL, Kevin. - Kol Tregaskes

i can also imagine the cat going there cause it is snug and warm - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

Ey, it would be a tad warm on there, especially after a long working day. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Caption which needs to be said aloud: Uh Ohz, I'm totally FAXED! - sofarsoShawn

Hehe, Shawn. 10 more for the big 5-0-0. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Countdown! 8 more now! - Mike Nayyar

bump for more likes - Josh Haley

bump - Roberto Bonini

One more!! :-) - Kol Tregaskes

I took mine away, too much pressure. - Steve C

Wow, there we go, 500 likes!! Thank you all!! :-D - Kol Tregaskes

I think Fax Kitty deserves a prize for that. - Kendra <3 Three Lions

меня, признаться, подзаебал этот кот - Парадокс Смейла

пиздец как! - getalifejerk

Kendra, absolutely. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

So we can put this post to rest now. :-) 505 likes final count, wow! :-D Good night all! - Kol Tregaskes

My like is the last one so far :) - 509 afaik - getalifejerk

did 3 people really un-like this? now at 506. wtf (edit: uh, oh, yeah, me and 2 + 506 others makes 509. dammit, jim, i'm an artist, not a mathematician) - ɐ ɯıʞ sıɹɥɔ

wish I could double like! - metalerik

Wish I could just like it at all. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

This is also still on the Best of page. That must be the longest running best of post? :-) - Kol Tregaskes

But it's a cat being crushed... - Richard A.

برای چی این همه لایک خورده؟؟؟؟؟ - H.M.Nasrabadi

Hehe, Richard. - Kol Tregaskes

copy cat - gibilix

518 like! most liked post? - Lu Tao

ay yerim yaa çok tatlı kedicikk :)) - Arzu

Lu, yeah but a long way now. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

*bump* - Andre

Blew past 500 likes - LIKE!!!!! - Roberto Bonini

OMGosh, nearly heading to 550!! - Kol Tregaskes

So we know how many people use this site. - Richard A.

So that's what Paws Printing means. - Jack (a.k.a. Jeber)

Richard, we getting there. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Jack, hehe. - Kol Tregaskes

this thread is making history. - vijay

Indeed .. this is a most epic thread - Mattb4rd

Hehe. 9 more for 550! - Kol Tregaskes

8... - sofarsoShawn

7. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Actually only 5...cuz "You, Earl E Morningwood, yasin ghasemi and... 542 liked this" - sofarsoShawn

Who wants to bet how many likes this thead is going to get??? - Roberto Bonini

Gosh, no idea. - Kol Tregaskes

take some bets then come back in a year to check? - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

:) - SokooteDel

Holy smokes .. this pussy cat is approaching 600 likes! - Mattb4rd

552 now, so there are some unlikes going on, hehe, oh well. Still an amazing amount of likes. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

560! - sofarsoShawn

And back down to 559. Hehe. - Kol Tregaskes

And how could anyone not love kitties after seeing this photo? - Susan Beebe

I liked it without reading this discussion - evidentially we have a lot of people who like the idea of faxing a cat! - Rich

Rich, yes, worrying, hehe. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

564! - sofarsoShawn

I think we'll have to recruit more ffeeps before this record will ever be broken - JSNFLMNG

maybe a good way to clone cats :) - Roberto

Hehe, Roberto. - Kol Tregaskes

This surely couldn't hit 600 likes, could it!? - Kol Tregaskes

It could! Keep bumping it up! - imabonehead

It will :) - Roberto Bonini

My next cat post: http://beta.friendfeed.com/the-fun... - Kol Tregaskes

Wow, not even 600 Likes? Feh. ;-) - j1m

No yet. Close though. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Stuck on 581. - Kol Tregaskes

Most liked FF post ever? - Kristian Salonen

One of the best funny cat pictures I've seen! :-) - John Collis

Kristian, it appears to be. Hehe, John. - Kol Tregaskes

ای بابا این پیشول بی خیال نمی شود، بابا پاشو برو دنبال یه بازی دیگه ، از هفته پیش تا حالا تو فکس ولو شدی حوصله ات سر نرفته، پاشو اقلا بپر رو کیبوردی چیزی - Maryaminaa

11 more to 600. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

داداش كوتاه بيا، مي خواي ركورد بزني!؟ - Exir

هستم بره این کامنتتو ترجمه کنه اکسیر ! :))) داره از فضولی میمیره الان ! :D - Shayan

Hehe, 6 more likes. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Need 1 more like, by my calculation, to get to 600 - Josh Haley

Another unlike then, back down to 598. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

it's 598+3, at the moment ;-) - Andre

There we go, 601!! Wow, can't believe it. :-D Thanks everyone!! - Kol Tregaskes

3 people un liked :( - Roberto Bonini

I think there have been made unlikes over the last week, oh well. - Kol Tregaskes

too many likes, the kitteh is burning up..stop the madness...;) - JSNFLMNG

Haha, Jason. - Kol Tregaskes

614!!!!! - sofarsoShawn

Whoa! :-) - Kol Tregaskes

man! ..Kol is gaining ... and I saw that pic one day before Kol posted it :X ..and i let it go! :[)] - Petr Buben

Petr, who's he? - Kol Tregaskes

omg, this post passed 600 likes! - imabonehead

@Kol ..well the man .. Mr Photographer .. ok .. let me go there .. - Petr Buben

I see. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

631 likes, amazing stuff. :-D - Kol Tregaskes

Day 11 and this thing's still going! - Phil Maxwell

Why fax yourself when you can get famous via FriendFeed? :-) - Willem (@wim66) ☠

whereas a cat *scan* is totally feasible - Megan Craig

Kol, congratulations, you won the Friendfeed Award for the most likes entry! - Jérôme Flipo

Kol is this from your rival: Squashy Cat Photography? - sofarsoShawn

Haha, Shawn. Have you really bumped this one again? ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

LOL I was actually looking at best of month and I thought I'm going to be clever :-) - sofarsoShawn

this makes me laugh every darn time I see it - Stephanie_Thankful

Who is this NShawnFW? ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

kitties do like to find new spots to nap :) - Maryam

LOL, now over 650 likes. - Kol Tregaskes

این هنوز در نیومده از لای این دستگاه؟ - Maryaminaa

Wow. this is good..... pleased, Kol? - Roberto Bonini

Pleased? About the number of likes? I'm happy regardless. :-D - Kol Tregaskes

So do we think it will go to 700 likes? ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

it will - Seltoon

what do you mean by "it" ? say "he" or "she". :) - Maryaminaa

Haha, I was referring to the entry. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

lol - Maryaminaa

I see someone already posted 'Copy Cat' !! LOL Great picture - Kevin J Hatton

:-) - Kol Tregaskes

O HAI! I IZ WATIN FR COOPONZ, KTHXBYE. - Kris Roley

Neksnapper 3000 Kitten Eradicator - Kills Kittehs Dead - Mattb4rd

Hehe. - Kol Tregaskes

10 more likes for 700! :-) - Kol Tregaskes

7 more by my count! - Bec Rowe @d0tski

Oops, yes you're right, Bec. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Isn't it illegal to fax a pussy? - aerobroken

It's really only social convention which regards it as inappropriate, same with Xeroxing it, like one does with their b__tocks. Wait are we still talking about cats cats here or... - sofarsoShawn

OMGosh 700+ likes now!! LOL. Thank you all 702 of you. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Wow, not so bad huh? \u) - ElijahBailey-Zu of FF <0,

try harder! ; )) - Didier Lahely

Before faxing it, you have to flatten it out a bit. You're going at it all wrong! :-) - Rick Cogley

Caturday is tommorow ... Fax Cat on Saturday .. - johnpiercy

Must try this at home! - Anthony K. Valley ©

Bumping some old great posts. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Now THAT is a classic! - Allan Besselink

you have to flatten it first!!! ;) - Neda S.

This is very good humor! - TrafficBug

Hey, we've hit the 700-like mark. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

just a couple thousand to go - JSNFLMNG

LOL - Smeerch

__awesome__ - Matteo Scotuzzi

and it got resurrected once again! - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

I managed to do it once, but I don't think I'm going to do it again. The results were a little fuzzy. - Seth Greenblatt

Yay Leo! - Haggis (Sean Loyless)

40 more comments

Well played, sir! - Josh Haley

Wow Leo, that's vintage and precious. - RODNEY OLIVER

Whoo, Leo! Way to mix it up with the common folk! - Akiva Moskovitz

That photo is WIN! - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

When is that Leo? I'm guessing 1978 or so? - Michael R. Bernstein

Slow and clear.. and with a blue vest - Rhys Amos

Woah...he MEMED! respect - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

Dear Leo, I love you to death, however, please let your darling daughter know Monaco is not an island off the coast of France and yes, Monte Carlo is the capitol. My daughter is the same age and we are starting to shop college's as well. I wish you the best of luck finding a school that suits her well. I was an exchange student as well and found it the best experience ever! - Jennifer Ragde

Okay, now my computer politically correct daughter is telling me this was not the correct way to state my opinion as I should have commented on the photograph. I'm really sorry, I love to listen to your broadcasts, but I really am computer retarded so please forgive me if I have transgressed in any manner. I can't even upload photographs without her help! Really, you don't look dapper,... more... - Jennifer Ragde

I do believe Steve Jobs was in the process of creating the Macintosh then? This is '70s right? - Danny Minick

LOL Jennifer and +1 for your daughter. :) - Josh Haley

You look so dapper, Leo!! - Mona Nomura

go leo! - sean percival

That's awesome - Jesse Stay

lookin good .. - Saad Kamal

Outstanding, Mr Laporte. You can see the in dream there. Potential and promise sporting a tank-top. - Dan Biddle

Those pants look like they may be restricting blood flow a little bit... Also, sweet chalk board! Haven't seen one of those in years! - Mark

I hardly recognised you. It maybe your outfit but you look older in this photo - Kevin J Hatton

Taken at a radio station? (based on blackboard notes) Wait. BLACKBOARD??? Wow. :) - CAJ, somewhere else

Jack looks like wolverine. - Harold Benfield

Excellent sweater vest there, Leo! - John Lutz

That's on handsome man! lol - Melissa Goetsch

Leo, you were one hot stack if pancakes back in the day!! - Erik Boles

Not to nitpick or anything, but Monaco is the name of the state and the capital city. Monte Carlo is just one of city's administrative areas :) - Dorian

It's 1985 or 1986. I was 28 or 29. And an utter dork. - Leo Laporte

This vintage is good stuff! - Jackie

not vintage but funny - http://www.flickr.com/photos... - Mike Bracco

Okay. Leo you rock! Let me get that out of the way. But you look like Susan Boyle in this photo. Sorry, someone had to throw it out there. ;-) - Oracio

LEO: if this was a family photo I think it might make it on to the hilarious site that aggregates awkward family photos: http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/ must check this out! :) - Mike Bracco

Not a family photo - it's a work photo. That's from KLOK-FM San Francisco. - Leo Laporte

Leo: I know, I was just saying if it was :) - Mike Bracco

What's that funny lookin thing in the background? - Daniel James

Daniel.. I think that is what was known as a monochrome display. They were all the rage back then apparently. - Rhys Amos

Your hair wasn't even real back then! :P - Kreg Steppe

I think his hair looks better now - Jim Hague

Dear Dorian, I stand corrected. I was just stunned that someone thought Monaco was an island. When I was in high school (when Dinosaurs roamed the earth, ha ha!), we had to memorize the world in geography. I guess times have changed. - Jennifer Ragde

LOL, I took all those old photos of me and hid them deep! - Lillian Banchik

OMG I just found this... *DEAD* - Johnny Worthington

Oh wow, totally 80s, fer shure. :P - Mol, Santa Claws

You must have respect for wives. That they could see anything other than the geeks we looked like in those days makes you believe in clairvoyance. Of course now you would qualify as a silver fox. - JR Holmes from Nambu

You looked smart and confident :) Great photo! Thanks for sharing! - mahjongmi

"The BBC is looking to encode TV listing metadata and employ a compression algorithm to circumvent piracy, ad removal and illegal copying. According to a recent blog post by the EFF's Danny O'Brien, the group wants to get mandatory DRM onto digital TV receivers via a broadcast flag. In other words, a "public service broadcaster" wants to lessen the way we consume media by forcing manufacturers to limit product playing abilities. While open source TV services like Boxee allow users to view programs over home networks regardless of the device, a broadcast flag would force all HDTV receivers to include content protection. For those of us who watch our programs online, this could pose a serious problem." - Kol Tregaskes from Bookmarklet

8 more comments

I can't watch live BBC TV online in any case, but it sucks nonetheless. - Ian May

Yeah. But the galling thing is i pay for that with my tax money. Ergo its my content. I will do what i want with it. - Roberto Bonini

Trouble is, Robert, I guess the BBC see it like Record Labels. They dont' mind if you watch it, but don't want you to do anything else with it. I remember all the fuss made a quarter century ago, when everyone got a VCR, and some quarters were trying to claim it was illegal to record TV shows. A compromise was reached of course, and hopefully it will be in this case. Although I'm not in... more... - Ian May

@ Ian Don't fret, your subscription can be put on hold, the UK has the same "dross" as the United States ... evidently the Americans have been unable come up with the exclusive patent on that. - Kittyburgers

@Rob those money are not yours - they are *theirs*... we have similar system in Finland and people in trade of govt license TV think their existance _must_ be paid.... - A.T.

@Kittyburgers, but it's not SO bad in the UK it's only 75% US dross... :) - Ian May

UK really needs to redesign it's commercial TV platform. As it stands the only real OTA commercial broadcaster is Channel 5. ITV splits the UK into several regions, Channel 4 is government owned and the BBC is funded by the taxpayer. A ridiculous state of affairs. - Steven Cains

these restrictions end up causing the most trouble for legitimate users. like with pc game cds, players are inconvenienced while crackers bypass the system - Mike Chelen

I remember reading a few years ago, that ITV cost the average family more in increased prices at the supermarket than the TV Licence fee did. - Ian May

"Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry browser has long been the laughing stock of the mobile space for its lack of speed. Javascript-heavy pages frequently bring it to a standstill. And since the browser has problems rendering many common Web pages, simply surfing the Web for a quick recipe or to answer a question can be like pulling teeth.....Rumors suggest RIM's well on its way to releasing a revamped BlackBerry browser of its own. But yesterday Norwegian-developer Opera Software upped the BlackBerry browsing-ante with the beta release of its latest mobile browser: Opera Mini 5. Though not BlackBerry-specific--the software's compatible with most Java-based handhelds--it blows RIM's default browser away, with new features like tabbed-browsing, advanced cut-and-paste and a built-in password manager." - winckel from Bookmarklet

Tabbed browsing, wow. No wonder people wouldn't shut up about Opera mini. Not a fan of it for desktop but mobile version sounds hot. - Mona Nomura

I can read this thread on my Blackberry in Opera Mini, but I cannot comment. Comment Share and Unlike are all highlighted and I cannot select 'comment'. At least I can view FriendFeed. I'll keep testing. - Mike Nencetti

Just checked to be sure. 2 dozen cities. That's it so far. What's the holdup? - rob

45 more comments

Robert, the reason @foursquare is as big as it is, is because of Twitter. - Mona Nomura

ROFL - it's third life that's all :p - DC Crowley

@Rob, its a new product. Give it time. @Scoble, 4square is pigggybacking off of Twitter, I doubt that they will overtake the host, even though it will become very popular in urban areas. - Alex Wilhelm (FF BLOWS)

Mona: I don't agree. It has very little to do with Twitter. And, anyway, most of the same folks who used Twitter back in 2006 are on it. So, it's tracking Twitter very closely, at least with the early adopter community. - Robert Scoble

@scoble, but is the appeal as large? Perhaps if they spread it to more platforms, and create a simpler check in process. - Alex Wilhelm (FF BLOWS)

Alex: the check in process is pretty nice. When you are in a city that's on the map and when your location is there already. That's the early-adopter problem. We're building out the system for them. Now that they have funding I bet they can get the resources to turn on more cities. - Robert Scoble

Robert - the reason people get so competitive and continuously check in, is because it is on display for all to see on Twitter. - Mona Nomura

Holden: pure adoption, nothing else. - Robert Scoble

Mona: not true. I haven't sent a single checkin to Twitter. And I LOVE checking in. Very addicted. - Robert Scoble

My timeline is FILLED with Foursquare smack talk lol. - Mona Nomura

@Scoble, indeed. If they had more locations already existing, they would double their growth. @Holden, similar concepts. Do something small, and broadcast to a lot of people. @mona my iPhone is constantly spammed. - Alex Wilhelm (FF BLOWS)

@holden, get with it, what decade do you think it is? - Alex Wilhelm (FF BLOWS)

Holden: Foursquare to get official Windows Mobile app in weeks http://wmpoweruser.com/?p=7350 - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

@mark, dont encourage him. - Alex Wilhelm (FF BLOWS)

I'm very bullish on Foursquare. It's about as addictive as Twitter and much more compelling than BrightKite. The Twitter connection is not particularly important to me. - Leo Laporte

I don't get foursquare. But I'm 30something, so I don't think I'm anywhere close to the target demographic, the trendy-hipster-goes-out-every-night-18-20something. For the record, I also don't get people who check in on FS when they arrive at work *each day* (and thankfully, since wising up, I don't get their updates anymore either). My life pretty much equals work (er, don't need... more... - Adam Lasnik

it seems to be for US people only ... - Steph (sh_skew)

Steph: that problem will eventually be taken care of now that they got funding. - Robert Scoble

Adam: you sound like a lot of my friends when I started showing them Twitter back in 2006. :-) - Robert Scoble

You make a good point, though, Robert. There's nothing stopping Twitter from implementing the same feature set, except for their own reluctance to expand their capabilities. Twitter's current "success" will likely freeze them in place. - Leo Laporte

the fact that twitter was misunderstood but became successful doesn't mean any new company that is a bit odd will be successful. come on scoble - Mark

Mark: sorry, when 1,000 early adopters friend me on a new service something is happening that CAN NOT be ignored. Foursquare is the real deal and is going to go all the way. I'm addicted and that doesn't happen very often. Last time it did the company sold for $50 million and that was considered a failure. - Robert Scoble

@Alex I get it's new, doesn't matter. So is every other app in the field, and many manage to work anywhere. @Robert, how many friends do you have on dopplr? - rob

rob: about the same number, but growing a lot slower than Foursquare. Dopplr also isn't a game, isn't addictive the way Foursquare is, and hasn't gotten many people hot and bothered the way Foursquare has. - Robert Scoble

Looks cool, but not in Reno yet. - Kevin Arth

Robert, clearly you are more young-at-heart than I am :D. And frankly, I still am not very excited about Twitter, either, despite having 2200 followers. I pipe my updates to Twitter from FF but halfheartedly, and haven't read through my stream regularly in over a year. I don't need more inputs in my life, I need more outputs. And to continue my curmudgeonly and slightly hypocritical... more... - Adam Lasnik

Adam: that is true, but how many people can write a book or do something longer? I can, but I have to admit I hate the process. No interaction. I far prefer putting a little burp out into the Internet and then seeing what happens to doing something bigger. - Robert Scoble

Creating is creating. It's foolish to insist on any particular form. It's all just participation in life. Far more people aren't participating in any way. - Leo Laporte

I am curious, but like Steph I'm not in the US, so I will have to wait. - Sean Carmody

"something bigger"... what, Robert? I'm not being sarcastic. What "bigger" comes out from these interactions? Often when pondering this, I see this blips of expression as equivalent to mast^H masticating cheetos. Feels good when doing it, but doesn't feel fulfilling long term. And I think anyone can write a book and anyone can cook :). More broadly, New Year's is coming up. How many... more... - Adam Lasnik

Adam: I can see both a scenario where Foursquare has more usage time as well as another scenario where Foursquare makes more money than Twitter. Why? Businesses pay to satisfy intent. Walking into a place is a powerful intent signaler. For instance, if I'm walking into Starbucks you betcha I intend to buy a coffee. Now, what if you walk into a real estate office? Don't you think competitors would LOVE to entice you to walk about and into their business? Absolutely! - Robert Scoble

They don't want me. How can something succeed by excluding people? Foursquare only wants city dwellers, and then only in the largest cities. That's no way to succeed in the long term. - Glen Mistletoe

George: not true. I live in a small town in a rural area and it's very addictive. They will be adding more cities soon. I agree that's a big problem, but they did that to keep growth down so they wouldn't hit Twitter's downtime problems. I think that's smart. - Robert Scoble

Robert, I agree with you 100% about the importance and opportunity of location-based-options, I'll give you that much! :) - Adam Lasnik

Non-American (Rest of the world) user base of Twitter has increased from 38% to 58%. More than half of Twitter users are outside the US. Just saying. Foursquare is limited by its geography. - Mahendra (SkepticGeek)

I see it as incredibly limited to major metro areas and very exclusionary. Why would I bother with a service I'll only use very rarely if I remember when I visit a supported metropolis? It's far to exclusionary and Twitter is location agnostic and unaware. Sorry, but I strongly disagree. LBS isn't ever going to be driven by checkins. Latitude hasn't got it right, but until there's... more... - Ken Camp

Foursquare isn't really covering the US that well. Unless of course you assume there are only 20 some odd cities here. For the rest of us, we have to choose the best or closest location? It's not useful if you can't find others nearby. Oh, and in case someone didn't notice, there are 2 locations listed for outside of the US. Vancouver and Amsterdam. It definitely has potential and for... more... - Sheryl

That's my thought too that FourSquare, LBS and even "hyperlocal" sites are limited by its geography. So far, I haven't seen anything online that is intended to be hyperlocal be a major success outside of the major DMAs (not counting stores). For example, I live in the Hartford area so you'd think we'd catch the NYC/Boston wave but it never does (to date). If they can't reach Hartford with success, how are these services going to hit mid-America? - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

I've been trying to explain FourSquare's importance to local businesses a lot lately, and this photo (from the Marsh Cafe in San Francisco) generally makes the best case: http://www.flickr.com/photos.... Once people see that, the lights start to go on. - Darren Barefoot

no. foursquare will not be bigger than twitter. it does not have the universal reach or appeal. - jbrotherlove

jbrotherlove: Twitter doesn't have universal reach or appeal yet either. So far out of seven billion people 45 million are on Twitter. - Robert Scoble

People are totally missing the point: given the time Robert spends on Twitter / FriendFeed / YouNameIT, how come the Scoble's are having a baby again? :-) Congrats! - Zoli Erdos

I'll wait until Foursquare is actually available in most places. If it falls to the wayside, and it probably will, it's because most people in the world can't even get access to it. Twitter is universal; Foursquare is only available in select few cities. - Carlton Prest

Limited geographies, slower and more limited take-up of location-based services (the creepy factor, among other issues), juvenile game structure. I really don't see broad and sustained appeal. - LogEx

nope - Ouriel Ohayon

I'm not sure I see any immediate value to #FourSquare for most people if it's not available in full strength everywhere. Sure, it's undoubtedly fantastic for people in NY — but I'm not there. - Hieronymus Murphy

by register the name you mean domain name right? - sean percival

65 more comments

RSS? That's kinda awesome haha. - Tomy Thomson

Regis Sanford Scoble? - drew olanoff

Robert, do you subscribe to that RSS feed? - Adam

wow......... - xero

At least it's not CRS. - Derrich

Adam: he will fill my feed for sure! - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Really Simple Scoble? - Laura Norvig

Redford Scott Scoble - Eric

Yeah. Domains and Facebook, etc. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Robert Stay Scoble? - Jesse Stay

Romeo Stuart Scoble - Eric

My initials are my name in pig-latin when you spell them backwards: SEJ - Jesse Stay

epic EPIC win. - Justin Gerard

Robert Scott Scoble - Scratch5150

Rupert Scott Scoble - Eric

Ruth Sarah Scoble - Mr K

His middle name will be Soroush. That means divine calling in Farsi. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Rihanna Sylvia Scoble - Eric

Rowan Soroush Scoble - Joan Lockwood

RSS is due September 26th. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Congrats, Robert! - Joan Lockwood

Ronald Stuart Scoble - Eric

Reginald Scott Scoble - Eric

Really Small Scoble...of course - Derrich

Robert (named after you) [insert a middle name starting with an s] Scoble - Chris Martin

Randy Super Scoble. - Tomy Thomson

Robert Silent Scoble - Ninoo

Really Sneaky Scoble - Lon Cohen

Eric that has the best cadence. its a drumbeat name. will be easy to remember: Redford Scott Scoble - Melanie Reed

You should Pubsubhubbub and get RSS here instantly. - Andrew Smith from fftogo

Excellent. I will subscribe. - Louis Gray

Great way to get your wife on the RSS bandwagon :-) - Jesse Stay

Robert Seymour Scoble (sorry, I had to say it). - Rodrigo Jaroszewski

My sons name was available the day he was born and then two damn days later some guy in Australia grabbed it. - Hunter

With a nickname of Dave :) - jcunwired

I'm sure he'll be a Winer, too - Jesse Stay

Really Simple Scoble? - Lindsay

Rakiva Smoskvitz Scoble. (The R and the first S are silent.) - Akiva Moskovitz

akiva - Yolanda

Will commoncraft make a video of the birth? - jcunwired

Haha I know the name but I'm not saying! :-) - Dave Winer

Awesome. - Stefan Holmes

Rave Siner Scoble - jcunwired

OMG IT'S EMBARGOED. - Akiva Moskovitz

This is not the child's actual name: Really Simple Scoble. :-) - Dave Winer

l dont think its difficult to name a child yall wn l had mine l had to create one which l later found found out to be a beautiful one..as long it has a meaning just do it.. - Pam Gwenzi

Its Robert Socble Second - Sidharth Dassani

___ Soroush Scoble. What a fun game! Robert and Rasputin are likely out. And what a marvelous melding of names; American techie communities are full of cultural mashups. Here's to looking forward to 9/26 for mystery's end. - Alex Howard

but RSS is a dead technology! </sarcasm> - Tim Hoeck

Tim: well RSS's birth will be Twittered. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Hahahahahahhaha Robert!!!! - Mona Nomura

My daughter's initials spell MES, and let me tell you - IT'S PROPHETIC. (be careful of the initials). - Ken Stewart | ChangeForge

Pfft! Robert's following in my footsteps. Audrey's birth was Twittered! - Akiva Moskovitz

Akiva: Milan's was too and his first cry beat Obama to BlogTalkRadio by two years. ;-) - Robert Scoble from iPhone

my guess is Rasputin S. Scoble - Logan Lindquist

I'll ponder a guess: Richard Scott Scoble? - Thomas Ward

Damn you, Robert! [shakes fist] - Akiva Moskovitz

Gerber just announced a new line of baby food called RSS Feed. ;o) - Louis Trapani from iPhone

My own initials spell out RSS. LT, good one. - Rob Schieber

Maybe that's not such a good idea, with Steve Gillmor parading around claiming it is dead. XMPP would be more apt, but don't ask me what the initial would stand for. One gnarly name. - Steven (optionshiftk)

Robert Scoble Scoble? - Ryan Kuder

Or B.S. - I know someone who has a kid with those initials! - Carrie Lynn

Robert Senior's Scoble? - sebastian☆rocket brother

That reminds me of a humorous website where you could input letters like these and it would give you a humorously formed acronym - I remember bookmarking it and cant seem to find it... - TrafficBug

Robbie St. Scoble? - Bas

Robert Stanley like my dad? - Yant

This whole page is AWESOME. - Haggis (Sean Loyless) from Bookmarklet

16 more comments

holy cow! Jemm will go nuts when he sees these! - vijay

Ok, this is the coolest today! - Patrik Johansson

HAWT! - CW™

My long lost twin! http://friendfeed.com/joeybea... - joey

Your long lost twin, or long lost daddy-type manager? - Sparky

These are great. You don't even have to like Star Wars for this to be great. :) - Louis Gray

No way!!! I saw her first!!! :) - Mike Shields

@vijay: You can keep her :P - Jemm

This just made my day! - Jon, the Beartato of FF from Android

I'm kinda surprised you hadn't seen Red & Jonny before, joey. They have a flickrstream: http://www.flickr.com/photos... - Wirehead

Awesome! Thanks Wirehead. - joey

This is troubling me......... - Kevin J Hatton

Loved the whole page! - Shannon

AWESOMESAUCE - Dobromir Hadzhiev

Oh God! Hahahahahaaaa! - R1CC1

Welcome to the Twilight Zone!!! - Jeff P. Henderson

This girl has the sort of face only Darth Vader could love. - George Hall (Australia)

It's like the internet version of Days of Our Lives - Jon, the Beartato of FF

94 more comments

HAHAHAHAHA.... - David from IM

Haha. ROFL - Roberto Bonini

is friendfeed going anywhere or will it just get better? - Craig Shipp

I'm with you Leo. - Oracio

It reads better than Soap - my roadmap is very similar but I'll forgive FF and live happily ever after with it (for the time being, anyway) - Nicholas Paul Gordon from iPhone

You're the best Leo. Canadians are the funniest people. - Dan Lessard

I'm betting they'll slowly digest it into the Facebook news feed. They claim that Friendfeed is staying put for now, but that won't last. - Ken Bauer

And we keep following Leo all over the place! - Robert Scoble

Long live Leo - Randy Pollock

When will we all get in a long term relationship and stop getting our hearts broken? - Nate Pilling

so what is more important, the medium or the people, hope that FF will let us export our content, and our social netork :) (in my wild dreams) - abdellah

Need ice cream? I'm new to FF, and kind of sad I didn't jump on the proverbial wagon sooner! - Elizabeth K. Barone

I hope you leave your standard breadcrumbs so we can find you in the next chapter of social interaction. - jcunwired

Feels to me like maybe it's time to go back to building a distributed network, rather than hopping from service to service. - Ken Sheppardson

But where to next? That's the question. Wave sounds great, but the implementation will be a PAIN. So where? Oh LeoMoses...where is our path in the desert? - ‘-.-’ Tutivillus Grift

Sounds like a hurtin' country song in the making. - Bill Rodman

The wave of the future is wave - Randy Pollock

Well you can't say that what is happening in the 'social sphere' is boring by any means! - Matt Cassem

I think Leo's audience is more likely to click "Like" or "comment" than Scoble's is. When Leo and Rob are both posting on FF, Leo gets more likes and comments - Mark

Didn't you leave a post earlier saying how funny it was that people complain anytime there's a change (referring to the FF buyout)? This sounds like a complaint to me. - Fleagle

Not complaining - just thinking about the future. I think a little Friendfeed DNA will vastly improve Facebook. And I think Facebook is already the big winner with the general populace. I also think we geeks need a corner somewhere else to hang out in. - Leo Laporte

And I have no plans to leave Friendfeed. Yet. - Leo Laporte

Yet being the operative word..... - Roberto Bonini

sounds like a country song to me - gavin

As for this geeky alternative, http://a.tinythread.com/ just showed up in my feed this morning. Thoughts? - Craig B.

I feel more of a personal connection with the FriendFeed team than I have with other services I've left, and that will be a big part of why I will stay as long as possible. - Louis Gray

^^^ replace "team" with "community" and there's my reason for sticking it out. - jcunwired

Its also going to take a very long time to go through content and bookmark/store it elsewhere. Evernote is going to be used heavily in the weeks to come. - jcunwired

The only way to have control is to use your own URL - Craig Shipp

Wait till you meet Facebook's randy cousin Overly Friendly Book =) - Cynthia Yildirim

what Louis gray said. I'm going to hang around until the lights go out. - Jordan Brock from BuddyFeed

What they said, I don't see any reason to leave FriendFeed unless something actually changes that makes the service worthless to me. - Craig B.

And many times you cheated Twitter, she was always loyal to you. Thats mean someting! - Jacque from f2p

yup me too Louis and I don't know any of them - Thomas Power

Plurk's not worth leaving anyone for. - Rachel R.

Leo, I think you need to change your FaceFeed status to "It's Complicated" ;) - Daynah

Play this thread off, keyboard cat. - Fleagle

You have to go back to your blog. It still loves you Leo. - Dave Winer

Screw you, Friendfeed! - Andrew Leahey

Users today are investors too - only the 'exit' for us is not lucrative.... its the other way sometimes :) - Mrinal Desai

I just had the idea: wow, how good will Faceboook become though this input? (JUST imagine tagging ppl in FB the way U can Tag them in FF.) - oliver gassner

Love Stinks. - shelter watch

I'm quite surprised that you could keep track of all that! - Robert Alex

Leo Laporte listed his relationship as: "its complicated." - Randy Shapiro

Damn thats complicated - drmacintosh

Don't worry Leo, its not you, its them... - Steven McGurn

so where do we go now? - Brian Appleby

I agree with Jonathan Hardesty "It's like the internet version of Days of Our Lives" - And sites keep getting killed off only to come back to life a month later! - Amy Flynn

very true, however on the other hand, we are getting closer to that one service which everyone will be on... and I dont think twitter is going to be that one - Bryce Campbell

Facebook buying FriendFeed is like having to MOVE just when you got your house all dressed up and made into a comfy HOME! I don't feel like doing it again! - Arleen Anderson

Now that Facebook and Friendfeed have married, I'm waiting for Twitfacefeedplebospacening. - Anthony Marco

You all just have ants in your pants :) - Jeunelle Foster

Leo, u by your self made two companies (services) out of 3 famous and made Google interested enough to buy 2 of them (Jaiku & FF). Google also tried to flirt with Twitter as well. So which one u choose now? Cause we will follow u :P - Sam Ehsan

Sounds like some of my past love affairs. Of course, I'm married now. That, um, was prior. - Paul Chaney

lmfao, its so true leo, so true! - Derek Bender

Feeling a bit worn around the edges? ... me too! - Susan Beebe from iPhone

Speaking of Days Of Our Lives: Didn't that show jump the shark when the serial killer was unmasked as Marlena (a character I used to have a mad crush on, and who's now mostly a professional victim)? Then all the "killed" characters came back to life, since they were only what I call "soap opera dead"... - Dennis Jernberg

And if everyone follows you, then your all having affairs all over the place! LOL - Sandra Large

I think it's back to the TWiT Army! - Paul Salzman

It's not like we have proposed Healthcare reform, or anything really important, going on in the U.S.A. - Steve de Mena

it's getting ridiculous, FEDERATED is the word! - Dobromir Hadzhiev

who is actually leaving FF? have many people vowed to do so yet? I'd like to but there isn't any alternative. - Denise Young

the joys and sorrows of everyday social IT folks... :-) - Thomas Lee

People are talking a lot about Streamy today. Might be an alternative. - Caio Cesar

Streamy seems to be crashing left & right tho. - Rick Cogley

Not to mention Pownce was shutdown as soon as it got good! - Kenneth Reitz

No mention of Microsoft Vine? - Robert MacEwan

yep. welcome to another episode of; As the Stomach Turns. one big soap opera. - Scratch5150

I've decided I'm not going to tell ANYONE which site I'm favoring... not even myself! I swear! As soon as I decided that FF was my new place (a couple months ago) THIS happens! It's like magic, but in a bad bad way... - Mark Jepsen

Why do we all assume this is a bad thing? Maybe the FF Facebook combo will be better?? - Craig Shipp

Maybe they'll keep both open -- FF is the open side, and FB is the closed side. - John Flinchbaugh from IM

Social Networks are sluts? - TheDiva Rockin

It sure is. - Jason Hill

I know exactly how you feel. What's a person to do? I am mad at Twitter for suspending some of my accounts. First, the accounts kept causing the password to reset, then they were suspended, all around the time of the DOS attacks. All I ever used Twitter for was to advertise my businesses, and for fun. Now I don't know where to go. - DogPatch

Here's some thoughts on what's going to happen:http://kennethreitz.com/blog... - Kenneth Reitz

It's like my beloved Archie comics romantic twists from childhood! Archie loves Veronica who loves Reggie who loves Betty who loves Archie... ;) - Shawn Zehnder Lea

More like "As the worm churns" - Houseofmax

한글 와서~ 루거 .. 당신은 정말 잘 생기고있다 누드 사진 기다리다 :] - HealingBrush

One of the funniest sad stories I've heard in a long time... - Aviva Gabriel

Gotta find one who is a lady in public and a whore in the bedroom. One who looks like a woman, but thinks like a man. One who tells you you're the only person in their world and worships the ground you walk on. One who's from Venus but want's to live on Mars. One who you know will always be there even when the chips are down. One who looks like a movie star, but doesn't bust the credit... more... - Jan Simmonds

I think a lot of people LOVE to think negatively and don't want to think positively. They think FB is BAD and will ruin FF, but I think if they do it well, FB won't be the bad guy. I think most people who are irked about this are irked because they think the FFers "sold out" to the "man". - Mol, Santa Claws

@Mollyanna - I disagree. I am irked because the future of FF is completely uncertain. It's more likely that FB will let FF flounder and close it down than it is that FB will invest time and resources in maintaining and enhancing FF. FB has other interests and is splitting up the FF dev team. That does not bode well for FF. I don't begrudge the FF devs for taking the money. I would be... more... - Lindsay

Leo, I hope you mention FriendFeed in your Dubai TED talk ! :) I'll try to be there ! - Ahsan Ali aka. Slick

@Jan You're an asshat. - Ian Wright from BuddyFeed

leo, check out Streamy.com. I'm actually commenting to friendfeed from there right now...you may like it better. - Casey Petersen

looooool =)) - ★amin.m★

Haiku Laporte -

that was cute! :O) - Jeanne

@ian - "Wordsmith. Public relations undergraduate at The University of Texas. Feminist Capitalist. WordPress geek. Future commercial rights attorney"...surely that kind of asinine comment is beneath you! - Jan Simmonds

Maybe they're just not that into you. - Elizabeth Johnson

Wait... who's on first? - Michael Rosenau

Logged in to suggest that many of us have tridden a similar path, but a lot of people have beaten me to it! I miss Pownce - SpionKopRed

wow, Leo. You've got relationship issues! - Justin Bradshaw

there there, Shawny's here... - sofarsoShawn

I sense a pattern here.. maybe you always seem to go after web2.0 services that are bent on ditching you :) - Shivanand Velmurugan

Do we really expect frank and up-front answers from politicians -- republican or democrat? - Pete Delucchi

17 more comments

We should expect it but not anticipate it. - Geoff Schultz

I think there is little hope for the Repubs and this video seems to prove it - Andy Glover

No - George Gray

Dude...this video is fucking sad - Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah

Reap what they sow. - Ayşe E.

+1 Pete - Ⓐ ☠ slayerboy ☠ Ⓐ

I am so sad I was a Republican for 12 years. Someday I will hopefully make up for that idiocy. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Robert, sadly, Democrats are just as bad. And don't worry about making up for the idiocy, there's far worse things in the world. At least you aren't one of the politicians :P - Ⓐ ☠ slayerboy ☠ Ⓐ

Well I hear less of this kind of idiocy from Democrats. Might have something to do with Fox and Rush having such a big impact on politics in last 15 years. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

The birth certificate is not a real issue. Stanley Fish offers an astute insight into possible motivations of those who are requesting the proof of Obama's citizenship over and over again: " It isn’t the legitimacy of Obama’s birth certificate that’s the problem for the birthers. The problem is again the legitimacy of a black man living in a big house, especially when it’s the White... more... - jacek

Look he was born in Kenya and then tunneled as a baby to Hawaii, where he cleverly posted his OWN birth notice in the newspaper since he KNEW ahead of time that he'd be running for president and this would come up. Now come on. Is that not brilliant or what? - Richard Bitting

Question is not whether he is a citizen, but a natural-born citizen (the qualification to be president). I don't know why they don't just settle this though. All this mess just to see a piece of paper. Seems like the money could be better spent elsewhere (on both sides). - Brian Milby

They HAVE settled it. The state of Hawaii has released a certified copy of his birth certificate. The conservatives then claimed that the certificate was bogus because of some issue with the fonts and layout of the certificate, even though it was issued by the state. - Trent Hamm

I think he was born in Hawaii but I don't know what is being hidden. Two men had their orders to deploy revoked so that they would not have standing in a lawsuit questioning Obama's qualifications to be president. So basicly any soldier that does not want to be deployed just has to claim to be a Birther. - Christian Burns from iPhone

I come from a long line of Republicans (though I'm not GOP myself), all of whom must be spinning in their graves at this idiocy. I will say, though, that it's fascinating watching a major party self-destruct. I'd love to see a more rational conservative party emerge. Of course, it'll never happen. - Larry Anderson

I don't get what all the fuss is about. Even if he was born overseas, his *mother* was an American citizen and that automatically makes him one, no matter where he was born. -- "Congress first recognized the citizenship of children born to U.S. parents overseas on March 26, 1790, stating that "the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the... more... - daNanner

A complicating factor is that Obama's father was not an American citizen. (I assume he still isn't, living in Kenya & all.) The laws in effect in 1962 basically said that if Obama was born in the U.S., he's a natural-born citizen. If he was born outside the U.S., he isn't. All rational investigators have concluded that Obama was born in Hawaii, hence is a natural-born citizen. Irrational investigators will never be satisfied. - Pat Rice

the real irony is john mccain was born in panama. on a military base, yes, but this is not settled law. amazing how this was never mentioned. - lew

I suspect that a lot of the continuing media coverage of Twitter probably accounts for it's continued rise. I'm not sure why FF seems to remain flat though. - Thomas Hawk

59 more comments

Maybe for a migration of early users from facebook to twitter, while the number of active users on FF isn't increased much. I mean that the usage of twitter isn't regular but it have a peek when important events happens (e.g. Iran elections or MJ death) - Roberto from fftogo

I remember seeing a graph like that about the time Pownce shut down..or similar. - Mike Lewis

Plus I'm sick of hearing twitter every time I turn on the TV. Wish Rick Sanchez and Don Lemon could see me shaking my fists at them :) - Shivanand Velmurugan

Because FriendFeed continues to be perceived as too hard to use, too much information, too difficult to make it display what you want it to display, too desktop centric, et al. And they are right. - Robert Scoble

I think FF might be a complex enough web service that it needs to step forward and make its own desktop and mobile clients, in its own vision. Quality clients straight from the horse's mouth would bring the experience out of the browser the way it's meant to be. - David Chartier from iPhone

I disagree. Their mobile site is top notch, and as for desktop app, just use a chrome instance on windows or a fluid.app on mac, works beautifully, shortcuts and all. - Evan Travers from Android

Scoble: I think Twitter makes it much more difficult to make it display what you want it to display. Without some type of Folder structure, Twitter falls apart keeping order once you follow a certain number of people. FF brings order to the madness. - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

TWITTER TRACKER TWITTER TRACKER - Rochelle

1UP Rochelle - Akiva Moskovitz

ff needs to read my post about how they will make money - that chart would change if they would listen :) - Allen Stern

thanks for keeping score - chaz2b

Robert if people can figure out how to navigate the iTunes store or buy something on amazon, then they shouldn't have any trouble figuring out Friendfeed. It's not that complex. - Jeff P. Henderson from iPhone

Who is searching for "hip hop distribution" so much and what does that even refer to??? - Mitch

interesting point Robert. I wonder how they could improve it. I know that one thing that I would like would to be able to import all of my Flickr contacts into FF. I think there are a huge number of potential Flickr users who would use FriendFeed if it had that capability. Not sure why they don't implement that. It would be very cool to match up my Flickr contacts with their FF accounts and auto set up imaginary friends for contacts not on FF yet. - Thomas Hawk

FriendFeed still needs SMS - for instance, in South Dakota I couldn't access or post to FriendFeed, but I could Twitter because I still had SMS. Twitter is simply open to many, many more audiences because of that. - Jesse Stay

I believe that mostly only after Twitter users have sufficiently "banged their heads against" its unwieldiness with larger "following" counts (and no, Tweetdeck isn't a sufficient solution), do they wake up to the idea that a service like FriendFeed is even necessary (someone that doesn't think Web2.0 info filtering as a huge issue simply doesn't need FF). As such, FF is likely always... more... - Alex Schleber

Jesse - Use an SMS to Email client, FFS. - Mitch

i'm with alex on the paid features, but not $100/year. maybe $50 or $5/month. and totally agree that FF will remain a great tool for power users as long as it stays in its current form. - Scott Magdalein

A quick look at Quantcast (the far better measurement tool BTW) and you'll see that Twitter's success is tied to a band of addicts and regulars. 1% of the people make up 35% of the visits. FF hasn't obtained this type of hard core following yet. But Twitter is not converting new people as fast as they were - more than 50% of users have never sent a Tweet. How much is now automated Tweet... more... - AJ Kohn

Scoble has provided the best analysis of why Twitter is taking off and Friendfeed is stalled: noise. It's as simple as that. The FF interface is much too cluttered. Try offering the option to hide all comments and large images by default, and see what happens. Multi-column list view. More powerful automated personal prioritization of news. Radically reduce the noise and clutter, while... more... - Sean McBride

one million unique visitor isnt all that much - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

Sean: My argument to this is that FF signal/noise ratio is much better to control in FF over Twitter. First, the engaging posts (like this one) float to the Top. But secondly, I can move people that create more noise than signal to a High Volume Folder. This gets rid of a lot. On the screen real estate, I kind of agree but love being able write longer items (like this). Agree that Filter types needs improving. - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

Technical people, savvy people, early adopters - you know, cool people like us - know about FriendFeed, but if I talk to my family about the web then they'll have heard about Twitter and Facebook and MySpace but there's a complete blank look if I say the magic word FriendFeed. The failure is one of marketing and usefulness; there's nothing complicated or restrictive for mainstream users about using FriendFeed but what will my parents get out of it and how can it be promoted to them for example? - Mark H

Mark brings up a great point, it's the flock effect for most. They go where there friends are or where they think their audience is and that's mass marketed sites. I personally like Friendfeed this audience size (though I understand they would prefer to grow). - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

FF, a long way to go, but Twitter can't sustain this growth for long time - Michael_techie

Hello Thomas, Thanks for sharing, have you make any revenue through twitter? How you done this? - Rohit

Revenue through Twitter? not that I'm aware of Rohit. I've sold a lot of photos on the internet and get money from ads when people read my blog, but I wouldn't say I've made any direct revenue through twitter directly. - Thomas Hawk

manielse says: "Twitter falls apart keeping order once you follow a certain number of people. FF brings order to the madness." Absolutely not true until you go to the trouble of setting up lists, groups, and searches. All of which you can do on Twitter with clients like TweetDeck. Or, just do as I do: don't follow thousands of people. - Ian Betteridge

Ian, my point is that I don't need a 3rd party tool to do it in FF. Yes it's a little work but worth the effort IMO. - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

friendfeed is too complicated for the average user, is a pain on mobile(reason I use it less than twitter), and doesn't have Ashton Kutcher or anyone comparable. It's a better product that will never really go "Mainstream Pop". - Cody Heitschmidt

Friendfeed is where all the really *smart" people are. Yes, I mean YOU. :-) - Karma Martell

I agree Karma! :) - Thomas Hawk

Ditto Karma and Thomas! And there's so much more here on FF. You can do so much more with creativity. - Myrna

"FriendFeed? My friends are all on Facebook. What's a feed?" - Chris Baskind

My friends are joining Facebook. Twitter not so much (although corporations seem to be catching on). FriendFeed - nada. - Mitchell Tsai

What does FriendFeed need? IMO Paths, signposts, places-to-go. In my past life doing HCI (Human-computer interface), ~50% of people don't get "directory" structures much less anything so info-rich as FF. See my posts on Myers-Briggs, where most people here are a minority of the general public. People here can read 100+ blogs & new sources. Most people are overwhelmed. If you simplify... more... - Mitchell Tsai

and how many twitter accounts are actually in use, posting and interacting? there are a lot of dead twitter accounts. the main problem with friendfeed is it gives to much power to your friends to change the priority of your posts. there should be a linear mode - Noah David Simon

Chris's post brings an interesting piece to the "too complicated" debate: Facebook is actually more like Friendfeed than Twitter. Facebook is very complicated in many aspects yet it's mainstream. Point being, FF is not really too complicated, it's just not a household name (and I like it that way). - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

How much of Twitter's growth last month was spurred by Michael Jackson's death? I'm guessing it drew a number of new users to the service. - Mark Wilson

What would I like - "Find me 10 people talking about cancer related topics." "Give me 20 hot technology discussions." "What's happening with 3G networks and the future of WiFi?" "Whose birthdays have been happening?" "Waterfall pictures" "Swimming discussions" etc... - Mitchell Tsai

Manielse: Facebook is a great way to share pictures... FF is more text-based. - Mitchell Tsai

Mitchell, I think you are on-target. One approach might be topical subdomains. - Chris Baskind

Mitchell, you're just subscribed to the wrong people. - Myrna

Facebook is hardly just about Pictures (yet I admit done much much better than FF) and is very text based. - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

Manielse, ditto - Myrna

Pictures? I'm on fb and have 1000 friends or more, not as many as Sarah Palin. I love posting pics on FF, better than fb - Myrna

It's just that regular people like fb. My whole family is on fb and that's a lot of people. They wouldn't be interested in FF. - Myrna

Facebook also has critical mass. To make another comparison, Tribe.net offered a wonderful service (with some early investor money), but only achieved critical mass in the San Francisco Bay Area - mostly with the alternative "Burning Man" crowd. Tribe.net is kick-butt for SF events, but sucks in LA. MySpace started with the music scene, but managed to grow. Where will FriendFeed go? Can it move past techies, bloggers, and a few photographers? - Mitchell Tsai

Not unless it develops hooks, as you suggest. Particularly since its community really seems resistant to growth. - Chris Baskind

Which is a shame: FF is really slick. - Chris Baskind

Facebook has not reached critical mass with my college classmates (1982-1989, age 40-50). Only 3-8% are on Facebook, and I still haven't seen a mad rush (including my Tech CEO/CTO friends). Most are deathly afraid of the career consequences. Whereas, 30-40% (maybe more by now) are on LinkedIn. My dance communities (a few thousand people) made the cross-over to Facebook in the past year - perhaps 95% are on Facebook (compared to about 5-10% last year). - Mitchell Tsai

Honestly, most people come to Friendfeed and see constant discussions about Friendfeed. That's just what they see. It's A list narcissism on speed with a mob mentality. And don't take this up with me, look at the graph again. Take it up with the people that come here, see what they do and leave. Maybe it's good that it is that flat to the established community here, but I'm sure the founders cannot be pleased. - Mike Lewis

I always love the "Most are deathly afraid of the career consequences" quotes. It's so true that people are afraid of these tools. If you think about it HRs would love to see your FriendFeed, less work for them to find all of your online postings. I can understand the fear is being transparent and open but private people in my opinion raises more concerns...makes me question why they are so private? - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

manielse: Because one stupid picture can cost you your job as a high-school teacher. Traditional institutions are so conservative. Some high schools prohibit their teachers from using Facebook (for fear of lawsuits from parents), even though some college professors are now using Facebook in their classes. I have some high school principal friends, and the fear of lawsuits from students... more... - Mitchell Tsai

Some interesting points raised here: http://ff.im/53C52 about FF's lack of growth. - Kol Tregaskes

Mitchell: I hear you. It's just so sad that these things (Lawsuits & fear of loosing job) happen though. Fear is such a powerful force. - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

And I just shifted completely over to ff this week. - Rohit

like your post on how friendfeed could work better with flickr too - Kate

friendfeed is such an awesome blogging tool it would be a shame to ruin it with a community that I have no control over. I kind of feel the same way about Seesmic - Noah David Simon

http://trends.google.com/website... - Mitch

Me - Jannifer @wordsforliving

Jannifer, is your name Oprah? - Louis Gray

lol - perhaps I should read the article... sorry, I was just answering the question! I'm not someone that matters like Oprah! - Jannifer @wordsforliving

Never really used it much in the first place. - Jeff P. Henderson

While it was a great bit of mainstream exposure for Twitter, I'm not sure Oprah matters like Oprah. 33 days? A shame. - The Letter M

Twitter (and FriendFeed) are great forms of entertainment, but ultimately for both I find that the flow of stuff is just not enlightening. Do we really need this information or are we just playing around? - Paul W. Homer

If more of my friends were on FriendFeed, I would in a heartbeat - Keith Bourgoin

Quite a few. According to Nielsen, "more than 60 percent of U.S. Twitter users fail to return the following month, or in other words, Twitter’s audience retention rate, or the percentage of a given month’s users who come back the following month, is currently about 40 percent. For most of the past 12 months, pre-Oprah, Twitter has languished below 30 percent retention.". http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsen... - Aviv

Since I really use FF, I don't use twitter directly anymore. I'll soon abandon the twitter service. - DAL

My mother in law recently said she wanted a twitter acount. So I'm gone - Martin Liechti from fftogo

This is funny. I said this to a friend just the other day. The more successful that Twitter becomes, the more likely it is that early adopters like some of us will not want to stick around. We kinda like our peace and quiet or at least a dull roar that we feel we have some influence over. :) - Sid Burgess

hopefully spammers but I am guessing that is no - (jeff)isageek

LOL Martin! - Bonnie Foster

I'm just about there... just when it's going mainstream... - Ken Stewart | ChangeForge

I've left Twitter for identi.ca. Most laconi.ca-based websites are spam-free, and there are a lot of interesting people on identi.ca. - Rishabh Mishra (p248)

I keep a Twitter presence because a lot of the people I want to communicate with are there. Some days I feel like Twittering a lot; other days I feel more like FFing. - John (a.k.a. dendroica)

I use FriendFeed more for interacting with people, but Twitter's still got a larger userbase, so it's essential to have a presence there - just like it is on several other social networks - Nathan Chase

Not abandoning but preparing to lessen the TwitShit by spending more time here and other places that link here. - Ron Hagenhoff

Ron, you know that in Twitter you have the marvellous ability to *not follow* people? :) Seriously, if you find someone on Twitter is too noisy/spammy/whatever, just don't follow them. - Ian Betteridge

Hi Brett, could you contact me via ahmetalpbalkan-gmail.com , please? - Alp

21 more comments

Alp - I'm at b@brettkelly.org if you'd like to chat - Brett Kelly from iPhone

Alp wants to be King of the FF ecosystem :) - Jérôme Flipo from iPhone

how's it work? I'm too scared to enter my username and my remote-key heh - Rudolf Olah

Really? Why? - Brett Kelly from email

ah, yeah, I actually meant to do that before posting it :) - Brett Kelly from IM

I'm just used to sites that show some brief example of how they work, or that have a screenshot or whatever :P - Rudolf Olah

No, don't bother hiding the passphrase. How often are you using something like this from a public computer, or where someone can see your screen? - Michael R. Bernstein

Brett, it would be nice if the tool showed some metrics next to each name (comments, likes, some kind of mutual compatibility or engagement measure) and let you sort by that as well. - Michael R. Bernstein

This is great Brett! Is the source somewhere or is it closed source? - EricaJoy

I may open the source up at some point, but I have large plans for the FF API (not necessarily selling anything, but plans nonetheless). We'll see how it goes :) - Brett Kelly

No worries, what I want to do isn't possible yet anyhow. :) - EricaJoy from IM

What do you want to do? - Brett Kelly

Create a way to subscribe to all subscribers. Subscribers aren't exposed via the API (yet) so this seems either very hard or impossible now. - EricaJoy from IM

To subscribe to all her subscribers http://friendfeed.com/ericajo... - Jérôme Flipo

I said that already. :P - EricaJoy from IM

actually, you could probably scrape somebody's subscribers fairly easily (until the API supports it, anyway). - Brett Kelly from IM

Brett, could your page have a link to the remote key page? Perhaps open the window in a new tab. - Kol Tregaskes

Could the characters for the remote key also be masked? - Kol Tregaskes

Is it possible to select all/none plus select by friends lists? - Kol Tregaskes

Need select all button :) - Live Crunch Blog

what's my remote key? - BEX

BEX, you'll see it by going here (you have to be logged in of course): http://friendfeed.com/remotek... - Micah Wittman

"New research explains music's power over human emotions and its benefits to our mental and physical well-being" - M F from Bookmarklet

Actually I've met a couple of people who claimed not to like music, I mean any music did not give them any pleasure and I found there was something strange in the way they interacted and related to other people. Obviously my observation is purely empirical and based on very small numbers. - M F

"And now we have yet another me-too effort. It’s something called Bing, and it’s the latest iteration of Microsoft’s multiyear attempt to imitate Google. The name, presumably, is supposed to evoke the sound of a winning game-show bell. The cynics online, however, joke that Bing is an acronym for “But It’s Not Google.” Here’s the shocker, though: in many ways, Bing is better." - RAPatton from Bookmarklet

3 more comments

"At first, Bing is pretty much Google. Oh, there’s a big National Geographic-y photo on the home page instead of plain white, but otherwise it’s the same deal: a search box; a menu that offers to complete what you’re typing; and inconspicuous links to Images, Videos, News, Shopping and Maps. Once you hit Enter, however, you can’t help noticing Bing’s more concerted effort to get you... more... - RAPatton

"Here’s another example. On Google, search results usually appear as a long list of blue text links. Occasionally, a photo appears, too. Or, if there’s only one possible answer for your query (weather, stock price, sports scores, street address), you get that answer right at the top: a five-day weather forecast, a stock chart, game scores, a street map. In those cases, you don’t have to... more... - RAPatton

"Google is still way ahead on other kinds of searches, like movie showtimes: You get a complete table of nearby movies, complete with trailers, reviews and even links to IMDB.com (the Internet movie database). Google also wins with maps and driving directions; it offers features like Street View (actual photos along your route) and the ability to drag the colored route line to... more... - RAPatton

"People won’t start dumping Google en masse; Google is a habit. Everyone already knows how to work it, and it may be built right into your Web browser. But if you value your time, you should give Bing a fling. Put another way, even if Bing really did stand for “But it’s not Google,” that is not necessarily an insult." - RAPatton

LOL - Anna Haro

now that is one contented cat. - Moved to Facebook from fftogo

That is awesome! - vicster

Really? I was thinking, "I'm melting, I'm melting!!!!! - JA Castillo

Or MELTING I can see that.. - Moved to Facebook from email

Here at the office, we use it to forward all of our mercurial changelog emails, server push notifications, etc to a private group. That way, we all see what's going on in real-time (thanks to the notifier: http://friendfeed.com/setting...), and can easily discuss them from the FriendFeed interface. To add a secret email address, click on "Import a service" in the "settings" dialog of any group. For regular posting, you should continue to use the normal email interface though (share@friendfeed.com or groupname@friendfeed.com, see http://friendfeed.com/share... for details). Thanks to Tudor for writing and launching this! - Paul Buchheit

50 more comments

Shhh! This is very sekret! - Andrew Trinh

Interesting. My secret FriendFeed toy. - phil baumann

I'm in my Private Group, but for the life of me I cannot find this option. Wouldn't it be under Edit Settings? - Nick in Manila

Ah. NOW I see it. - Nick in Manila

I am loving this feature idea... Very savvy for business use. Thanks! - Susan Beebe

This won't be happening in the main feed will it? Anonymous posting destroys services. - Matthew DeVries

Matthew: No. Your home feed only shows things that you're subscribed to. Of course, if you're a member of a group whose admin allows anonymous posting, and you have that group on your home feed, then the anonymous posts will show up there -- but then, you can always leave the group or remove it from your home feed. - Tudor Bosman

oh this is genius. there's so many use cases that can leverage this. platform +1 - Sameer

Groups already allow "anonymous" posts -- if you (as an admin) add a service to a group, posts originating from that service will show as belonging to the room, not to any particular user. You can think of anonymous posts (whether imported from RSS services, or posted by email) as being the responsibility of the group admins -- it's their job to police them if they deem necessary. - Tudor Bosman

I see this working for the Confessions room. What else? - Josh Haley

Sounds like the email can be sent from any arbitrary email address, not necessarily one registered with FriendFeed for an account? So the secret really needs to be kept secret to valid potential posters only. - LogEx

Logical Extremes: Yes, that is the point; it doesn't matter what address you send *from*. Sometimes you can't control the address that mail gets sent from. A few examples: your datacenter can notify you by email of any problems affecting your servers, but you'd prefer these notifications to go to a FriendFeed group. You are subscribed to a low-volume distribution list, but you'd rather... more... - Tudor Bosman

Paul has explained how we use this feature internally at FriendFeed. If one of us checks in a change (we use Mercurial for source control), Mercurial sends an email to a secret email address for a private group (that all FF engineers are subscribed to); the others see the change immediately, and we can discuss it in comments. - Tudor Bosman

Cool! Very useful for room owners. If you don't have instructions, it's very hard to find. "Sekret" - AJ Batac

LD: I don't understand. To which of my examples are you referring? - Tudor Bosman

Oh yeah. Laughing uncontrollably. WOW. - Webferret

It sounds like a pro-spam feature. Have you thought through all the consequences? - Tim Tyler

Tim: the group admins should keep the address secret and only share it with trusted services. If the address gets leaked, then the group can get spammed, in which case the group admins can delete it or change it (which prevents all future mail to the old address from being posted to the group). We believe it to be reasonably secure, but please let us know if you notice any problems. - Tudor Bosman

Tudor, what is that group, so we can get the engineers working on putting the service icons and service sorting back without having to hack the service with scripts? - Matthew DeVries

Matthew: :) - Tudor Bosman

Tudor, you said: "posts originating from that service will show as belonging to the room, not to any particular user". But the posts /do/ show up as belonging to the admin user in a _search result_. - Ahsan Ali aka. Slick

Ahsan, that's a bug that already existed with how searches handle imported content in groups (not specific to this release and already on our list, thanks). - Dan Hsiao

LD: You're right, you can't reply from within FriendFeed. You could have the contact form send email to both the internal group and a regular email address, which you can then use to send a reply. - Tudor Bosman

Tudor: btw. regarding mercurial, what's your experience using mercurial in friendfeed vs perforce in google? - Amund Tveit

Tudor - what I really like is the business use cases you're laying out here, including your own internal engineering ones. Good stuff, as my e2.0 buddy Sameer above says. - Hutch Carpenter

using this feature to post blog uptime statistics for several blog to blog owners - Jeroen De Miranda

Its a good feeling when you know that the people behind a certain product know what there doing. Dont we FF Team? - Webferret

Use case? How can one use the best readily filtering system available (Gmail filters) with best of breed group collaboration (Friendfeed). This is GOING to become the best in its class. I can drop so many business tools(that i pay for) for just FF Private rooms - Webferret

Already is Webferret, already is... - Chris Heath

sweet - D Lets

Turn Gmail Into Your Personal Nerve Center http://www.micropersuasion.com/2007... - Webferret

Amund: Mercurial works. We use it in a mostly-centralized setup (one central repo that we sync to very often). Can't really compare performance -- our repositories are tiny compared to Google's. We can take this offline if you'd like to discuss this in more detail. - Tudor Bosman

That's a great add-on. Slowly, FF is going to be our "life center" - Ozkan Altuner

So this is kinda like when you posted the "advert"? :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Kol: not quite; the "shameless self-promotion" showed up as an entry in your home feed, without any user (or group) name attached to it. Entries imported into a room (via RSS or via email) show up as being in that room. - Tudor Bosman

OK, Tudor. I'll give it a test later. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

This is a cool idea, but it only seems to import the mail subject title only. Is that right, if so, how do we get the content of the mail in, or is it not meant to do that? - Keith Bennett from BuddyFeed

Keith: it works for me. The subject goes in the main post (FF thread title?) and the message appears as a comment to the thread. Maybe you are sending an HTML e-mail? - alieb

Cheers alieb, I just tested it by forwarding the first mail in my inbox and that didn't show anything up. Creating a mail and adding some text to the mail body works correctly. Thanks for the help. - Keith Bennett

I just figured out a new use for this feature and it goes in line with Kevin Rose's idea for an Open Source security system. http://www.facebook.com/video... He was talking about having a neighborhood watch like program. Well each neighborhood can have a private room here in FF. If someone tripped an alarm in your house, it would send an email to the secret email for the private group and everyone in the group could be notified via email,IM,SMS,etc. - Bryan Lee

I think this secret address should be reminded somewhere in each group settings window. - Zackatoustra

@Bryan Lee. shhhh lol - Webferret

Zacaktoustra: group admins will see the address in the "services" window (click "add/edit" under Services in the settings dialog). Other group members will only see the words "secret email address", as, well, the address is supposed to be secret and only visible to admins. - Tudor Bosman

could we have this for home feeds as well? some 3rd party messaging services will send from various addresses. great feature, thanks! - Mike Chelen

I'm blonde so maybe need to tell you what I'd like to do and see if it works: I would like to have my ATT mail, my Yahoo mail AND my gmail all feed into a FF room so I could read it all at the same time (ATT and Yahoo are partnered so you can't sign into both at the same time. Both go through Yahoo's sign in page.) Is this possible to create? Having ATT and Yahoo feed into my Gmail through FF would be okay as well, btw. I get FF feeds through GMail already. - Molly

Molly, what you're asking for is totally unrelated to this thread. If i was you I would set up gmail to receive the mail from your other email addresses. It's a bit complicated but can be done. Try reading this lifehacker gmail article first: http://lifehacker.com/374610... - Chris Heath

Well said Heath - Daniel J. Pritchett from IM

Heath, thanks. I told you I'm blonde. :-P I tried your suggestion already and so far haven't been able to hook ATT and Yahoo to my Gmail (both being POP accounts) w/o paying extra. Will work on it again later. It's not THAT much trouble to check all three accounts from different sources. - Molly from email

Molly, another option (if att offers it - i know yahoo does) is to set up forwarding so the email is automatically forwarded from ATT and Yahoo to your gmail address. Then once in gmail you can use filtering (by the to: field) to separate out the emails - Chris Heath

I think that's the paid service from Yahoo. At least it was when I investigated it a few months ago. Thanks for thinking about it for me, though. Us techblondes need all the help we can get re: setting stuff up. I'm kind of on hold right now anyway (trying to recover my domain name and identity....... long story and boring to all but me). Molly - Molly from email

Wow! This is awesome! Thanks. - Svartling

Interesting stuff. I have already set the privacy settings for my Status updates to Everyone :) - Peter du Toit (S.Africa)

That sounds dangerous to me. Too many people have far too much private info in their Facebook profiles. Personally I keep everything either entirely ficticious or just truthful enough to be useful to a coterie of friends. I am not publicly available on Facebook and have no desire to be so. - Gilbert Harding

Great post. Facebook should stick with what they do well. But the Iran issue is a real boost for Twitter, all they need to do is figure out how to make money now. - Rob Truman, USN Ret.

i've seen similar headlines before... the article mentions that $3 million is a drop in the bucket for Dell, but i'm not sure it's that big :-D a decent quarter for Dell is $15 billion in sales. $15 billion / 90 days = ~ $166.666 million /day. divided by 24 hours in a day, Dell has sales of almost $7 million *per hour.* :-D so total (cumulative) sales through Twitter over the last couple of years (since 2007) is maybe 30 minutes of a single typical day on their web site Dell.com... - Karim

6 more comments

Karim: Great analysis and dose of reality. - Ken Camp

Ya, ok. Why can't Dell just go bankrupt. I honestly can't stand their company, so sorry Leo, who swears by the company. Go Apple. - Zachary TG

You know what? Given that it's money just sitting there on the table, and given that they're proving that Twitter can be a channel for revenue, I'm all for it. Good on ya, Dell. - Chris Brogan

I agree Chris. Good on Dell for finding a good business use for Twitter. I just want the dollar value kept in real perspective and not blown out of proportion myself. - Ken Camp

The real value of social media tools like twitter may be to brand, customer service, and sharing information. Those type of activities are hard to quantify, but they're important nonetheless. I don't know of any companies that would turn down an extra 3million dollars in sales for little additional cost/overhead. - Mark Essel

yeah my point was "perspective," not "twitter sucks." Dell has a lot of sales & marketing -- web ads, print ads, mailed brochures, etc. i have no idea whether Twitter is a more or less efficient medium for sales as compared to, say, the email messages i get from our Dell sales rep. that's actually a more interesting question to me: given that Dell can email or tweet 600,000 people with nearly the same amount of effort, which results in more sales? - Karim

Didn't mean to imply that you did Karim. Just that dollars headlines are head fakes when it comes to the real value of business presence within social media: 1) knowing the customer, and 2) having the trust of the consumers. - Mark Essel

I'm curious who discovered / invented the technique... hmm - LarchOye

2 more comments

Some of the best long exposure photos I've ever seen! Special thanks for sharing that one. - Jim Gablick

Really amazing photos - LeighaB

These pictures are absolutely amazing - Nicholas James

Facebook's 200-plus million members will be able to customize the URLs to their profiles starting at midnight Eastern on Saturday, according to a post on the Facebook blog. Currently, users' profile URLs have been structured as a string of numbers. At least for now, it doesn't look like the switch is mandatory. - Leo Laporte

11 more comments

MySpace had this YEARS ago. AND Glitter Graphics, Shitty Profiles, Spam, Single Moms, "MySpace Angle" Pics, etc. OK. But, might there be a bunch of Facebook URL Squatters ? - PaulFrankRizzo

Supposedly accounts created after 3PM EDT today and anyone who made a Page after May 31 cannot get one, so you can't make 10 accounts this week and find yourself with tons of great URLs. - Cory Roush

And I too, sir, will claim my vanity.... - Anthony K. Valley ©

already got one: http://fb.glencampbell.name - Glen Mistletoe

Glen, show off. - ♥patricia♥

Leo pls check yr email ...thx - Johni Fisher

Well... yes... that reminds me. SocialToo has been doing this FOREVER for Facebook profiles. - Anthony K. Valley ©

I'm just testing my friendfeed iPhone app! - Jonathan Langdale

Testing - Jonathan Langdale from Alert Thingy

Anthony, yes, and we'll still offer the service. I've got a few other ideas up my sleeve surrounding that as well. It's great to have competition. - Jesse Stay

I wonder how hard it will be for me to get "Stephen"? There's only one Stephen in the World! Unless, of course, I don't get it. - Stephen Pickering

Mark your calendars people... - Coleman McCormick

Make sure to wash up after that's over. :P - David Cook

Awesome! - Trish Haley

:D - Penny

It's bigger than your face! - Bryce Roney

nice - Alfredo from fftogo

Please, keep your mouth closed during the nerdgasm. - Andy Bakun

I have a MBP that's two years old. 17". I have no real need for a desktop, so my next purchase will be either the 13" or 15" MBP. Depends on how spendy I feel. Probably wind up with the 13" though, because I'm finding more and more often that I want more portability. - Bradley Farless

very kool - (jeff)isageek

Did you shake the box like a kid on Christmas? - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

...and you had to go and rub it in! ;) - JA Castillo

LOL Congrats! - Admiral Anika

Oh you lucky man. Hopefully my new one is here by next week. - Thomas Hawk

oh gees.... nice! lol... enjoy! *drools* - Susan Beebe

Countdown page: http://www.facebook.com/usernam... Sweet! - Mona Nomura from Bookmarklet

44 more comments

jungleg or jorge.escobar? - Jorge Escobar

mona, zee says it's minimum 4 letters. What will yours be? - Jorge Escobar

Set your alarm. - Christopher Harley

Already put a reminder on Google Calendar - Jorge Escobar

want! I set my calendar too. - Aaron Hood

jorge, mona *is* four letters. plus zee said it was 5 not 4. - Alfredo

I just double checked the blog: "Your username must be at least five characters in length and only include alphanumeric characters (A-Z, 0-9), or a period or full stop (".")." Damn, I wish it were four! - Mona Nomura

monaa? - Jorge Escobar

monan - Chieze Okoye

nomnomnomura - Mona Nomura

Have to set a reminder for this. Hopefully no one else is gunning for my name. - Obayoo

lol - Chieze Okoye

debating on whether to use just my first name, my full name or my normal username (mastercko) - Chieze Okoye

For me it's hard because I don't use Facebook for Social Media but for family and friends, so I should go for jorge.escobar. BUT I'll be pissed if someone takes jungleg, which is kinda my brand name. AAAAAAAAAAAArgh! - Jorge Escobar

Hm. Wonder what I should choose - Rodfather

Why'd they give so much warning!!! I wish I coulda just snaked my name before anyone had a chance to react. - Frankie Warren

Facebook is smart - they're creating user generated buzz. Free marketing. :) - Mona Nomura

Glad they have a way to prevent people from registering trademarks as their user names. Will make it easier to get the company page user name. Now trying to decide what I want as my personal username :/ - Tamara

They are also casting restrictions on newly created accounts to prevent name "squatting" LOL - Mona Nomura from IM

bah. don't even think about taking frankie - Frankie Warren

Argghh... I'm going to be a zombie at midnight!! - Kevin Whalen

Seems like a good idea. I also have the dilemma of snatching my usual username (vmlemon), vs my full name... - Tyson Key

Facebook will soon be my business card. - Mona Nomura

That's 5am in the morning for us in the UK. - Kol Tregaskes

Grrrr to the 5 letters. Boo! - Ayşe E.

FB won't let me sign up with "J" as my first name so, none for me. - jbrotherlove

I'm going with LPH2.0 ;) - LPH™ and his dog P™

I am going to get the name "mona". - Louis Gray

You will be rejected! Minimum is FIVE! - Mona Nomura

I am getting it WITH QUOTES! "mona" - Louis Gray

It's gonna be a mad rush and unlike other services I know of at least one other Krynsky on there who I'm giving the stinkeye to as we rush on that day like we were trying to buy tickets for a hot show on ticketmaster. - Mark Krynsky

Hahahha! Then I'm getting LOUISGRAY - Mona Nomura from IM

I wonder how ugly it's going to get. - Mona Nomura

I'll get LouisGrayisarobot - Mark Krynsky

Then I'll get LouisGraysBot - Mona Nomura from IM

There might be some username selling, come to think of it. Like the good old '90s - Jorge Escobar

Facebook isn't allowing newer accounts to snag vanities to prevent squatting. Smart. - Mona Nomura

I wonder if it's for fan pages too? - Kate

Fan pages have a restriction: more than 1k fans and created before 5/31/09 http://www.facebook.com/note... - Mona Nomura

Works for me. Thanks Mona. - Kate

Any time, Kate :) - Mona Nomura from IM

is that either or for fan pages or one of the two Mona? :) - Amani from IM

Amani - my head just exploded. LOL - Mona Nomura

LOL mona - Amani from IM

Saturday at 2pm for me. Awesome! - Bec Rowe @d0tski

"According to Compete and Quantcast, the Web's most popular tech blog is no longer TechCrunch, but social media blog Mashable" - Nicholas James from Bookmarklet

7 more comments

Mashable is also winning in Alexa rankings too - and when sites are in the top 100k Alexa is pretty accurate ;) - Nicholas James

Is a social media blog a technology blog? - David Damore

David: Social Media is Technology. Mashable also cover a lot of Technology News - Nicholas James

Some of us prefer to think that the fact that TechCrunch was ever #1 is tragic in the extreme. Good going, Mashable :) - LANjackal

LANjackal: Techcrunch are an excellent Technology Blog highlighted in http://www.techcrunch.com/2009... with some of the recent stories they broke - Nicholas James

This must be the consequence of Mashable appearing on Twitter's SUL... - Andrew Terry

Andrew that's probably the explanation plus the fact that they were mainly posting Twitter posts as discussed here http://friendfeed.com/profitb... with responses off Mashable Writer Ben Parr ;) - Nicholas James

@Nicholas: Really? Since when does shoddy journalism = excellence? See here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009... in which TC explicitly encourages inaccurate reporting using the excuse of "reader involvement". Especially after the Last.fm fiasco, IMO TC's articles hold as much water as the checkout stand tabloids reporting on aliens in the White House. I prefer Mashable's well written, informative posts to TC's rapid fire drivel. Sensation and hype != reliability. - LANjackal

See http://siteanalytics.compete.com/twitter... - Atul Arora

22 more comments

Wow. This is why I follow you. For stuff like this. - Dave Winer

Dave - comes with all the usual disclaimers - this is from compete.com, does not include twitter clients etc... - Atul Arora

If this is true, it's good news. It means the Twitter leaders can come home, and we can all roll up our sleeves and figure out what Twitter is really for. Maybe they'll start working with us instead of looking to celebs for the vision of their future. - Dave Winer

What's really amazing is I was driving through Virginia last week and every radio and TV station it seemed was talking about Twitter. This shows just how hard it is to get normal people to participate in the geeky world. - Robert Scoble

@Dave, QFT. - Scott Ohlemacher

So much for the hockey stick growth? - Mike Doeff

Growth is slow across most subdomains - http://www.compete.com/m... - You may need to register to see this. - Atul Arora

For example search.twitter.com is down about 5.5% - Atul Arora

Maybe now the infrastructure can catch up with the userbase and get rid of fail whales. - Morton Fox

What's weird is that this isn't really a "geeky" thing. Teenagers across the land text daily and that's all this really is, except to a larger audience. Wonder what is keeping that relationship from connecting? - Michael Turner

did the facebook changes have an effect? - Robert O'Callaghan

also scoble is on friendfeed now and that must be 50% of the traffic ;-) - Robert O'Callaghan

@O'Callaghan That's actually a good point. I'd like to be able to compare this to tweets made from apps and third party pages that use the API. - Scott Ohlemacher

Thanks: Atul - Charlie Anzman

It's not the number of users, it's the engagement that matters. - Matt Robson

Twitter grows 1043% in 3 months and it plateaus for a month, big deal; there's got to be some absorption. LinkedIn actually lost 400,000 visits, where's the panic over that? - Tom Gray

FriendFeed will beat Twitter one day - Michael_techie

@ Tom Gray - given all the media coverage, there was an expectation that Twitter would continue its spectacular growth. It is a bit of surprise that it plateaued for a month (as measured by compete.com) and its much bigger competitor Facebook grew faster than it did. - Atul Arora

Go figure! weird... - Susan Beebe

Oprah talked about it, everyone that needed to know about it learned about it, now there's no one else. Twitter can only grow so far. My Mom and Dad would never use it nor have reason to use it, yet they use Facebook. - Jesse Stay

Friendfeed only had marginal growth in May as well. http://siteanalytics.compete.com/friendf... - Shéa Bennett

I think the use case and interface are still a bit puzzling to the average Joe, at least compared to Facebook. - Laura Norvig

No worries. It is just digesting the wave that came with Oprah & Co : after a few tries, it takes months (as an individual) to figure out a use, and come back for more. Who can say that he/she starting twittering and coming back to twitter every day since he signed up ? It will start growing again soon. Agreeing with @ Michael Turner : the DNA of Twitter is very similar to mobile texting, except that it's public. Therefore it will reach mass adoption sooner or later. - Roald Sieberath

be right back with more. - Robert Scoble

788 more comments

That makes me sad because it was my favorite tech blog to click "like" on. I talked with Mike this morning at an event and he said last night was one of the worst he's ever lived through with the amount of hatred aimed at him. He deleted 600 Techcrunch comments, too, he told me. - Robert Scoble

Wow, interesting. - Kevin Whalen

Some of the comments I've seen on both sides of the aisle are pretty damn repugnant. I've had that kind of stuff aimed at me in the past and it's never fun. - Robert Scoble

he pissed off Leo's hardcore fans - David Lloyd

wow, deleted the tc account. Scoble: what do you think are going to be the long term implications of this? - ming yeow

It just goes to show that people love to pay attention to negative things, but rarely to positives, or when people make efforts to make up for past misgivings. Sad, but human nature. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Funny, I remember helping push a mob against some people I really didn't like and a friend really ripped into me for doing that. My friend was right, of course. Interesting that not many people are speaking up against the kinds of comments (aimed personally, not at the substance of what happened). I want to be counted as one of those who stood up personally against the kind of comments I've seen. - Robert Scoble

600 hateful comments? Puts a knot in my stomach just thinking about it. Have had the occasional hate comments but never to that extent - David Weedmark

I didn't dig into those treads too much but imagine they got pretty nasty, probably more so on digg. too bad though, i used FF to find lots of TC content - sean percival

Mark: and Leo should call them back and tell them shame. The kinds of things I've seen against Mike (and some against Leo too) are just awful. People saying that Mike should get cancer and die and worse. - Robert Scoble

That seems weird.. Why would anyone delete an account on FF. Were they a lot of hateful comments posted to his account? - Bindu Reddy

thats fucked up Robert. - David Lloyd

David: Given the number of people who hate Arrington's guts, 600 doesn't seem too bad. Just one person harassing you over a period of years over the net (as I've had) is much worse than 600 random people digging at you once and then going away. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Very strange... Was it hacked? - Hugo Romano

But don't you think due to a LOT of pent up frustration against Mike? His attitude has always been a point of contentment amongst lots of people i know. - ming yeow

Bindu: Mike is actually a pretty sensitive guy beneath a lot of bluster. I'm to blame for pushing the friendfeeders to poke at Mike. - Robert Scoble

ming: there's some of that that's Mike's fault too. But when mobs happen they always go overboard. - Robert Scoble

SCOBLE: I was the one who posted the video on youtube (MPB326) that everyone has been linking to and I have gotten the 700+ comments to my email account. I can't believe some of the stupid things people are saying on YouTube. Terrible stuff! I was actually thinking about deleting the video. - Mike Bracco

Sorry but he shouldn't have deleted his FF account. He should have stayed the storm. I think what he said to Leo was out of line, but to receive the vitriol he has is unnecessary. I think he deserves criticism, but not cancer threats. - kenneth glenn

Yeah that's really screwed up. If those people want to get pissed off at something, come to a third world country and take a gander at all the "real" abuses people do. Talk about making you sick ... - Nick in Manila

scobe: roger that. I like leo a lot, but that seemed to be an overreaction by him. then the mobs wayyyy over reacted - ming yeow

ming: and go far further than the problem that incited them in the first place. And Mike rarely gets personal, as far as I have seen, even when his barbs are aimed at something I've done. - Robert Scoble

Mike acts like a dick. Then again, so do I. I used to have a hate-on for him myself until I realized that really, he's a lot like me... Ballsy and annoying on the outside, but a real human with real feelings on the inside. I'm not afraid to call him a jerk to his face, but that's his behaviour I'm commenting on, not him personally. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

I don't get why people feel so compelled to fling poo at Michael. He says contentious things, has strong opinions, and sometimes screws up...that makes him human and reasonably interesting. I think that is a good thing. - Neal Jansons

Chris: we're all dicks once in a while. I think that's part of being human. Far as I know there's only one perfect human who has walked on the earth and I bet even he wasn't perfect if we actually could get to know him. - Robert Scoble

Neal: Everyone loves taking everyone else down a notch or two. Primate dominance games. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Mike it would be better to post the follow up video on youtube. It was an interesting conversation and would help put everything into context. - Benjamin Taylor

Neal: Chris nailed it. We love building people up and then dragging them down. I told Mike that whenever I've gotten a shit storm to form it's been when I've been at my most interesting. - Robert Scoble

Benjamin - yeah I wish I also captured the conversation a little while after between Arrington and Leo where they talked it out. - Mike Bracco

This is sad - Johni Fisher

Arrington works his ass off, I've watched him as he's gone after a story. I can't do what he does. - Robert Scoble

Leo has this massive army of supporters, and many more who probably found the clip and came to support him. These weren't neutral third parties giving their honest opinion on the incident, they were Leo supporters through and through. I can't blame him for deleting the account, because I was reading the comments, and they were tough. - Colin

I'm really surprised that Mike still, after all the crap he gets, feels hurt from these comments by people. But last night he and Leo were both discussing how these comments about "mike should die" are not from reasonable, of right mind people. I'm sad that he takes those comments to heart. And I'm sad that trolls thrive in this place (the internet) I love. - Lise

Has Leo said anything to his supporters about their attacks on Mike since yesterday, by the way? - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

As much as we all may like and respect Arrington, it just seems as if he was trying to create news at Leo's expense. - Stuart Tracte

Chris, Robert: I know, but Mike is center of poo-flinging more often than most, and he got freaking SPIT on and had his family threatened last year. It just amazes me, and honestly, each snafu just makes me more sympathetic with him personally (I still sometimes disagree with him, professionally, of course, but that is just the biz). - Neal Jansons from IM

Colin: yeah, and Leo should have spoken to his audience and told them to stay professional. But that will come back to Leo someday. These things always do, which is why my friend was correct when he told me never to push a mob. - Robert Scoble

I missed TWiT so I don't know if Leo brought it up or not during the show, but I hope he took an opportunity to tell others that its not their place to fight Mike on Leo's behalf. Especially after they made up. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

But Robert, working your ass off isn't an excuse for behaving badly to people or acting the way arirngton has in the past. Hard work doesn't mean you get to be a jerk - David Lloyd

Neal: yeah, some people become larger than life and it makes people feel that it's OK to do pretty outrageous things against them. - Robert Scoble

Chris: He didn't. I'm not sure he's even aware of the comments Mike got. - Vlad Bobleanta

Leo said at the end of his TWIT feed that he "had trouble sleeping last night." Perhaps because of this brou-ha-ha? - Steve Burgess

Vlad: Thanks. That's a shame, I think it'd be really good for both sides if Leo did come out and say this to everyone. Even if he just recorded a short video clip and tossed it up, standalone. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Whatever either of them say at this point, it has gone beyond them and their ability to "do" anything - Susan Reynolds

Robert, Leo could have said "please stay professional" a thousand times but come on, this is the internet. Do trolls, who are always ready for a fight, listen to that? - Lise

Susan: Perhaps, but it would still help allow cooler minds and attitudes to prevail and in a shorter time than if they remain silent. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Mark: I think Arrington would agree with you. - Robert Scoble

Chris: He brought the incident up, but didn't calm anyone down. Again, I'm not sure he's aware of what's been going on. - Vlad Bobleanta

Also, the Gillmor Gang section is gone: http://gillmorgang.techcrunch.com/ - Greg Byrne

i still post all my posts here. i can post the other TC ones if you guys want too. - MG Siegler

Chris, that's true, but there are still a vast army of followers who think they are in the right and just go off half cocked - and stay that way - Susan Reynolds

Lise: true too. - Vlad Bobleanta

Lise: probably not, but my friend's words ring true: to hold back mobs as much as possible. - Robert Scoble

This is 1. not a surprise & 2. mobs are not at the behest of the personalities they follow. They are mobs. Mobs glom onto some perceived raison d'etre and go. If Arrington, after all of his time pushing buttons and twisting tits, is surprised by this, well, he's a whole hell of a lot dumber than he ever gets credit for being. - Dave Martin

Leo and Steve had a big fight last night: bottom line is GG is off the twit network - David Lloyd

MG: that would be cool. Techcrunch was my #1 most "liked" feed here on friendfeed. - Robert Scoble

People saying stupid things in comments? This is nothing new. Sometimes you just don't want to deal with it anymore. - Dean Clark

perhaps someone could set up an acocunt that will link to TC articles as they are posted in real time - David Lloyd

Susan: "Madness is rare in individuals--but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule." -- Nietzsche - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

I hope he recreates it. - Johnny Worthington

Dave: I don't think he's surprised by it, just shocked at how bad it's gotten. - Robert Scoble

Perhaps someone could write a piece detailing the mob situation, defending Arrington, and encouraging him to come back, maybe this is it. - Colin

Dave Martin: I get why he's surprised. There's always a disconnect between someone like him and the so called community, and also there's always a mob waiting to be formed. - Vlad Bobleanta

Not all of those comments were hateful. he pissed me off more when he deleted mine. I pointed out what he said and then opined that I didn't think it was enough and he deleted this: http://ff.im/3FDfA - Jimminy

Big names, little names, it's still hard to see hateful things aimed your way. Intellectually most of us understand, but emotions sometimes get in the way even to the big fish - Susan Reynolds

wtf happened? i missed it and am sorry whatever came to this has come to this. - jeneane sessum

Chris: good quote! My history teacher in College simplified that to "the masses are asses." - Robert Scoble

Maybe he is just shocked that not only Leo's community attacked him but also his "loyal" techcrunch community gave him a bashing - David Lloyd

Robert, I see your point, but I don't need to be told to refrain from attacking someone. I saw what happened. I wish Leo hadn't gotten *so* angry but I respect that he feels passionately. He was defending his integrity. So that I respect. I respect Mike for handling it all so well and not throwing F bombs back. And I love Leo. But I wasn't going to curse Mike or wish death upon him. So those that did, there's no changing them. - Lise

Jeneane: Mike and Leo got into it on Gillmor Gang yesterday. There's a whole thread about that. - Robert Scoble

Not sure how taking TC off FF relates to the problems Arrington was having in comments on his blog. ? - Nick in Manila

TechCrunch Question: I noticed that my comments on FF for TechCrunch articles also appeared as part of TC's comments on their site. Is that part of FF API? - Mike Bracco

Nick: the most hostile comments were in FF comments - David Lloyd

Jeneane: http://friendfeed.com/twit-co... - Vlad Bobleanta

Mark: Aha. - Nick in Manila

oh jeez. thx robert. i'm sorry to hear that. sounds like the chorus got active. - thanks for the link Vlad. had no idea. - jeneane sessum

Mike: You can import FF comments onto Wordpress posts via a plugin - Nicholas James

Lise: good point, but I've learned that if leaders call on their followers to behave appropriately then they usually do. I don't want anyone who calls for someone else to get cancer to read me, by the way. I am here to have great conversations about tech. Keep it on the tech and we'll have a great time. - Robert Scoble

Lise, Robert, the hateful comments say more about the idiots who write them than about the two personalities about which the angry words swirl - Susan Reynolds

Nick: death threats etc - David Lloyd

Lise: There are those who were ready to tear Arrington to shreds, at least until the mutual apologies of him and Leo came out on TechCrunch. At least, I can't believe I'm the only one who felt like that. Some angry people can be assauged. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Mark: Not sure I agree. The Youtube comments are terrible. - Mike Bracco

it's difficult to be surprised by the size of this reaction.like it or not, you guys are celebrities. - Stuart Tracte

Mike: no, Techcrunch had a Wordpress Plugin that was doing that. That Plugin has been removed, too. - Robert Scoble

Colin: I think the general flip-out crazy needs to be addressed, but it needs to be by an A-lister so everyone sees it. The whole way these things are happening makes the whole industry look insane and unprofessional. - Neal Jansons from IM

Stuart: The size, yes. The venom of it, though? - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

shouldnt be too hard to make an unofficial ff account for techcrunch posts - David Lloyd

someone wanna go do it? - David Lloyd

Stuart: that's the thing. We're also people and Mike is sensitive like the rest of us (even if he has built a persona that shows him as above it all). - Robert Scoble

Mark: Surprised if someone hasn't already beaten us all to it. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Mark: I'd rather not do that. I'd rather someone at Techcrunch does that. - Robert Scoble

There are a few existing TC accounts from their feed. - Benjamin Taylor

Scoble's made the point that FF has structural features to control that kind of stuff. Guess it was overwhelmed. - Nick in Manila

Chris C, so you were one of the ones wishing death upon Mike until he apologized? - Lise

well im sure if Arrington took it down, it is probably TC policy not to have FF account, his other writers wont make one - David Lloyd

Fanboys are going to follow whatever lead they're directed. If Leo had said that Mike had terrible BO, there'd be thousands of Leo disciples telling Arrington to get himself some deodorant. It's unfortunate, but that's the way it is. - Jay Caruso

hows this http://friendfeed.com/techcru... - Jack

Leo is well-spoken, he makes things sound good, he's a well-known likeable guy, and he was the one on video, that's a lot of things going for him if you ignore everything else that's going on, and people do. Just mob mentality and drive-by commenting. - Colin

Behind every great character there is a real person. I just hope that the more rational people currently participating in the mob realize this and understand what they're doing before they do anything worse. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Nick: well, yes. I wish we could have a team feed from Techcrunch. - Robert Scoble

I still like Mike and don't think he should have deleted the TC account. I enjoy the TC posts but find that Mike and Erick tend to get to a point that makes me want to stop reading their stuff, and I won't for a few days. - Jimminy

Just create a public standard feed/group (owner controls posts, anyone can comnent), and import TC from twitter/RSS/whatever. - Ken Kennedy

Lise: Not wishing death, but I certainly would have given him shit and got up in his face if I had the chance. I don't fight (often) but I do relish giving hell to people. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Done: http://friendfeed.com/techcru... - Jack

Jay, that's not true. I am a huge Leo fangirl but I also think for myself. - Lise

The people who were commenting took it too far - Mike Appologised. Leo Appologised. That should have been it although Leo's fans just tried to continue to call mike for no reason. - Nicholas James

Jack, subscribed. - Robert Scoble

Lise, it wasn't a blanket statement. I've been a fan of Leo's since the old Tech TV days. Just saying that some will take it too far and it all it takes is the person to open that door a crack. - Jay Caruso

Thanks, Jacky boy x - David Lloyd

Thanks, Jack! - Neal Jansons from IM

Thanks Jack! - Nicholas James

Robert, is there anything else that needs doing? I think I got it right - Jack

Wait... is Jack affiliated with Techcrunch? Why not have MG do this? He offered. - Ken Sheppardson

Nicholas: At this point I'd probably be calling Arrington to tell him to not take it too personally, that mobs are really just sheep with pointy teeth. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

FF is a focus group in many ways. Sad commentary IMHO. - Eric Logan

Jack, Robert: MG can handle this. He writes for Techcrunch. How 'bout we not squat on their brand? - Ken Sheppardson

Chris C, exactly. You just said, you relish giving people hell. You're always ready for a fight. I, on the other hand, am not. And I looked at this situation and considered both sides, despite being a huge Leo fan and not knowing many details on Mike (other than he pisses people off) - Lise

Is there really much more discussion about this? What is done is done. It's already in the past & let's move on. No one knows how this will affect Leo in the future if at all. - Jason Hansen

Want to know what else happened? A single moderator in Leo's IRC chat room muted the entire channel, causing the mob to spill into FriendFeed. - Colin

When I first was diagnosed w/ cancer and the twitter community started the frozen pea fund to donate to cancer research, Mike and Robert were among the first to write about it. As I see it, they both keep a human touch to the community no matter how popular the following. I appreciate that and so maybe its easier for me to see past some of the things that upset the crowds. - Susan Reynolds

I'm not affiliated in any way with TC - Jack

are you okay now Susan ? xxx - David Lloyd

Lise: anyone who does interesting things in media is going to piss someone off. Even me, I try to take reasonable positions and do my homework, but I have lots of haters out there too. It's unavoidable. - Robert Scoble

Jason, I think there is. Considering Mike deleted his account and the GG site no longer exists on techcrunch. I feel bad for Mike and Steve. - Lise

OK, if he asks - Jack

Eric - true - ff as focus group - Susan Reynolds

Why do you feel bad for Mike & Steve? - Jason Hansen

Lise: Steve deleted the GG page, if I heard that correct. It will be interesting to see how the Gillmor Gang goes forward from here. - Robert Scoble

Robert, no I get that. But that's my point. I know Mike is capable of that. And I'm way more of a Leo fangirl. Yet I wasn't with my fist in the air yelling "fight!" - Lise

Mark - thanks for asking. Not OK but very supported by the best of the net - Susan Reynolds

Basically the only 2 people who should have been involved was Mike and Leo. They both appologised - the mob tried to get involved and call Mike for no reason - I mean after both of them appologising to each other that should have been it - people took it too far with some of the comments I saw yesterday. - Nicholas James

Because Steve realized his show isn't really his show. And Mike got hell when he didn't even give Leo that much shit to begin with. - Lise

You know, my main issue with what happened yesterday, is that it was an ego clash. And just that. Funny that in the make-up part Leo kept insisting that he'd like more content on GG and less drama, an hour or two after he himself caused a helluva lot of drama. I do love Leo and watch all of his shows, but yesterday he was overreacting. And I think he figured that out in the mean time.... more... - Vlad Bobleanta

ROBERT: oops caps, I do know Leo and Steve had a fight last night and its not gonna be on TWiT anymore x - David Lloyd

If the mob is acting "in Leo's name", then I think Leo should try and tell them that they're certainly not acting with his permission or blessings. That they should disband and stop attacking Mike. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Steve still seems like he's trying to throw his weight around and try to be in complete control of the show. He needs to remember its not just about him - its about the audience - something he said he didn't care about yesterday - Nicholas James

My impression is the guy went over tipping point for the kind of character he was putting out there, at some point people are going to say enough is enough. - Ian Wright

Nicholas: the show used to be private, Im not sure Steve cares that much about the audience - David Lloyd

Live by the sword... - Ian Wright

Vlad, it was the final straw for Leo. He had said before that Mike was becoming too trollish during the GG show. And when he felt like Mike was about to attack his integrity, well, he blew up. Unfortunately. - Lise

gillmor gang is going to be nothing more than a conference call :-( - Tobias Lewsadder

Nicholas: Steve cares about the audience more than he lets on. He knows that by making things interesting he's doing right by the audience. That doesn't mean, though, that you kowtow to the audience. - Robert Scoble

Tobias: heheh, in the real time world? THAT I would have to see! - Robert Scoble

Isn't that your opinion Robert? - Jason Hansen

I watched the whole thing unfold last night including the after show and it was clear that Mike Arrington spoke before he thought and didn't mean it to come out like people including Leo took it. I am glad that they both cooled down and realized it was a simple mis communication. Its too bad the crowd can't do the same. Mike Arrington may be a pain in the butt but pain in the butts are interesting. - Kim Landwehr

Jason, sorry, lost context. This is all my opinion. I can't speak for anyone else other than me. - Robert Scoble

Kim: bing! - Robert Scoble

"Arrington works his ass off, I've watched him as he's gone after a story. I can't do what he does." Doesn't make his insinuations right. I work hard and couldn't do what he does probably - but that doesn't mean he can act like a jerk - repeatedly according to some. - Mark Outten

I'm pretty sure the Techcrunch <-> Friendfeed comment sync was disabled a few days ago. Not sure it had anything to do with the dust-up yesterday. - Ken Sheppardson

Lise: I know why it happened. I understand that was building inside Leo over time. I get that. - Vlad Bobleanta

Robert, that really bugged me that Steve said he didn't care about the community. But I agree, he cares greatly about the show and the community. He wouldn't have been so hurt if he didn't. - Lise

i was blown away by the second episode of gg. it almost seemed like arrington was torn by who he had turned into, at least the negativity that resides within hm. - Tobias Lewsadder

It's probably just the mob he's upset with Lise. - Colin

I also agree with Kim. I enjoyed watching GG at 6:00 PM during the last hour of shift at work. I would still watch it as well as TWiT. - Jason Hansen

He was hurt by some of the comments, he also blamed Dave Winer for alot of problems - David Lloyd

Mark: who said he's a jerk? Sometimes we're all jerks. And, anyway, when he's being a jerk he usually is keeping it on the story. Not personal. He's taken lots of shots at me but has NEVER said that I should get cancer and die. That's unacceptable. - Robert Scoble

Vlad, okay and I agree with you that Mike should blow those comments off. I'm shocked he hasn't grown a thicken skin - Lise

I think that if anyone bothered to read the Techcrunch appology and watch/listen to the 2nd Gillmor Gang yesterday they'd know the full story. The mob listened to the 1st Gillmor Gang only and drew their conclusions - some of that mob didn't even listen to Gillmor Gang - they just jumped on the bandwagon like sheep especially as they saw like a 1 minute clip on Youtube summarising it. - Nicholas James

I don't know Arrington personally, all I can judge him from is his body of work with TechCrunch and it's top notch. Anyone who criticizes him in a vicious way needs to look in the mirror. A lot of those with the harsh words are probably typing it from their parents basement. I just hate when people rip other people with a pretext of being something else when it's really jealousy. - Mike Bracco

Lise: it's always easy to say people should have a thick skin until you're the one at the center of a mob getting kicked in the groin. ;-) - Robert Scoble

Mike: bing! - Robert Scoble

Steve Gillmor clearly stated that he doesn't care about the audience. And that's that for me, Robert. Lise: I can see Steve cares about the show, and especially his brand inside the show. About the audience, he said it better than I ever could. Please believe the man. - Vlad Bobleanta

I think the Steve-Leo conflict (which was briefly obvious on the show) got totally overshadowed and subsumed by the Leo-Mike issue. - Nick in Manila

Robert's comment exactly. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Robert, true. I know I couldn't handle it. - Lise

Robert: You like Microsoft's new search engine. ;) - Jason Hansen

Vlad: you aren't listening carefully. I heard what Steve said yesterday and totally understood what he was saying. You can't let the audience drive your product. Ask a Porsche owner what they want and they'll say "more trunk space, smoother ride, more leg room, etc." They just designed a Volvo. - Robert Scoble

Robert: 100% agreed. I do not want to be in Mike's position, ever. - Vlad Bobleanta

Vlad: all of us in media care DEEPLY about the audience. If you hung around any of these people you'd know that we read every comment and take them very seriously. But the day you start listening to the audience and kowtowing to them is the day when you lose your way. - Robert Scoble

Robert: How does the mob get its "justice" then? I have not seen the venomous postings you speak of, nor do I agree in any way that that is the way to go. So, how does this get resolved? I, like many, believe Leo was being "entrapped". How does Arrington get out of this with his reputation intact? He's done alot for all of us and definitely does not deserve the level of hatred you speak of, but something need to be done... - Stuart Tracte

Stuart: most of the nastiest stuff has been deleted. - Robert Scoble

Make a good product and the audience will find you. - Kim Landwehr

Side note: Do not try to converse on FF on an iphone.... had a whole paragraph written out.... and lost it... - Stuart Tracte

I think Arrington and Leo will come out of this fine, I'm already paying more attention to both of them. - Colin

Stuart: you should go and listen to the second show we did last night. Leo wasn't entraped. And he didn't have to react that way. When people question my ethics I answer them calmly. I get questioned on that all the time. - Robert Scoble

Every week someone asks me if I'm paid by friendfeed, for instance. - Robert Scoble

Robert: I am listening, and I get your point. I never got Steve's attitude, though. And I was just spinning what he said, I did get the underlying meaning. - Vlad Bobleanta

(I'm not). - Robert Scoble

Tonights FF homework: listen to the full GG show to become better informed http://feeds2.feedburner.com/TheGill... - Jack

i was in the middle of typing a comment on tech crunch last night when mike shut down the comments, how sad. he mentioned having to have a police car parked in front of his house in the past for similar issues... that is wrong!!! - Tobias Lewsadder

SCOBLE: totally agree! true innovation can't come from what the "flock" is saying they want. True innovators are so because they create something that no-one knew they needed until it is created. - Mike Bracco

Honestly, I suspect that every person who got really pissed at @arrington over the years but had decided to ignore him went back and told him what they'd thought of him all along. He's ruined companies and products on the grandstand. I read his stuff like I watch fox news, for the truth far from the middle but for clues of what might be left out on the sunny side. - Shava Nerad

Vlad: Gillmor is an interesting person. I don't always get him either. - Robert Scoble

Robert, still. I am that community that Steve supposedly doesn't care about. And that's where I almost did pump my fist in the air. When Steve said he didn't care and Leo instantly said he *did* care. But... again, I feel bad for Steve, still. His issue was just loss of control over his baby (the show) - Lise

Colin: Professionally, sure! This isn't any kind of permanent damage to either of them. Personally, though, I know that it's got to hurt them both. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Chris, I think they're both tougher now. - Colin

Shava: He's made many hundreds of companies too. I don't know of a single one that was ruined by TechCrunch. Please back that statement up. - Robert Scoble

Colin: You'd be surprised. Often the people who seem to have the thickest skin on the outside are the most sensitive on the inside. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Does Leo know any of this, btw? I think he thinks this is all over with...considering he was joking about it all. I think he's embarrassed and trying to make light of it. But I don't think it's over, unfortunately. - Lise

Seriously everyone who did not listen to the 2nd show shouldn't even comment on it. Infact the problem should be over and done with it was a minor row which ended pretty quickly with both appologising to each other. That should be the end of it. Instead of people jumping on the bandwagon trying to call someone because he has a huge readership base and earns a nice amount of revenue from his blog - Nicholas James

still watching. - jeneane sessum

If they were ruined by TechCrunch then I'd have to call that company pretty lame. Remember PodTech? Mike pointed out a lack of leadership at the company. In hindsight Mike was right. - Robert Scoble

Chris, but that outer skin just got thicker lol, I dunno, I just think it has to be a big lesson to both of them, they'll remember it. - Colin

Lise: I don't know what Leo is seeing right now. I should call him and check in. - Robert Scoble

I don't know about Mike, but Leo was already making fun of the incident on TWIT, realized their was a slight overreaction on his part - Kim Landwehr

Colin: Yes, they'll remember it. But that outer skin is just their media personalities. You're ignoring the real people behind those names, and how they feel about it. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

I don't even believe that Mike was about to question Leo's ethics. He was just upset that they didn't get a Pre. And wanted to make a point about how Palm selects reviewers. I never questioned Leo's integrity. Neither Mike's. I think they'd be really stupid to endanger their careers like that. Which settles it for me. - Vlad Bobleanta

Robert: Will you pass him the link to this discussion? - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

I think yesterday was enough fanfare - I'm filing this in the "none of my business" stack - Bwana ☠ from IM

Wow...did not expect to learn this when I logged onto FriendFeed. - Ben Parr

Vlad: you weren't hearing Mike. Please go listen to the second show. He made it very clear why he was asking those questions. Mike asks me all the time about my ethics. It's his way of digging for stories. - Robert Scoble

Robert, you should. I hope they can work this out. It's definitely not smoothed over. Maybe between Mike and Leo but not all 3. - Lise

Bwana: But we need to know what every single person on FriendFeed thinks about the relationship between Leo, Mike, and Steve... did you miss the memo? - Ken Sheppardson

I'll say this again, but Leo's IRC chat was muted, and chatters spilled right onto FriendFeed. If you were reading the IRC chat at the time, it was 100% pro-Leo. Those people normally don't come on FriendFeed, but when they were muted, this was the first place they came to, because this is the 2nd largest chat Leo endorses. - Colin

Robert: That's his way of digging for stories... fine. However, is that something you would do to a respected friend? - Jason Hansen

Mmmyeah, Steve's issue was loss of control over the show. I get that. I've seen how awkward it was at times. But still. How old are these people again? - Vlad Bobleanta

Lise: that's true. Steve feels his show was stepped on needlessly. - Robert Scoble

Jason: All's fair in love and war... And in media. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Jason: in this business? Yes. I ask MYSELF all the time am I on the right side of the ethical line. And when someone is getting a goodie and I'm not, it sure does make me wonder WHY. - Robert Scoble

steve should host the show and he boot whomever he wants and not invite back guests he doesnt feel fit into gg. - Tobias Lewsadder

Tobias: I agree. Steve should be in charge of the off switch on his own show. - Robert Scoble

To run a show, you have to do what Leo does, you have to be able to control cameras and mics, and Steve really needs to get that kind of control, or Leo's operator needs to stay neutral, and out of it. - Colin

Tobias: Steve should take things offline for making the show, and then broadcast it afterwards, rather than doing it live. That might help reduce the bad attitudes it seems to bring out from its hosts and guests. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

I do think Steve had a point, It is his show and Leo really didn't have the right to shut the show down, no matter how mad he was - Kim Landwehr

Robert: I would like to see the inner of the business for a week or two. It would be an interesting learning experience I'm sure. - Jason Hansen

Tobias: I think it was unprofessional for Leo to pull the off switch on someone else's show while on air. It makes me wonder how Leo would treat me if I were to host a show on his network. - Robert Scoble

out of interest. was leo, steve or arrington making money from GG? will this have business implications - Anthony Feint

Robert: It would depend if you pissed him off ;) - Nicholas James

Anthony: not yet, but whenever audiences get built around media properties there's always money involved eventually. - Robert Scoble

No Anthony, this was a Saturday, and people's free time. - Colin

Chris: Steve lives and breathes "live". - Nick in Manila

Nicholas: if I pissed someone off they should bite their lip and fire me after the show. That's professionalism. It also gives people a chance to explain themselves. When you're on air it's very difficult to discuss business in a professional way. - Robert Scoble

Robert: How much time has Leo spent on the air over the past 10 years or so? How many incidents like this have their been? Seems like you might literally be blowing it out of proportion, re "It makes me wonder how Leo would treat me" - Ken Sheppardson

Robert: I saw the show yesterday. Yeah, I know, my point was more that he was using the ethical question to start off his 'story' about Palm sending review units. Which is exactly what he said in part 2 of the show, when you were on too. And it's exactly what you kinda said. So let's agree to agree, even if my phrasing isn't phenomenal right now :) - Vlad Bobleanta

I like Mike, I really do, and I respect him, but he has to take some responsibility. Its not what he says, its how he says it, that rubs people the wrong way - Stephen Pickering

Robert: I gotta agree with Ken's last statement. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Ken: that's not the point. Leo has always been on someone else's network. Now he's trying to build a network of his own. That requires a different set of sensibilities. - Robert Scoble

The interesting thing for me was that about a month ago, on another TWiT show, Leo expressed some negative sentiment about Arrington and the way he sort of "stir things up" to try to get responses out of people. It was on net@nite I believe. Anyway, that is the first thing I thought of when this happened yesterday. - Mike Bracco

so I guess we are that petty? such a waste of our attention. Lets get back to reading / listening / sharing. Hopefully Mike will consider friendfeed again down the road and shake off all the negative publicity/bad feelings about inciting Leo. - Mark Essel

but was leo giving free bandwidth to GG? - Anthony Feint

Chris: I was one of Leo's "Laporteans" and have been a friend of Leo's before I even had a blog. I love the guy. - Robert Scoble

Anthony: yes, but again, if you are going to fire someone in media, or shut down someone else's show, you should do that off air. - Robert Scoble

Anthony: but maybe that's just me. - Robert Scoble

I thought the comments towards Mike yesterday were overwhelmingly positive after they both apologized. I gained a new respect for Mike yesterday. - Jesse Stay

Robert "that's not the point. Leo has always been on someone else's network. Now he's trying to build a network of his own. That requires a different set of sensibilities" That's why i made it a point to say Leo would be better off Not "Hosting" the GG but being a Out of Studio Guest - Erle Stride

Mike B, exactly, he was ready to be attacked by Mike. He said it himself. So he went overboard. - Lise

Scoble: Can't substantiate at the moment, so skip it as unsubstantiated, but I remember 2-3 times seeing what he said about something, and what others said, and thinking, he was just talking things down to be contrarian. It's like ValleyWag -- are you familiar with them? Thing is I rarely have read his stuff lately. I prefer constructive criticism over snark negativity, and that's the... more... - Shava Nerad

As an outsider viewing the beginning of the show, my impression was that Leo lashed out as if their is some pent up frustration/anger towards Arrington. - Kevin Whalen

Anthony: I think Leo agrees there, too. He said he was wrong to shut down the show. - Robert Scoble

I think Leo shouldn't have stopped the whole show, after all it is Steve's show. However I can understand why he did. It seems to me he was never quite happy with GG on Twit from the beginning. Which is what he kinda admitted in part2. If the show were to stay on Twit, I think they should just get someone in the cottage to switch between cameras and stuff, and Leo should be a guest. In Steve's show. - Vlad Bobleanta

Shava: I've been on Valleywag more than 70 times. - Robert Scoble

I always had the impression, especially after yesterday's second part, that Leo had never heard the show before letting it on his network. "Oh right you chat with Scoble, Calacanis, Arrington, Doc Searls et al, sounds good I'll host it"; unaware of the drama that occurs. - Jack

Vlad: I agree, and I think so does Leo and Steve. - Robert Scoble

Kevin: Leo's talked about what he dislikes in Mike's persona before, but this is the first time things really came to a head. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

squarespace sounds interesting (still listening) - does put #squarespace in your tweet still enter you in the contest? - jeneane sessum

Robert: yeah I agree to...im just wondering where the shows going to go. ITs going to lose a big audience. I only watched because it was on twit and techcrunch - Anthony Feint

Probably not a good idea to be a guest and be in control of a show at the same time. - Kim Landwehr

Leo DOES have the right to pull the show it's HIS network That's why Steve got so Pissy Lastnight - Erle Stride

Really, he apologized, so shouldn't this be over if it's over between the two antagonists? But then this is the Internet. And yes, I figured you know Valleywag, but this is a general audience as well. A lot of folks don't overlap - Shava Nerad

Robert, don't you think this is a bit of a soap opera? - Jon Lebkowsky

Kevin: That exactly the way it appeared to this outsider. - Nick in Manila

Vlad, I think we all agree that Leo shouldn't have shut the show down. But I think removing Leo from his own network in his own studio is silly. Do you really think he's going to do this again? - Lise

Jon: of course! - Robert Scoble

Mike sounded so reasonable last night. He told Leo and Steve not to make any rash decisions about the show, I'm surprised he didn't apply the same wisdom to himself and yanked the TC account so fast - Stephen Pickering

Jon: of course this is all a soap opera. So is real life. - Robert Scoble

Shava: The thing is, even if this weren't the internet, all our talking heads would still be talking about this. It's like with any kind of media personality, new old doesn't matter. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

If Arrington had gotten a free Pre to preview this never would havve happened - Chris Patterson

Sigh. Okay. "Desperate Technorati." - Jon Lebkowsky

jeneane: No, Calacanis just asked that the listeners of TWiT do that to support the sponsors of the show. - Mike Bracco

Jeneane The contest starts on Monday. Details at squarespace.com/iphone - Vlad Bobleanta

Stephen: lots of us can see the sins in other people but can't see our own sins quite so clearly. Myself included. :-) - Robert Scoble

Chris, I see. - Kevin Whalen

I'm not sure I agree that life has to be a soap opeat, but I have to agree that it often is. - Jon Lebkowsky

Arrington was treated terribly - no doubt. is this new for him? no. has he treated others terribly? yes. will deleting the account keep people from treating him badly? no. will it stop him from treating others poorly? i doubt it. we all act like jerks sometimes. some of us have a bigger audience when it happens. some of us get a lot more crap when we do it. the folks who get extra crap... more... - MikeAmundsen

Your right, I've got to learn to practice that on myself - Stephen Pickering

These guys could use some zazen. - Jon Lebkowsky

lol, Jon! - Shava Nerad

I guess I missed the terrible part on FriendFeed - TechCrunch or Digg or the TWiT chatroom, maybe, but it seemed to me FriendFeed was rooting for Mike by the end of that show. - Jesse Stay

Lise: Lol. Dunno, we'll see. - Vlad Bobleanta

i think this can be debated for days... perhaps finding a resolution should the direction here. - Tobias Lewsadder

Sad. The Techcrunch items were some of my favorite part of Friendfeed. And I seem to remember an issue Mike wrote about some weeks back that impressed me with non-tech issues he feels strongly about. I hope he comes back with the Techcrunch account because whatever else, a few of us think he's part of here. - George Hall (Australia)

Jesse: I think the stuff that got TechCrunch to delete friendfeed came last night. - Robert Scoble

Less chatter, more photon splatter? What's the big deal, everbody's human and loses their cool at times. Some social media/stars/hosts are working very very long days and it's way to easy to fly off the handle when someone questions your rep. - Mark Essel

Which is sad because that was the only way I read TechCrunch before. Hopefully MG continues to share his posts. - Jesse Stay

MikeAmundsen: It only takes one dog to bite out your throat. Mike's lucky in this regard that it's a bunch of people screaming at him once or twice and then disappearing into the void, so much as this issue is concerned. When you have one person in a campaign against you for a long time, though, the damage is far worse than what this mob is doing to Mike. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Tobias: yeah, not sure there is a resolution. I hope everyone who listens to me and interacts on my behalf remembers that there's people involved here. - Robert Scoble

Mike Admundsen - you nailed it - Liza

I expect the friendfeed, if it was anything like this, was too fast and nasty to moderate, and when things die down he'll be back. I can see me doing that if things got fast and nasty - Shava Nerad

WWDC needs to hurry up and get here... many you guys are bored :) - Bwana ☠ from IM

If anyone wants a divergence from this serious talk, check out this CALACANIS AUDIBLE LOVE DANCE that I just recorded from today's TWiT - http://www.youtube.com/watch... - Mike Bracco

Jesse: http://www.friendfeed.com/techcru... - someone remade it ;) - Nicholas James

Mike kept saying that a bunch of FriendFeeders wanted to see him dead. I never saw those kind of comments. Were those kind of awful things said? - Stephen Pickering

I suspect they'll get over it. I've certainly had some emotional moments that led me to delete accounts and worse. - Jon Lebkowsky

Anyway, in a week we'll be back to talking about Apple's new iPhone. Bwana is right. Heheh. - Robert Scoble

Bwana, tis true lol, I'm excited to see what Santa will bring. - Colin

And got ove rit. - Jon Lebkowsky

Robert By the sounds of it - Erle Stride

One thing to remember, on the internet we are all still people. Attack egos, attack actions but leave the people alone - Chris Patterson

Bwana: If only Palm had given more people Pre's the other day, we wouldn't be talking about this. ;-) - Ken Sheppardson

I'm with Leo - I don't think there will be a new iPhone - Jesse Stay

Yes, I will get the new Iphone!!!!!!! Yeah, I've been living with a Razor for two years, but I'm not excited about AT&T - Stephen Pickering

Stephen: yeah, but they weren't people who I recognized. Anyway, time to move on. If I ever participate in a Mob again, just kick me in the knees, OK? - Robert Scoble

Chris Patterson: AMEN. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

h Leo and Steve feel the GG and TWiT don't belong together I just wonder who will be the first to pull the trigger - Erle Stride

well, you folks solve the problems of the world, I have to go feed folks dinner...:) Seeya later Jon! Nice to run across you. - Shava Nerad

OK, I will! heheheh - Stephen Pickering

Tking acct down does nothing to address issue - scoble, we'll kick you in knees if you mob - settles it! - Liza

Shava: I gotta go play with Milan who just woke up. Seeya! - Robert Scoble

http://friendfeed.com/tad... - Internet's Tad

Yay - saved by Milan, Scoble! - Liza

Tad: :) - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

And yet, a Friendfeed without Arrington is lessened. He was as much a part of Friendfeed as Scoble. Heck, it just doesn't seem like Friendfeed UNLESS you've got both Arrington and Scoble talking. - George Hall (Australia)

Deleting the FF account was an emotional reaction. I mean, think about it. Will that stop people over here talking about Mike or TC stuff? Of course not. So what's the point then? Just that Mike will never ever load FF again and therefore won't see some bad stuff being said about him? Sounds strange to me. I hope he changes his mind, because being less engaged with the audience is never good in my book. Trolls can be blocked. Bad stuff can be ignored. But to stifle what can be good conversations...why? - Vlad Bobleanta

robert could it be as simple as... arrington was a jerk, laporte overreacted in attempts to defend his integrity. both were at fault in one way or another. it is the job of the host of the show to end this all. steve needs to step up and ask everyone to drop it. - Tobias Lewsadder

Now you can't post comments to his last article on techcrunch, how cool is that? - GeorgeAris

Vlad: when people get beat up they don't always make smart decisions. - Robert Scoble

Hopefully Mike Arrington will come back to FF after a short time off, He will be missed - Kim Landwehr

Did someone make the techcrunch account again to save it for him? heh - Lise

Perhaps it's time we made an effort to make Mike feel welcome back here again. - George Hall (Australia)

Would there be agreement that this was out of character for Leo and is there anyone following this that hasn't lost it in a professional situation? I sure he meant what he said, although I'm also sure he regrets it happened and feels like an ass. - Jim Gablick

Tobias: Actually, if Steve can get the two of them in one room and shake hands and tell everyone together to lay off on the attacks, perhaps they might. It's a longshot but it could go a far way to making things better between them all, too. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Talking? I don't see Arrington as a talker...I see (saw) him as a sabre rattler and drama king. Unless there's controversy, he's not quiet. Finally, someone told him to shut the hell up for the tool behavior that's his M.O. Scob, if he couldn't stand the heat.... - C. Jason Mancebo

http://www.dramabutton.com/ - Karim

Karim: LOL> - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

+1 Karim - Bwana ☠ from IM

Robert: Agreed. I understand. - Vlad Bobleanta

That drama button was hilarious Karim - Benjamin Taylor

Jason: I don't think Mike minded Leo going off on him so much. It's the aftermath of having the mobs kick him in the nuts that got to him, me thinks. - Robert Scoble

C. Jason: He's that too, but it is a talker. He does engage. And when he's not putting up that jerkface public persona, I'm pretty sure he's a nice, cool guy you can have drinks with. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

i cant believe that we are actually discussing this. shouldnt we feel disgusted that someone felt attacked enough to cancel his account. jerk or not he is human - Tobias Lewsadder

agreed Scoble - Kim Landwehr

never been a fan of mob mentality myself... - George Hall (Australia)

Scob, I think it's cumulative. He's gotten away with ALOT of stirring the pot for a while and people just have had it. Be a contributor, or go away....but I certainly don't agree with the "death and cancer wishes"...that's completely unnecessary. - C. Jason Mancebo

Chris: Mike is always interesting. I was at a tech industry brunch this morning with him and he's always got an interesting conversation going on. - Robert Scoble

How does the saying go... "Live by the swarm, die by the swarm"? - Ken Sheppardson

Jason: then we're on the same side. Arrington gets to me once in a while too. He knows how to push my buttons as well and get me all wound up. But that also is how he gets stories before anyone else does. - Robert Scoble

Heck, Arrington's style created BUZZZ. So why treat him badly? - George Hall (Australia)

It is almost like working for Microsoft. You get attacked daily. - Chris Patterson

C. Jason: I'm a big jerk myself, on the outside, but that doesn't mean I'm not a sensitive and caring person on the inside. He's more than just his persona, he's an actual person too. Sometimes someone does have to come out and say "stop being such a dick" to me, and no doubt to him. But attacking en mass the way this mob [redacted] is doing, that's just not right. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Chris Patterson: LOL. Good one. - Vlad Bobleanta

George: Arrington has done something remarkable. We always talk about him. He doesn't always like what we're saying, but I told him this morning that he has created a media company that is doing interesting things and that he should worry about the day when we're not all mobbing on him for some reason or another. - Robert Scoble

I don't understand Arrington's defense. He's really nice, soft and fluffy on the inside even though he attacks you in public and calls out your integrity? He may have his own issues to deal with, but he's in the public eye and he should expect the wrath of the Internet to reign down when he pulls an asshat move like this one. How many times does he get to slip out of the antics he... more... - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

Maybe he read the Terms and Conditions here at FriendFeed and freaked out? - Kenneth Stein

George: that said, it's not always fun and games being the center of all that kind of attention. - Robert Scoble

+1 on Arrington getting stories before anyone else...when Friendfeed was down a few weeks ago, he was the only one who could provide info on why. Fastest news of that particular day. - George Hall (Australia)

I'm still not convinced we can strictly pin this on Leo fans...that video got dugg bigtime and when a mob forms, people come from everywhere - Bwana ☠ from IM

Robert: Don't I know it. - George Hall (Australia)

Eric, does his actions, though, really warrant people to wish death upon him? (which is, apparently what he's upset about) - Lise

Chris Charabaruk: Let's just please not call them Leo fans anymore. A mob is a mob. I'm a Leo fan and was not part of any mob, ever. And I don't want that association to stick in my head. - Vlad Bobleanta

Chris, I'm sure he is, but too often, people need to hide behind their persona for whatever reason. His is the sabre rattler/pot stirrer...he went WAY too far insulting a pretty good guy's ethics. Not good, but certainly agree with the over zealous backlash..not good as well. I guess "you reap what you sew" is certainly valid - C. Jason Mancebo

Vlad: I'm also a Leo fan and I totally see your point. I'll edit that bit out... - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Vlad, yes. I take offense to that whole Leo fans thing. I'm a huge Leo fan. I don't act that way. - Lise

RobertS: this seems so reminiscent of the January fracas in Europe. Why is it that Arrington engenders such anger in people (and i'm not talking about Leo here)? this isn't some cosmic joke on good ol' boy MIke Arrington. there's a lot of history here. there's a lot of anger that Arrington has exhibited over a long period of time. don't get me wrong, i feel badly for the man. but not... more... - MikeAmundsen

let him go. - Stalyn☂

Eric: integrity is something we should always ask of each other. I don't mind if you ask me those kinds of questions. I got a review unit of the Palm Pre too. You SHOULD be asking whether that biases my review in some way. Mike was mostly digging for a story yesterday, not attacking Leo. That's something you gotta know Arrington about. He was digging and got a reaction he wasn't expecting. - Robert Scoble

The internet is full of high octane evil. It waits for an opportunity such as this to wish death on a person. - Bwana ☠ from IM

Robert, I heard that yesterday, and Leo just popped off. Mike really didn't deserve this one, which you can hear. What upsets me now is that I can see he does personalize a lot of this stuff, which was really done by Leo's audience, and Leo's chat room has an audience I wouldn't wish on my worse enemy. I loved it when we started the FF chat so I wouldn't have to listen to Leo's immature... more... - Francine Hardaway

it seems like people who have been angered by mike at one time or another are using this as an opportunity to lay into him. - Tobias Lewsadder

C Jason: Exactly , it is one thing to attack a persons opinion, but attacking someone's ethics is really harsh - Chris Patterson

No one deserves it - Bwana ☠ from IM

Francine: well said. - Robert Scoble

We had a good discussion yesterday at a tweetup in the city about the whole thing. I think MIke ABSOLUTELY deserved this one. It's been a long time coming. The whole backlash, not deserved, but not surprised. - C. Jason Mancebo

WHAT!!!? - Jason Pollock

C. Jason: if Mike was hiding behind his persona instead of showing the real self, he'd be blasting back at his detractors, not removing their comments and killing the old TC account here. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

NO ONE deserves to have personal attacks that deal with their life or family. - Chris Patterson

I don't think these are even people who were angered by Mike, it was just mob rule. And there's no such thing as an online conversation that's "a long time coming" and bad enough to make someone want to get away from being online. That shouldn't be the way we act. - Francine Hardaway

So Arrington and the other guy worked it out between themselves...so why should a mob stretch things any further? - George Hall (Australia)

Lise, you are absolutely right, that isn't right; no threats are necessary. I didn't see that here however. Not from the regular FF crowd that have regular activity, so I really didn't see that personally. - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

Chris: Mike wasn't attacking someone else's ethics. Listen carefully to both shows yesterday. He was asking questions. Leo took it too personally, me thinks (he thinks so too, in hind sight). If your ethics are really above reproach you can answer calmly and professionally. - Robert Scoble

Chris, I think he was hiding behind it in public and now is effected beyond the persona. - C. Jason Mancebo

Francine: very well said. - Vlad Bobleanta

Francine: agreed #2. Well said. - Robert Scoble

Geroge Hall correct. - Francine Hardaway

George: Mob mentality. 100 sheep on their own are perfectly fine, but if they freak out and charge in the same direction... - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Francine: mobs can get out of control here in the real time web. Not sure how we can fix that. - Robert Scoble

Scoble, I gotta respectfully disagree with you. He was absolutely trying to make something out of nothing. Totally NOT ETHICAL! - C. Jason Mancebo

Well, you don't want to be in their way. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

These things push my buttons because I see so much potential for good in the online community and I want the bad stuff to go away. I know that's unrealistic - Francine Hardaway

Eric, I didn't notice those either but I wasn't the one attacked and wasn't looking for those. Despite that, Mike saw it/felt it. That's the point. - Lise

Never liked mobs, never liked being on receiving end of them, never liked following any. - George Hall (Australia)

Making a story is not creating a story. Not cool! - C. Jason Mancebo

Jason: I can understand how you see it that way. DId you watch the second Gilmor Gang last night? Mike explained why he was asking those questions and Leo answered much more calmly. - Robert Scoble

I vote we try to help Mike feel wanted here again. - George Hall (Australia)

maybe leo should join us and ask people to lay off - Tobias Lewsadder

Robert, I haven't heard the second show, but in the first one Leo clearly said that it was a review unit. - Chris Patterson

I'm going to email mike. - Francine Hardaway

Jason: personally the free stuff and review units and access DO bias our reporting and that's something that we SHOULD talk about calmly and professionally. Our audiences should hear our answers. I don't think Mike's question was one that shouldn't be asked. Of EVERYONE. - Robert Scoble

Robert, did you get a hold of Leo about this yet? - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Scoble, I think it was prettied up for public consumption by both of them. Sure, Leo could have been better about it. Absolutely. But I just am not with you on that one. Agree to disagree on this. - C. Jason Mancebo

You should see the second show. You haven't seen that, you can't really get the gist of it. imho. - Vlad Bobleanta

This is not about Arrington but about much larger issues and tensions that are brewing - amt of comments is undeniable proof of that. - Liza

Robert Scoble, I understand your point. "If you only knew him..." I'm sure if I had a beer with the guy I'd grow to love him and all, but I haven't and all I have to go on is what I saw, and I can't side with M.A., not after his history with shooting first with his posts and comments. He really needs to put himself in the mind of the public that find a problem with his actions without... more... - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

Chris: and Mike, in the second show, explained why he was asking that. Techcrunch didn't get a review unit and his theory is that Palm is only giving review units to people who are saying nice things about Palm. - Robert Scoble

On the early access units, how in the hell is anyone (Scoble, McCracken, Ubergizmo) supposed to review anything early without early access units. It's not a gift, it's a loaner. - C. Jason Mancebo

Chris: I'm calling Leo now. - Robert Scoble

I think Leo was right in getting mad - Johnathan Schultz

Ask Leo to come in here - Lise

Come on guys. If you haven't watched the second show, you're blowing in the wind. - Nick in Manila

This talk of super-scary Friendfeed "mobs" is all a little hyperbolic. - Christopher A Carr

Leo should not have said such inflammatory things.. Even if he was pissed off he could have handled himself in a professional manner on the air - Jason Pollock

mike totally clarified himself and leo apologized for taking it the wrong way. - Tobias Lewsadder

A promoter is not a journalist. Much of what I see on TC, and here and elsewhere illustrates that YOU are buzzing things, creating hype which in part drives it forward. The coverage ought to be balanced though, and it's going to likely lead to unfortunate and unnecessary consequences. This might shed a bit of light on it. http://bit.ly/LfVJk - Kenneth Stein

Jason: I hate the review unit thing. Walt Mossberg got his weeks ago. - Robert Scoble

I guess nobody takes Sunday evenings with their families these days, eh? - Ken Sheppardson

Johnathan: Leo's anger was justified, yeah, but how he expressed it was a bit much. But how the way the mob took it as a call to action, that's bad. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

I think it should be stressed that Leo can't be held responsible for anything anyone else says. On the irc chat, here wherever. - Vlad Bobleanta

It is really too bad the conversation went bad. Mike really did have some good questions to ask about how business ethics and free products review or not. He just started the conversation really badly - Kim Landwehr

leo's language on the air incited the hate comments that techcrunch got - Jason Pollock

HI Liza, well, I see it yes and no....this specific thing is a good example of "you don't get to be a shit stirrer and get away with it forever". - C. Jason Mancebo

Christopher: A mob is a mob, online or off. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Lise, getting threats like that is something no one should go through, I agree. People should act with civility. - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

Interesting post of Mike Arrington(The New York Times Sunday edition): The Morality And Effectiveness Of Process Journalism :http://www.techcrunch.com/2009... - Johni Fisher

On the AIR? Lol there's no FCC regulation yet....I'll refrain from scribing the 7 deadlies here - Kenneth Stein

Looked to me like he was being a jerk and got called on it "what are you going to do about it?" is not the kind of retort that should pass between two adults. That being said, it also looks like Leo has decided to move on so should the rest of us. - J. Abdul-Qahhar

Vlad: That's true, but he can still encourage them to act more responsibly. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

J Abdul, I think the "what are you going to do about it" was still when Mike thought it was all kind of a joke - Lise

Scoble, it's not like they but a hundy in the package and say "review away" :-) - C. Jason Mancebo

No one's going to move on until there's something else to talk about ;) Come on WWDC! - Bwana ☠ from IM

Offline mobs hurt more when they hit you with an actual physical object, as opposed to pissy comments variety of assault from dangerous Friendfeed "mobs." - Christopher A Carr

Ken S, I just fired up the grill. Great day on the coast in HMB today. BBQ and wine happens soon :-) - C. Jason Mancebo

we all benefit from the work that mike does. tech crunch has been a daily read for me for years... although you may disagree with some of his methods, is wishing him death really appropriate - Tobias Lewsadder

C. Jason: They don't have to. Just having the thing before everyone else creates an incentive for acting non-ethically. After all, they give you a review unit (even one you need to return) because you gave them a good review might encourage you to keep giving good reviews for the opportunity to play with the latest gadgets first. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Chris: Yes, and I think he should. Let's just keep in mind, those are just random people who he probably never met. And in the case of the irc chat, are mostly anonymous. Which is part of the problem imo. - Vlad Bobleanta

Tobias, i think we all agree that the backlash has gone to far...yes, - C. Jason Mancebo

Actually, research idicates that being teased and taunted oftentimes is more painful than being hit. - Kenneth Stein

Who were these random people anyway? Friendfeed regulars, or blow-ins? - George Hall (Australia)

I agree, and i think this onslaught has gone on far enough - Johnathan Schultz

Time to man up Arrington. The storm's here and.... Oohh look, another iPhone rumor - Bwana ☠ from IM

George, I'm sure some were FF regulars. I don't think because you have a FF account it makes you of right mind. heh Unfortunately. - Lise

Just a computer engineer, patent attorney, developing some tech - Kenneth Stein

@George Hall: Gillmor Gang regulars. - 321

"Onslaught?" Please. - Christopher A Carr

People need to get a tiny bit of perspective instead of social media tunnel vision - Nathan Cooprider

One thing I would really like to see come from this is that folks like Arrington with the "Not quite so stringent, shoot first retract later" ethics understand that people give a shit about that and it's not cool. - C. Jason Mancebo

George Hall: mostly non-regulars, or that was my impression at least. But not exclusively. Arrington is easy to hate, that's the truth. And some people just need to hate something. Or someone. That is all. - Vlad Bobleanta

Its just feels like this has gone a little to far - Johnathan Schultz

Tobias, but I'm not sure that we wouldn't benefit MORE from TC if it was a bit less "NY POST" ish - C. Jason Mancebo

The whole evening Gilmore Gang put everything into context. It was really interesting, lots of questions and talking points raised regarding technology reporting, journalistic integrity and consumed content. Even a discussion about the GG show itself. It's unfortunate that a few people ran with the 1 minute clip and formed an opinion without looking at the whole day in context. - Benjamin Taylor

I want to make a quick statement, because this is how it seems to be framed here for some. Just because we are choosing to criticize him doesn't mean we are part of a mob or are threatening him. The debate should not be framed as Arrington versus bloodsucking Friendfeed mob. There is no defense for threats, online or off. No one is debating that that I have seen. - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

@Johnathan Schultz: It has, but what are us bored geeks with too much time on their hands to do? - 321

jason: agreed - Tobias Lewsadder

Scoble, pretty great day on the coast for an Arrington discussion, no :-) - C. Jason Mancebo

I do have to say that this whole incident is the reason I've came over to FF permanently. - kenneth glenn

Benjamin: agreed. Eric: death threats is a mob in my book. Noone is referring to criticism, but rather to threats and mindless stuff. - Vlad Bobleanta

If someone has actually threatened his safety, that's one thing, but I must say I found it almost funny that he was so upset over terrifying Friendfeed "mobs." - Christopher A Carr

anyone know arrington for an extended period of time? has he always been like this? - Tobias Lewsadder

Vlad, right, death threats are wrong, but that doesn't make me or anyone here criticizing this incident as part of the mob. - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

shiftoptionk - that is the core of the issue :) - Bwana ☠ from IM

I think that many people just took the opportunity to join in on the "I hate you Arrington" bandwagon when that started yesterday. Today they're all probably busy in Google Reader (even though RSS is apparently dead) reading the latest TechCrunch posts. - 321

I seem to remember a techcrunch article Mike did weeks back about a different issue...one where he took a principled stand. I wonder if non-regular mob making threats relates more to that than the Gilmour gang thing. - George Hall (Australia)

We're reaching again. Terrifying mobs? Where did that come from? He was getting abused, wasn't seeing any real poing to sharing stuff here, so he deleted the account. It makes his life easier. We're sorta going off the deep end... once again. - Ken Sheppardson

@Christopher No one wants to read death threats about themselves. Real or otherwise. - Glenn Trtanj

bwana: elaborate please - Tobias Lewsadder

shiftoptionk - it was a buildup. This is how Arrington is. Leo got tired of it. - Bwana ☠ from IM

Some days you can take it, some days you blow up - Bwana ☠ from IM

afterwards, they made up..but you can believe Arrington will do it again - Bwana ☠ from IM

Bwana, absolutely agree...lots of folks obviously tire of it. - C. Jason Mancebo

i know he has been like this for a while but im askking if this was the type of guy he was before getting into this business or has the business changed him - Tobias Lewsadder

Ken: This is yet another overreaction, yes. This weekend is really something. However some people do take bad things very personally, and maybe Mike is one of them. Dunno, I haven't met him. - Vlad Bobleanta

Personally, I think TechCrunch on FriendFeed is better as a room anyway. It enforces the separation between a person and their business. That said, I do hope that Mike comes back, and that everyone behaves civilly when he's around. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Excuse me, but if Arrington didn't say anything that stirred the pot, it'd be boring in here - George Hall (Australia)

optionshiftk - that I don't know - Bwana ☠ from IM

George: Damn right. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

And I would ask, on a different note, if someone called out you're ethics in the work that puts food on your table in front of everyone at your place of work, plus or minus 50,000 people, how would you react? With anger I bet. - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

I have a shiny drama button here for those that are bored - Bwana ☠ from IM

We need something like http://instantrimshot.com that automatically generates FF drama. - Ken Sheppardson

@George Hall (Australia): Indeed, gives us something to talk about until tomorrow. People just seem to be over analysing all of this. - 321

Chris, I don't agree with your logic on early access = incentive for ethical problems. Lot's of folks get early stuff. The only issue that I see is lots of FALSE POSITIVE reviews by lot's of up and comers...but not the Leo Laportes of the world. - C. Jason Mancebo

And for those that want real drama, please refer to the french fry vs onion rings vs tater tots debate: http://ff.im/3H1oA - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

If anyone thought Friendfeed was JUST Robert Scoble, they missed half the point. It was equal amounts Scoble AND Arrington. The thrust and parry of the differing viewpoints sometimes. - George Hall (Australia)

cstechcast - Yeah, some people think it's excusable because it's "interesting" and it's entertaining. I don't, but that doesn't change the situation though. I never liked the way Arrington did his thing, but I doubt he cares and I doubt it'll affect his career. - Bwana ☠ from IM

Eric: no. And Leo wouldn't have done it angrily if it wasn't for the feeling that he was being Mike's target. When you get questioned, you keep your cool and explain. Leo said exactly this tonight. - Vlad Bobleanta

C. Jason: A false positive review IS an ethical violation, BY VIRTUE OF BEING FALSE. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

George, Arrington was really never on Friendfeed. He was not active here. - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

His account was. - George Hall (Australia)

posted some thoughts on this in the longer post here http://friendfeed.com/parisle... - MG Siegler

and he was a part of Robert' - George Hall (Australia)

s best posts. - George Hall (Australia)

Vlad, that is the logical thing to do, but that would not be most people's gut reaction. - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

MG: Well played. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

You can't be putting feelings before facts, I like facts. - Colin

Arrington wasn't sitting around on FF all day, but he was here. There were several comments from him over the past few days. - Ken Sheppardson

Colin: Sure you can put feelings before facts. If you couldn't, politicians would be out of work. ;) - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

I got along just fine on FriendFeed without Arrington - but that's not really a big thing - Bwana ☠ from IM

We all have to step away at times... I wouldn't delete my account, but I'm not Mike Arrington - Bwana ☠ from IM

Scoble, have you seen MA's comments on TC? He's admitting to saying "We were promised one but it wasn’t delivered" but the comments are targeted at LL, not at Palm. That's completely shit stirring. Just not necessary. - C. Jason Mancebo

that's why I'm not trying to understand his POV ...or Leo's... it's their business - Bwana ☠ from IM

@Lise not really something you say in jest... Those are or (at least were) what the old folks used to call "fighting words" and the only real reason to say them to someone is a) the two people in question are physically separated or b) the one person doesn't think the other is actually going to do any thing. - J. Abdul-Qahhar

Bwana, I agree, we talk about this and I guess it's proof stirring the pot gets you your celebrity. Next stop, reality show. - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

bingo - Bwana ☠ from IM

it's all one big drama button until WWDC ;) - Bwana ☠ from IM

Well that's my hokmah moment for the day, I'll be over here watching the game - Bwana ☠ from IM

I agree with @Bwana but this happens everytime Mike thinks he's going to read something he doesn't like..just as right before he deleted TC's friendfeed account. We may not know him as a person but his actions have always preceeded him. - John Blanton from twhirl

Just talked with Leo. He hadn't realized this was all still cooking, but admits that people have said some really horrid things. - Robert Scoble

J Abdul, I completely disagree. Of course you can say that in jest. You can even, as Mike assumed, throw F bombs at someone... in jest. - Lise

Now that he does know, I hope that he'll come out and say something about it, see if he can put the whole matter to rest finally. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

When I called Leo he answered "are you calling me on your Pre?" Ahhh, the fun we have behind the scenes. ;-) (I wasn't, my Pre is charging). - Robert Scoble

i think leo is focused on wwdc - Tobias Lewsadder

Big tech boys and their toys...and the surrounding jealousy :) - Bwana ☠ from IM

Robert, you still haven't done anything with that Pre, my god! Aren't you curious to play with it? heh - Lise

On twit earlier he was laughing and thought it had all blown over - Jack

Lise: I took some pictures on it today and will do a writeup later. - Robert Scoble

Jack: yeah. I told him these were aftershocks like what happens after a big earthquake. - Robert Scoble

i saw that it syncs with itunes... does it sync calendar and address book thru itunes or thru isync? - Tobias Lewsadder

Anyway, I gotta go, otherwise Maryam is gonna go off on me in public and that won't be fun either. ;-) - Robert Scoble

Robert - just don't walk off of her show! - jeneane sessum

Cya Robert! - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Robert, see ya. Can't wait to hear about the Pre! - Lise

Calacanis made a joke on Twit today when Leo began talking about the Pre, my senses stepped up and became more sensitive for a second there. - Colin

later scoble - Tobias Lewsadder

I was hoping he would set the record straight. It's hard to counter a 90 second youtube clip and the hour follow up with Arrington yesterday isn't widely availible. - Jack

I suspect readers/viewers would have hated the vast majority of reporters from Benjamin Franklin on if they saw the man behind the news then, the way we often can now. Journalism isn't a gentile profession. If you don't want arrogance, then go get your news from a convent. Otherwise, expect and accept that these people are who they are and, for the most part, you get higher quality, more hard hitting news because of it. So appreciate that Arrington is an arrogant ass and leave him alone. - Dawn

Robert here's the thing .. we're all huge fans of Leo and how can we not have something to say about this for good or for ill? - John Blanton from twhirl

Robert's original point was that Arrington copped a tremendous amount of mob attack including threats to Arrington. Sounds interesting for what was essentially a small and resolved issue between him and Leo. I have to wonder if the mob were actually Facebook hategroups pretending to be friendfeeders, since Mike did write an article on Techcrunch about the fact Facebook allows hate groups a say. - George Hall (Australia)

Gee,that quietened everyone. Is the silence the sound of people thinking? - George Hall (Australia)

So... how long until we get a Laporte/Christian Bale mashup? - Jack

I was just thinking about the earthquake analogy...is it a force of nature, if it were not for this thread, would we be talking about this? - Benjamin Taylor

I think most folks walked away after they realized that Robert actually did go AFK to spend time with his family. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Jack: LOL. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

If your a public figure such as an editor of a magazine, you need thicker skin this. This seems to be a reoccuring thing. People say bad things about him and he goes away. If he didn't want the negative comments or feedback maybe he should stop being such an asshole. He attracts this even when not saying crap about people. He gets what he deserves. Leo gets crap as well and i have not see him leave. He just moves on and tries to prove himself in his work. With respect on top of it all. - CW™

In real terms, it's Arrington's job to create buzz and pot-stir. So is that a reason for him to get such a mob reaction and threats? No. - George Hall (Australia)

And if there's one thing that won my respect for him it was that stand he took weeks ago on that Facebook issue. - George Hall (Australia)

While Arrington might have expected a backlash from Facebook users, here was where he least expected it. - George Hall (Australia)

Speaking of mob in a gentler way...does everyone HAVE to go quiet when Robert leaves the conversation? - George Hall (Australia)

angrykeyboarder: why was FF never meant to be used like Robert uses it? He gets some interesting conversation going. - George Hall (Australia)

Most people are probably here looking for Scoble's attention, and want him to respond to them personally. - Jack

Robert also feels strongly about what happened to Mike, as for whatever else, they're friends. And he's allowed to defend his friend. - George Hall (Australia)

angrykeyboarder: Discussion is EXACTLY how FriendFeed is supposed to be used. I don't see a blog post here. I see Robert starting a conversation, and contributing his two cents here and there. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

George, haha I went quiet when Robert left. I just assumed the whole thing would go quiet. Plus, you know Robert can keep a conversation going. - Lise

+1 Chris. - George Hall (Australia)

I wonder if Robert hopes we'll keep a thread going without him once in a while. - George Hall (Australia)

George: LOL, probably. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

George: yes. :-) - Robert Scoble

LOL - Lise

If anyone hasn't heard part 2 of the Gillmor Gang it's here: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/TheGill... - Jack

Angrykeyboarder: this IS my blog on the topic. :-) - Robert Scoble

+1 Robert. - George Hall (Australia)

People who know Mike: Do you think he'll cool down and come back to FriendFeed? - Bruce Lewis

What a wknd ..sooo strong feelings - Johni Fisher

I hope Mike DOES come back. I miss his feeds already. - George Hall (Australia)

I stopped reading TechCrunch some time last year, but started following it on FriendFeed after Mike's month in Hawaii. My impression is that depth/quality has gone up. Not that I did a scientific study or anything. - Bruce Lewis

Woah, I thought I was going to have to ask the question, but it seems the impression I got is coming out in the end. I felt certain that Leo had learned from the past to recognize the Arrington pattern, and that he saw some familiar threads and immediately kicked the loom out of the weaver's hands. In my reading of past things that don't even involve Leo, Arrington's been a subject of... more... - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

Intellectual or professional disagreement doesn't have to mean personal disagreement. While I'd disagree on some of Mike's points, I have nothing against the man personally. And there's still a fair amount of stuff he's written I DO agree with. The Facebook hate group article for one. That shows Mike has principles. - George Hall (Australia)

Thanks for that audio link, Jack... and Robert, I haven't blogged much lately either, but I did in this case... without hearing part2 first! - Richard ¿digame? Walker

People disappoint. I am no fan of Mike Arrington's, but I wish him no ill either. To have even one person wish him cancer or otherwise is just awful. With that said, I no longer buy the "he's a sensitive guy" routine. He's either a tough guy or he's a victim, and the victim seems to emerge when he's wrong. He has the power. He has the attention. He wields it. By his own admission, his... more... - Karoli

I wish him a little bit of ill will. Just minor ill will. Like maybe the apples he selects to be slightly less sweet than he was hoping for, or his timing chain to hop one tooth and make his car ride just a bit rough, or his shoe lace to break when he's tying them. - Matthew DeVries

lol @Matthew - Louis Simoneau

Fortunately, wishing cancer on someone is not going to make it happen. I could stand right next to Arrington, shut my eyes really tight and mentally chant "get cancer" for hours, and the only result would be indesputable proof of my utter stupidity. I'd have to laugh at the goofball who expressed such a sentiment. I would expend actual thought processes on the ones who wished for bodily harm, because those folks might bump into Arrington at a floor show or before or after a session at a conference. - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

found this link at the same time I was listening to this: http://bit.ly/2nhNLw via @arrington and Leo afterword. Didn't see the link, apologies if it's already been posted. - motownmutt

I'm not sure why people hate Mike so personally, it's ok to disagree with him but Mike and TechCrunch seams to have a lot of hate aimed at them for no apparent reason. - DarknessFalls

motownmutt: thats a direct link to the second part of the show. It's from the "bootleg" feed (read:only feed) which includes the first part of the show, as well as last weeks show, and older shows: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/TheGill... - Jack

Actually, it's already resolved between Leo and Mike anyway. And that's really where it should have stayed anyway. Resolved between those concerned. Doesn't need mob commentary afterwards, doesn't need threats to Mike, doesn't need the bullsh**. - George Hall (Australia)

I've been hiding all of these entries about Mike and Leo. I decided to read yours Robert because I know you. Here are some of my thoughts. First, I don't know either Mike or Leo and have never been influenced by either one of them. Second, I love listening to Leo's shows but cannot stand TechCrunch and the attitudes on that site. Third, Mike was the first (and only) person I... more... - LPH™ and his dog P™

@DarknessFalls, I think it was said that some people hold Arrington responsible for the failures of their ventures. He gives his opinion, & people listen (I think). If someone's project didn't make sense to Arrrington, and he said as much, it could hurt. Could the people in this flap be a different group? I hope so. @LPH: Interesting take you have there. You're saying the very post that I thought allowed Arrington and Leo to patch things up actually caused his problem with those who weren't involved? - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

LPH: Actually, Mike contributed in other ways. With the things he'd say to Robert, he'd get some real discussion moving anyway. And I liked his feed. Some of the best things I "liked" were Arrington's feed items. Mike didn't contribute? You mustn't have been paying attention. I'm sure Robert can tell you how Mike contributed in quieter, less noticeable ways to the discussions and other things. - George Hall (Australia)

I don't think channeling through Scoble is actually contributing...maybe that's just me. - Bwana ☠

BoringMage: Some people holding it against Arrington for pointing out major flaws in their products meant their products were flawed. People like Arrington voicing concerns can help them improve or come out with better. Sometimes a harsh critic can be your best friend. If what he says helps you come out with better. In which case, I think Mike was still in the right to voice concerns. - George Hall (Australia)

Palm, at the moment, really needs to have the Pre being a hit. But there's some design flaws in the hardware they're going to need to correct fast. That's a valid point. Otherwise I can see them being sued for having edges on the phone so sharp people can injure themselves. - George Hall (Australia)

I would like to know, in 100% honesty, how many people heard part 2 before commenting, including the apology? I admit - I did not hear it until a few minutes ago. Anyone want to chime in? - Liza

Bwana: sometimes, the greatest contributor is the one who sets things up for someone to kick a goal. - George Hall (Australia)

And, when Scoble's back in this discussion, I'm sure he'll tell people how much Arrington DID contribute in a quiet way. - George Hall (Australia)

@GeorgeH: I think what you said is exactly what the person who said Arrington was blamed for others' lack of success was trying to convey. Since I haven't done anything worthy of Arrington's notice, I wouldn't be trying to lay any blame at his feet, nor would I criticize him for pointing out problems, at least not if he let the organization know and gave the organizers a chance to address those concerns. @Liza: I listened to both and read the TC post yesterday. - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

Not sure what the big deal is on the TC FF account really is. Seemed like nothing but the TC RSS feed being piped into FF for likes and comments. - Rolf Schewe

Two ways to look at how a tech blog criticizing your product affects you. On a non-personal way, they show you you have a flaw. Whether privately telling you or publicly telling you, they're making you aware of it. If you take it personally, you don't improve your product, you just lash out at the messenger. - George Hall (Australia)

People from all types of disciplines follow the Tech Industry. Tech Industry Reviewers become brands that often influence our decisions as trending consumers to become early adopters of new products and services. The most popular brands will always receive benefits from the companies such as freebies, pre-release models, and exclusive (or first opportunity) interviews. The public... more... - thestaticfrost

Thanks for answering my question @boringmage - I was not sure what to think but wanted to see others' rationale, so I followed the stream. I had seen so much noise about it but not the audio part 2. This reshapes the reasoning. - Liza

George: he sure participated more here than Kara Swisher or Walt Mossberg. At some level, though, friendfeed is an aggregator and people deserve participation credit just for putting their feed in here. - Robert Scoble

At the moment I don't get paid for doing a tech review on my own blog. I simply look at the fact it does help if I've used or played with the thing I review. For the most part, I'll point out its good features. But where it has areas to improve, I'll also point those out, too. But someone feels they're going to complain because I point out one or two areas need something a tad better???? - George Hall (Australia)

Thanks for validating how much Mike did contribute, Robert. - George Hall (Australia)

The other part of this whole thing that bothers me is how Steve has been characterized as this guy who doesn't care about his listeners. If he didn't care about his listeners, he'd produce a show just like every other show out there. Instead he chooses to focus on what he views as important for his listeners to hear. He's been right far more often than he's been wrong, by the way. - Karoli

Geez, wonder if mainstream media ever gets this much discussion these days as much as this one show did. - George Hall (Australia)

If comments in here were ratings, the Gilmore Gang would be a number one show. - George Hall (Australia)

Perhaps it's time to get Gilmore Gang on a mainstream media channel... - George Hall (Australia)

George: Mainstream Media talks this way about themselves so they can justify their existence. - Owen Greaves

Why can't we have a rating system? I think we need a web rating system that encompasses comments too.... - Sid Burgess

Liza, I heard most of the post drama drama today on live.twit.tv on a repeat. Gilmore certainly was upset as well. Seemed to take the whole thing pretty personally as well. Not sure how that has turned out. - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

Sid: I would love an Internet-wide identity system. But that is really hard to do and get everyone to participate in. - Robert Scoble

Wait. Why is this interesting? - l0ckergn0me

Well, that crack that whip Scoble! :D Actually, I think it would have some self-momentum... people want ratings, advertisers want value... hmmm? - Sid Burgess

He deleted the account because he can't control the conversation. - Jim Posner

Man Google Wave would be so handy right now in a thread like this! - Sid Burgess

Oh no; then you'd see my spelling mistakes in realtime - Jack

;) @jack - Sid Burgess

@l0ckergn0me: I'm hoping to learn something so I can be half as big as you one day and not make the same mistakes that others make so publicly for me. So if I have something wrong, by all means correct me! [edit: I know you like helping people; help me! ;) ] - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

As an pretty unbiased 3rd party, I am wondering why so few responded to listening to part 2 on audio. I know I am not 'relevant' to the crew, but it is a fair question. - AND re: why is it interesting - EXACTLY, it is not interesting except that so many are interested, so as a curious person, I want to understand it. - Liza

Gee, imagine doing any reviews or critiques of any product if you felt constrained for pointing out it had a flaw or if you saw products to review given ONLY to those writing JUST good things. - George Hall (Australia)

Liza: the problem is the youtube video is 90 seconds long and the part 2 is over 1 hour - Jack

people dont have the patience to sit through that. Compare 112 thousand views, to 2 thousand clicks (so far) on the bit.ly link: http://bit.ly/info/2nhNLw - Jack

Jack - fair enough, but this is a 4 HOUR STREAM -and for some really strong opinions, if I were an "influencer", I sure would not say something w/o doing my research - Liza

That's exactly the problem here. Both you and I wouldn't give our opinions without the full picture. But the so called "influencers" just mouth off without doing the proper research, like the "problem" with blogging where unsubstantiated claims and heresay is published. - Jack

Is that like what M.A. does frequently? - C. Jason Mancebo

Actually, I think Arrington does do his research. - George Hall (Australia)

Michael does fact-check or tells people it is unconfirmed in the post, generally. - Neal Jansons from IM

That wasn't directed at Mike at all, he's an excellent blogger - Jack

+1 Jack. Mike does excellent blogs - George Hall (Australia)

George, I have to disagree. He's much more of a shoot from the hip and retract later if I get called on it type of guy. Tthe truth or the facts are good, but only if it's interesting and gets him some buzz. - C. Jason Mancebo

Perhaps it's more like being accused of rape then vindicated, people wil only remember the more sensational story. - Jack

Not directed at Michael or anyone in particular. I asked a simple question, who listened to part 2 audio and few answered. Not directed at anyone. - Liza

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, it was interesting to hear Leo realize what the Gillmor Gang is really about in this second part: I always had the impression, especially after yesterday's second part, that Leo had never heard the show before letting it on his network. "Oh right you chat with Scoble, Calacanis, Arrington, Doc Searls et al, sounds good I'll host it"; unaware of the drama that occurs. Thoughts? - Jack

Liza, I think it might be a little late to expect a flood of comments. This is natural around here. - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

Who says geeks and nerds are dull? - George Hall (Australia)

Those who are not geeks/nerds :) - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

@Jack: At first I couldn't figure out where you got that impression, but now I wonder if you're talking about the part where Leo was (if I recall correctly) saying to Steve that he got the impression that what was happening in the show wasn't what Steve wanted happening in the show, and when he was asking him what he wanted to do about it (with someone saying it doesn't have to be discussed right there in public). Is that what you're referring to? - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

If I had already been physically assaulted (spit on), had my family threatened, and then had a mob of people come after me online - deleting an account on a social network probably would be a quick decision. - Matthew McCowan

I mean that Leo was expressing his concern over the high amounts of drama on the show, which he disliked and thinks can be advoided, to which Steve and Robert explained was inevitable and part of the show. - Jack

I need to go listen more, methinks. Just not tonight. Gotta be at work in 8 hours. I can seriously understand not expecting drama, though. - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

I predict GG moves over to Mahalo. - Jim Posner

Oh, wait, I forgot that screaming, mean vlogger guy is on that show; of COURSE there will be drama! - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

Jim: that actually seems like a good fit for the show. i personally think steve should find a way to host it so he can have full control. - Tobias Lewsadder

Could also be an interesting get for B43. - Jim Posner

Reminds me how silky things can get over objects/tech. In Australia you can get fist fights over Ford and Holden (GM) - George Hall (Australia) from BuddyFeed

The show has been very different since it came to Twit. Much more tamed down. This week was almost a return to form, except that Leo ended the show. One of my favourite pre twit shows was when all the other hosts were laying into Scoble for wasting a year of his life on Friendfeed. He was right in the end of course, but the confict that sparks heated debates is why I started listening to the show. - Jack

Guess it's never boring, then. - George Hall (Australia)

It's a shame he felt he needed to. It's a bad decision which is an unfortunate one. - James Stratford

I'm glad he is gone. But maybe he just makes a little fuss and opens up a new account in several weeks. Would be too good to be true. Leo has hit the right point. It's so true. Techcrunch is a piece of crap like Arrington. Only bashing other people and their ideas, A troll with a lot of "followers", that's all, and Techcrunch is a troll site to just serve the Troll in us. If Techcrunch... more... - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

Robert I got to agree w/you on Techcruch. Did u read about: TechCrunch's Notes | The Morality And Effectiveness Of Process Journalism http://ff.im/3HS0e - polou/indigo_bow

Ryo: A few months down the track you'll probably be playing with a crunchpad. And you'll be thinking it a nice piece of tech...but are you going to throw it away when you realize Arrington's associated with it? There are trolls and there are trolls. I don't think Arrington was a troll. Pot-stirrer yes. Troll no. - George Hall (Australia)

Ryo: I totally disagree with you. Techcrunch has helped many many companies launch and provides a valuable service in getting lots of people to pay attention to the tech industry. Arrington is far far from a troll. Is he a jerk sometimes? Yes. But just being hard to live with does NOT make one a troll and neither does bringing up a good argument once in a while. But to try to claim that that's all Techcrunch does is simply false and I won't let it stand in the comment thread that I started. - Robert Scoble

Makes me wonder if Ryo knows who defaced Arrington's wikipedia page... - George Hall (Australia)

the ip addresses are there in the history George - Chris Heath

Hope Wikipedia rectifies it. - George Hall (Australia)

Arrington really opened up a lot in that conversation with Leo. I think his explanations there really explained a lot on why he has to wear a thick skin and act the way others perceive at times. The way he manned up and apologized to Leo I think was very impressive. I will forever see him in different eyes now - I really respect Arrington since yesterday. - Jesse Stay

And Robert, have you consoled Tina yet? she seemed pretty down in here recent tweet: http://friendfeed.com/tinagil... - Chris Heath

Jesse, me too - Chris Heath

There's a few of us who have a lot of respect for Arrington and his principles. - George Hall (Australia)

George, a few million you mean, right? - Chris Heath

Robert: If Mike Arrington feels THAT strong about 'the mob' - why didn't he delete his Twitter feed too? Could it be the hundreds of thousands of followers he has been 'gifted' because of his 'special relationship' with the Twitter guys? - Jim Connolly

That too, Chris. You probably have a better idea than me of exact numbers. - George Hall (Australia)

George, definitely I'm never going to use a Crunchpad. I don't buy products were assholes like him are involved, sorry. Leo hits the spot. And I guess there are another million you hates Arrington even more than me, I don't even care about a Wikipage of him. It should be marked for deletion, that's all. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

It's sad too that all this fuss over a mere misunderstanding in a show gets so out of hand, because it affects the families, too. Sad because it's sorted out between Mike and Leo, but a whole bunch of people outside of it take things too far. Seriously, nobody had any right to make threats to Mike. - George Hall (Australia)

I just hope everyone can forgive and can move on with good stories and news. - Darren Lowery

Ryo: That's you. Me, I'm itching to own a crunchpad. - George Hall (Australia)

The Tech News Blog (when do we get to know your real name?) I'm sure he looked at the results he was getting, and I'm 100% sure he was seeing night and day results better on Twitter than FriendFeed. I'm sure he weighed his losses, and FriendFeed wasn't worth the negative brand image when compared to the traffic he was getting. Mike's a business man - I highly doubt it was anything personal. - Jesse Stay

Robert, I respect your opinion. Nonetheless, he destroyed many newcomers, too. Remember when he was spit in the face in a conference with entrepreneurs. It seems that this was one of them. Further he insulted whole Europe and bashes Google continuously. If Arrington is no Troll, there is no Troll anyway. The fact that he is "well-known" doesn't make something other out of him. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

I really cannot understand all this vehemence against Arrington. Neither can Robert, either, nor a fair few Friendfeed regulars. And Ryo, I really do not understand where your vehemence towards him comes from. - George Hall (Australia)

Jesse: My name only changed here a few days ago, it's Jim Connolly - full contact details here http://jimsmarketingblog.com/contact... FriendFeed has not given Arrington a negative brand image - he did. - Jim Connolly

George, I read some of his articles. That's why. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

Ryo, to understand him I think you really have to put yourself in his shoes. He's had a whole lot of people be jerks to him. I'm sure that would get to you. - Jesse Stay

Jesse: So, if he's so worried about what the mob are saying about his brand, why isn't he worried about his brand on Twitter? - Jim Connolly

Guess you didn't read the right articles, Ryo. - George Hall (Australia)

Jesse, you get what you give. If he would not act like a complete asshole, maybe he would not be hated so much. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

Jim, I'm sure he couldn't afford to lose Twitter - that's my guess. FriendFeed I doubt was doing much for him, at least in his eyes. - Jesse Stay

Ryo, would I be an asshole for having something against hate groups? And if I did, would you still be saying it's my fault for *insert whichever reason*? - George Hall (Australia)

Jesse: I have no problem with him leaving FriendFeed, I just call bullshit on him suggesting it was the mob that drove him out. If it was the mob, he would have left Twitter, where they are REALLY attacking the guy. For the record, as a Tech News blogger myself, I have a lot of respect for what he has achieved. - Jim Connolly

Many people on the Interwebs are idiots--just look at nearly any YouTube comment! I'm not sure I buy that Arrington is that sensitive about how people have reacted--he's an Internet professional and he more than anyone should understand these outrageous, hate-filled comments are just a bunch of blowhard a-holes. That being said, Arrington had an opportunity to stop Leo and clear the... more... - Paul Salzman

Paul: I know Mike and talked with him at length this morning, both on phone and face to face. He's actually pretty sensitive, but puts on a tough face. It's an interesting part of his personality to see. - Robert Scoble

Ryo: do you buy Apple products? Jobs is a bigger jerk than I've seen Arrington ever be. Ryo: name one newcomer Arrington destroyed. Just one. I'd love to hear his/her story. - Robert Scoble

The Tech News Blog: good point about Twitter. I think Arrington likes that he has half a million followers there while me and Leo have been kicking his ass here on friendfeed (I was kicking his ass on Twitter too, before Twitter added him to the recommended follower list, which zoomed him above me and Leo). - Robert Scoble

TechCrunch leaving Friendfeed is sad, because even when we disagree with each other, it is nice to have a discussion going. - Mike Chelen

Robert: I know about you and Leo kicking is butt on Twitter before the recommended list started. (I have been chatting with you on Twitter for well over a year now!) - Jim Connolly

Robert: Re Twitter followers, seen this from earlier: http://www.thetechnewsblog.com/2009... - Jim Connolly

Robert, No I don't buy Apple products lately. I did in the past. It's not easy to determine how many or who exactly was affected by his bitching, which leads to investors pulling out, or banks don't give money. Actually this guy in Europe was one, but I don't know his name. I think he won't tell us, because he fear legal problems. But you know, if you have such an influence, you have power. If you act like Arrington with this power, it's just irresponsible. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

On Twitter Mike's personal account http://twitter.com/arrington has a mere 5 thousand followers, it is the TC account with 680 thousand, whilst on FF he had his personal twitter as well as TC feeding in. See the google cache here: http://209.85.229.132/search... - Jack

The Tech News Blog: engagement levels on Twitter are interesting, agreed. I've seen the bot behavior too. Twitter's team seems unconcerned. Ryo: it's bullshit to say you were destroyed by TechCrunch. If anything getting Arrington to say negative things about you focuses the world's attention on you and people (especially his competitors) rush to check out whether or not he's correct. If he wasn't right, that guy would have gained even more followers. - Robert Scoble

Jack: the TC account used to be Mike's personal Twitter account before that account got added to the recommended follower list. Now he's used that just to stream TC links. He used to have conversations with lots of us on Twitter in the old days using that account. - Robert Scoble

It's ironic, though, that getting half a million people to follow you means you can't even get 10,000 people to follow your other account. The engagement isn't there. Getting engagement is much more difficult than most people understand. - Robert Scoble

Ryo, have you ever considered that the example you've just quoted probably didn't have a great product to begin with, or may have had stuff that really needed more work? If the product's good, no blogger with influence would really affect things. But if he points out a potential product needs major work or is complete crap, go get the product right and stop blaming messengers like Arrington. - George Hall (Australia)

George: exactly right. I totally bashed Amazon's first Kindle. it still sold very well because it did have real value (it just was designed poorly). The Amazon team was never as nice to me after that, but I know people who bought it after watching my review and deciding I was wrong about the device, so in the end, I'm pretty sure I helped them out more than I hurt them. A great product withstands all criticism. - Robert Scoble

Exactly, Robert. - George Hall (Australia)

Sorry, just listening to TWiT now :) Leo makes fun of his outbreak... Can be another "Damn you..." replacement... Screw you :) - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

I'm going to have to take issue with you there Robert. Respected reviewers CAN affect the success of a product. That's why we must demand that they review ethically and thoughtfully. - invariant - farewell FF

Ryo, sounds like you didn't hear the aftermath gillmor gang session on saturday http://ia311238.us.archive.org/3... - Chris Heath

Don't forget about the first part: http://www.archive.org/downloa... Mike spoke very kindly about Rajeev Motwani before the shouting began. - Jack

Chris, why do you keep saying this? It doesn't matter. He said what he said, and it was serious. What do you want to suggest with this? That Leo didn't meant it? He meant it! And he was damned right. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

Friendfeed is better than Twitter, yet he wants to stay with Twitter, COZ its driving traffic to his blog and nothing else - Michael_techie

invariant: we can have some impact, yes, but if only one person is picking on something and is picking on something wrongly it can often have the opposite effect. A good product WILL stand up to Mike Arrington or anyone else for that matter. - Robert Scoble

well what he said after in the second session was serious too - and he claims the pre stuff was in jest and misunderstood - Chris Heath

Chris: he didn't quite say "in jest" but that he was trying to point out that Palm sends review units to those who have given Palm a good set of PR over the last few months. He might actually have a point there but that point was lost both because Arrington started pushing Leo's buttons and because Leo responded to that with an outburst that I haven't seen Leo do ever (and I've been following Leo since the mid 1990s). - Robert Scoble

right robert... but the 'what are you gonna do about it?' he claims was in jest - Chris Heath

Chris: yeah. That's just Mike being Mike. He does the same thing with me to try to push my buttons. Sometimes he succeeds with me too. ;-) - Robert Scoble

and robert... one question about the PR stuff... isn't it fully in Palm's rights and best interests to give out review units as they see fit? isn't that the point of PR? to get the review units out to those you think will give the best reviews? - Chris Heath

Robert, I don't know about that. Something from a company like Amazon, sure. They have the muscle to keep it going. But something from a startup running on a shoestring? A bad review from the right person could kill it. Look at what Engadget/Gizmodo (I can't remember which) did to the Folio - a product that was a netbook a year or so before the Eee PC. - invariant - farewell FF

Chris: yes. And that's why the practice is a little dirty. - Robert Scoble

but isn't that to be expected as core part of what PR is? - Chris Heath

invariant: any company that has all of its hopes hinged on one review is a company that's setup to fail. When I bring out a product I'll assume I'm going to get bad reviews. In fact, that's what I'm expecting with building43. If someone bashes it it won't stop me. I'll learn from it and move on and make it better. - Robert Scoble

Yeah, but the Folio wasn't quite the EEEPC...it was just an oversized Palm Pilot. Not even with an adequate OS for the size of the thing. - George Hall (Australia)

kind of like the old saying don't hate the player, hate the game? - Chris Heath

Chris: I have come to hate a lot of what PR does. The good ones are very helpful and fair to all comers. - Robert Scoble

But the bad ones... - Robert Scoble

right robert, and if what you're selling is truly good then the product/service doesn't need PR then right? - Chris Heath

George: regarding the Folio: exactly. Bad products can't overcome bad reviews. - Robert Scoble

I still think if a review kills anything, the product wasn't right to begin with. And I know that from my cartooning experience over twenty years ago. Critics are harshest when something's clearly crap. You just can't afford to be precious about a creation that's crap. You take the criticism the proper way and go do a better product. - George Hall (Australia)

Ryo seems to be hating the player and the messenger. Wonder if we should ask why. - George Hall (Australia)

Chris: if something really is great PR should only need to facilitate the press seeing it, finding that out, and holding it. I loved the Palm Pre as soon as I saw it on screen and nothing has changed my mind about that since. No PR person needed to give me one. Although the fact that they did made it easier to form an even deeper opinion that it's great. - Robert Scoble

Yikes! - Fred Davis

George: remember, I've been at the harsh end of Arrington's stick. You should go read what he said about PodTech. What he said stung and hurt but it was right and the company wasn't going in a good direction. Arrington just helped everyone's attention focus on that. Could we have pulled it out without that attention? Maybe, but I doubt it in hind site. - Robert Scoble

Palm still need to do something about the sharp edges, though - George Hall (Australia)

night everyone... cy'all later - Chris Heath

Are you saying it's impossible for a great product to fail due to negative publicity? Color me incredulous. - invariant - farewell FF

George: I'm playing with a Pre right now and I don't think the edges are overly sharp. If they did something about them it would pronounce the gaps where the phone slides together. - Robert Scoble

invariant: name a great product that failed due to negative publicity and let's talk. - Robert Scoble

Sometimes even if an idea is ours, it might need work...or it might be crap. Sometimes it's good someone points that out to us. I don't mind a good critic. They're great for getting your idea more focused and improved. - George Hall (Australia)

Robert: was watching a review that showed the edges when opened are sharp enough to cut cheese. - George Hall (Australia)

George: must be really soft cheese. Geesh. - Robert Scoble

Lol - George Hall (Australia)

I mean, can't we all just get along? But then again, I do remember learning as a journalist that controversy sells... even if it does come at a price... - Fred Davis

Exactly, Fred. Heck, a bit of negative publicity actually sells more things... - George Hall (Australia)

George: even there, though, if I read that review that the Palm Pre had sharp edges, all it would make me do is go and hold one and see if they bugged me. If they did, I'd get an iPhone or a Blackberry. If not, well, sold! If that's the worst thing they can say about the Palm Pre, it's actually doing pretty damn well! On the other hand, now I'm going down to the kitchen to see if mine will cut cheese. Heheh. - Robert Scoble

LOL. Palm Pre as cheese knife...now there's a hitherto-unknown use for it. - George Hall (Australia)

Heck,most of us here WANT to see the Palm Pre do well...and Palm themselves. But we'd all like to hope they do listen when some of us do point out where it needs a fine-tune. - George Hall (Australia)

George, well that's my opinion. You have to live with it. What is your problem? Are you an Arrignton Fan-Kiddie? Do you want to start a business soon and need to crawl up his ass for getting a good review? Maybe we should ask why you trying so hard to defend him, and trying to discredit me for having an opinion? - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

Palm Brie? - Mel Buckpitt

Hmmm....Ryo...you can put NO to most of your questions. I just dislike when someone makes a personal attack on a guy for doing his job. Or when he's blamed for some person's misperception of how much influence he has over whether a product sells or not. - George Hall (Australia)

Ryo: interesting that you use the same tactics that Arrington used with Leo. That's sorta weird. - Robert Scoble

I still maintain that the Folio was one of those products. It was a netbook before we even knew what to call them, and it was killed before it was even released by a web site that couldn't imagine the utility of a small, low cost portable. It may have had flaws, but so did the first Eee PC. Who knows what it could have become? - invariant - farewell FF

Yeah, Robert, but we at least knew where Arrington was coming from. - George Hall (Australia)

invariant: the eeepc had a linux/unix operating system with a fair amount of useability. The Folio was, to all intents and purposes, just a larger Palm. Huge difference. And at the time it was brought out, Palm OS was a bit limited. - George Hall (Australia)

invariant: well, maybe they shouldn't have shown it to Engadget first. There's lots of others who would have been able to push it along. But some products are simply before their times. Folio didn't excite me and I saw it. I agree with George. Failed OS. Heck, even Palm has given up on that OS. - Robert Scoble

Robert, George did use that on me, when he replied this: "Ryo seems to be hating the player and the messenger. Wonder if we should ask why." - I'm playing back. And my "buttons" are getting pushed very easily. Please, Robert read ALL the comments before making a conclusion - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

That's not true George. It was based on a linux os just like the Eee. - invariant - farewell FF

Ryo, your comments on Arrington have been accusing him of being a troll. To me, that's treating Arrington a little too personal. - George Hall (Australia)

Ryo: I read all comments and seems to me you're doing the same thing as Arrington. - Robert Scoble

I agree that spiteful comments are not the best way, but at the same time, Mike Arrington really shouldn't have jumped on such a bandwagon. At any rate, I hope that things douse soon!! - Guru Panguji

Actually, Ryo, your comments about Arrington sound very hateful. - George Hall (Australia)

Robert, I'm not. I'm just reacting. George did. But anyways, George, they are. He better not crosses my way in real life ever. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

Hmmm...Ryo...pick a number and join the queue. - George Hall (Australia)

I can imagine, I'm not the only one :) - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

Ryo, I've been threatened by experts on occasion. I note you don't seem to have any Facebook. Interesting ommision from your list of web/social media concerns. - George Hall (Australia)

I hope you did understand that right. I meant Arrington. He better not crosses my way. It wasn't meant to your address. We are just discussing, that's all. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

You could defend anything the same way. "Well, it got bad reviews because it was a bad product." But to say that reviews have no effect on the success of a product is mind-boggling to me. Why is there an entire industry based on reviewing products if those reviews have no impact on the product's success? - invariant - farewell FF

Good products improve after a bad review. - George Hall (Australia)

George - Or maybe the company's backers lose faith and pull their funding, drowning the baby before it has a chance to grow up. - invariant - farewell FF

One thing is for sure: If you have the power to help with your reviews, you have the power to harm with your reviews. Good products have always been suffered from bad reviews. Reviewing like he does is a personal opinion. But if you have such a power on your hand you need to choose your words wisely. You can not act like you are talking in a pub. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

if the backers do that, then they don't think the product's worth going with. Whereas a good product won't lose backers. - George Hall (Australia)

Ryo: name one great product that was kept down by a bad review. Almost every great product has gotten a bad review. - Robert Scoble

Anyway, I'm outta here. Ryo: you can have the last word. It seems you're just pushing my buttons and I have an Apple thread to attend to. Heheh. - Robert Scoble

George, you have a very altruistic view of business. Products get killed all the time for reasons that have nothing to do with how good they are. We'd all be playing games on the Sega Dreamcast II if that weren't the case. - invariant - farewell FF

Admittedly, invariant. Guess I'm still a fan of honest business. - George Hall (Australia)

I seem to remember someone making a mint out of a crap operating system... - George Hall (Australia)

...but by the same token, over the long term, a great product fights back. - George Hall (Australia)

Well take the Dreamcast for example: If Sega would have had more capital they could have kept that business going and potentially been successful, but they just ran out of money. Had nothing to do with the product itself, it had more to do with the business model (i.e. losing money on every console sold). - invariant - farewell FF

And also because another business (Electronic Arts) decided not to support it. - invariant - farewell FF

I think, Invariant, you've pointed out it has less to do with reviews. Bad product OR bad business model. Too easy to fail. Less to do with the review or the reviewer. - George Hall (Australia)

And still no reason to have personal gripes against the reviewer - George Hall (Australia)

George, absolutely. The Dreamcast example was one of a good product that failed, not because of reviews but because of other outside factors. The point is that the good guys do not always win. Reviewers should respect their power and be ethical when they review a product. That's my only point. - invariant - farewell FF

It's just trying to make someone like Arrington a scapegoat for a product - George Hall (Australia)

's troubles. - George Hall (Australia)

Whoa, that's not what I was trying to do at all. - invariant - farewell FF

Of course, a product maker should always expect a review may not always go the way they want... - George Hall (Australia)

Regardless of anything Mike's done in the past to piss people off, I felt bad when I read the update on his post. It's really seemed like he was shook up from the comments he received. Considering the nature of them, I can't blame him. This might seem trivial, but it’s obvious that he was worried or he would have taken the time to correct the punctuation in his update. From my perspective, he’s comes across like an extremely sensitive guy, who has a few issues to deal with, just like the rest of us. - Michael Fidler

I'm just pointing out that reviewers DO have power, and that power can both positively impact or negatively impact the success of a product. As a maker of video games I have direct experience with that. - invariant - farewell FF

I doubt he will do it, but he needs to make more time for himself. If he does, I’m sure he would be a lot less abrasive and a lot happier too. You work equally hard Robert, but you love what you do, and it shows. Does Mike love what he’s does, or is it just work for him now? - Michael Fidler

I don't think Arrington expected to see people behave with such bile and vehemence over such an issue. And of course that would upset him. And it upsets Robert, too, because Robert is still his friend, even if he and Mike occasionally have an intellectual disagreement. - George Hall (Australia)

To be clear I have NO opinion on Mike or the work he does. I assume he's an ethical reviewer and I haven't heard otherwise. I just wanted to address Robert's notion that a good product will succeed despite reviews. I simply do not believe that's true 100% of the time. - invariant - farewell FF

Heck, a few weeks back, Arrington and Techcrunch were the only ones who could tell me why Friendfeed was down for a few hours. Google couldn't. Not many other tech blogs could either. And I was glad he helped us stay informed on that situation. - George Hall (Australia)

I feel like a heel for not understanding the true nature of this thread before jumping in. Let me say this in response to the REAL discussion in this thread: people should be ashamed for attacking Mike over something that was obviously a misunderstanding between himself and Leo. I hope Mike shrugs this off and continues to do just what he does now. - invariant - farewell FF

I can't believe the Gillmor gang section is gone. A year's worth of podcasts, just gone. ? WTF? - Karoli from BuddyFeed

Gillmor Gang is back on itunes! http://itunes.apple.com/WebObje... - Jack

Jack, glad to see it on iTunes. looks like NewsGang live is toast. I am so bummed. I'm going to bed. :( - Karoli

Or search "Gillmor Gang" in itunes and it's the one marked "Explicit" - Jack

It looks like some of the latest Gillmor Gangs, the ones that were only released live, are now available on iTunes. - Diego Barros 

Looking forward to listening to these. - Diego Barros 

Me too, not sure why the new feed though. The old feed is just sitting there doing nothing. - Matt Thompson

Matt, maybe the new feed's because the audio files (and feed) were living on TechCrunch's servers? Since gillmorgang.techcrunch.com is also gone? Not sure. - Diego Barros 

Leo is the holy Grail of tech for generations, to imply that he is even remotely dishonest is the same as calling all his fans dishonest and stupid, I admit I stopped following Techcrunch because of this incident, but I am not hating on Mike, I understand the jealous inner child in him made him say what he did, we all say bad things and a lynch mob is a little too far in this case. - URLREVIEWS

I think Leo was feeling bad enough for accepting a test unit and Mike's words just sent him over the edge, Leo is honest all the way, anyone who listen to his techguy show knows that, the guy even suggest free alternatives to some of his sponsors, how fan dedicated is that? Leo is Legend. - URLREVIEWS

It all comes down to comments, doesn't it? 1. Long comment threads on Friendfeed are a nightmare to read, especially on a handheld. Can somebody add a threading facility? 2. Anonymous on the internet needs to end. http://twittercism.com/anonymi... It's a poison, and it's the real story behind the Arrington/Laporte spat. - Shéa Bennett

I think the comments went way overboard in their criticism of Arrington. The angle he was approaching his questioning from (that Palm were withholding review units) was legit. Just a shame that there was a misunderstanding on Leos part to interpret it as a question of his integrity. - Jamie

The world is a hurting place and we find it much easier to attack others out of our own pain and dysfunction. Both people were sincere in their position, this example shows you how easy it is to be offended on both sides of the argument just by simply having a different perspective. It does appear Mike was questioning Leo's integrity even though the question was sincere in light of the story Mike was working on. I think we can move on and focus on more important issues. - Owen Greaves

Bloggers must go where the conversation is. TechCrunch is not real time. He'll be back. - Garin Kilpatrick

Maybe he will, maybe he won't but if he does, there's certainly no reason for anyone to smug and high horsey about it. We were the asshole on this matter, not him - and a strategic withdrawal from the forum was certainly warranted on his part temporary or permanent. - Matthew DeVries

Garin: I think Mike will come to regret deleting his account, just like Leo came to regret deleting his Twitter account. - Robert Scoble

He can always open a new one. - Amit Morson

Matthew: if I ever get to that point where I get tired of dealing with everyone here, I'll just go private. That way if I want to jump back in at a future date I'll still have my account here. I think Mike made a mistake in just deleting his account. Amit: he could, but someone already took the techcrunch URL. For a business to give that up seems to be not smart, but that's just me. - Robert Scoble

A few weeks ago I almost deleted my Twitter account and I'm glad I didn't for just that reason. - Robert Scoble

Robert - I am glad you didn't delete your twitter account ;) Just keep watering the FF garden instead ! - Susan Beebe

Robert - I'm not saying I condone his decision/action, just that I understand it. I'm sure if he were interested in reactivating/undeleting comments Paul et al would figure out a way to make it happen for him. Just that a barrier to his return is the potential for "told you you'd be back" smugness which is entirely unwarranted, and honestly prickish. - Matthew DeVries

Robert, he doesn't have to deal with everyone. There is no need to respond to each and every bad comment made at him. - Amit Morson

Robert: Mike may have lost 600 comments on TechCrunch but this thread already has 760 comments which makes it #1 on best of week, and we're all talking about TechCrunch. I'm impressed. Mike has already won from this move. - Garin Kilpatrick

Garin, considering his loses and TechCrunch scale, I can't see that as a win. - Amit Morson

Arrington has never liked FF, anyway. And what has being here done for him or Techcrunch? Has it increased his brand awareness, made him more money, got him laid? How can it be a loss when it's never been a gain? - Dawn

Amit: The comments Mike lost were stale, this is fresh and undoubtedly building awareness about Mike and TC. The only way Mike has lost is by dropping friendfeed, but at least he has done so in style. Even here he has not lost because as I said before: he'll be back. - Garin Kilpatrick

He lost his brand name, though I'm sure he can claim it back with FF. - Amit Morson

The TechCrunch brand is growing because of Mike's cunning use and abuse of FF. - Garin Kilpatrick

The TechCrunch brand is growing because of Mike's cunning use and abuse of <strike>FF</strike> all that he surveys. --FTFY Garin - Matthew DeVries

Abuse? I thought these tools were available to use however we wish. I didn't realize there are FF Nazis demanding that their use is the only legitimate use. - Dawn

There goes Godwin... :) Discussion has ended. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

Dammit Dawn...... - Matthew DeVries

lol Thanks Matthew! - Garin Kilpatrick

Can you say BUTTHURT? - Rustic Thoughts

Glad you waited for 771 comments and 4 days of thoughtful deliberation to bring us that nugget of well thought out brilliance Rustic. The staggering intellectual rigor of your timely, measured, and informed and above all unique point truly brings the discussion to a level that rivals that of the lycium or the Algonquin round table. - Matthew DeVries

Thats a lot of big words for so early in the morning. - Rustic Thoughts

"I didn't realize there are FF Nazi's demanding that their use is the only legitimate use" -- FINALLY... Jeez... I've been sitting here waiting patiently for Godwin's Law to kick it. It's been almost 48hrs since all this happened... must be a new record. ;-) - Ken Sheppardson

I'm giving this thread a *facepalm* award for the multiple site/acct deletions (TC/FF & GG/TC), over-the-top comments, and of course Mr. "BUTTHURT" and use of the term "FF Nazi" http://friendfeed.com/ffacepa... - Richard ¿digame? Walker

What goes around comes around. Arrington is getting what he's been asking for, for a long time. - Chris Luckhardt

Totally tangential, but using BuddyFriend to read a thread with 771 comments really isn't a nice experience :) - Ian Betteridge from BuddyFeed

Actually a better idea would have been to make his account private - Abhishek

I can't find the Gillmor Gang section of TechCrunch... could that be removed too? (hopefully just temporarily) - John Wright

John: Yes, it's gone at the moment. - Ken Sheppardson

There's an unofficial Gillmor Gang podcast on itunes here: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObje... or the RSS here: http://feeds2.feedburner.com/TheGill... - Jack

This is a tough situation. We all have reached the end of our patience at least once with someone that takes an effort to get along with, especially if we're exhausted by it. Some people are clueless about their impact on others. I've said things in those situations that I meant, but wished I had taken a higher road and said in a better way because it actually makes everything more stressful. - Keith Barrett

Keith: It wasn't just one or two people it was like 20+ people who didn't even know the full story and jumped on the band-wagon. Those 20+ people also didn't bother to read the "Ouch" post on Techcrunch or watch the 2nd Gillmor Gang - infact they probably didn't even watch the first one - they probably just saw the 1minute clip on Youtube. - Nicholas James

What a shame. What a shame this is still a mob. I've purposefully ignored this whole skirmish, having seen this coming a few weeks ago when the GG went to hell for an evening, and then another wee when Mike hung up and bailed on the show. It is a shame that Mike felt it necessary to delete his friendfeed account. It's also a shame that Mike seems to egg (mob)people on to the point of... more... - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

invariant: the impact reviewers have is strongest on their readers, and their own reliability. if an author does not evaluate products honestly it will cause their audience, which may only be a small fraction of the total market, to make more poorly informed decisions and thereby undermines the value of their writing. - Mike Chelen

Robert - Thanks for starting this thread. The calm voices and mostly sensitive nature of the comments have helped me begin to heal. I am emerging from this very trying weekend a changed person, trampled by a crowd wearing combat boots. I now know how scary mobs are. - Tina Chase Gillmor

Tina: I once was in a real mob after a San Francisco 49er Super Bowl victory (I drove through it) and I've never been so terrified. It's interesting that my friend who told me off for pushing a mob a couple of years ago has been quiet with this mob. Ahh, I love studying how people work. Keep it up, let's get back in the saddle, what Steve, Mike, and you are doing is interesting. That's why the mob formed in the first place so don't forget that. - Robert Scoble

*sigh* mobs suck - Susan Beebe

If you have a mob that theoretically can be pushed at someone, you should be judged separately. It's like being a pro karate fighter - treated in court like a weapon. - Kirill Bolgarov

Oh, by the way. techcrunch sucks and so does mashable. of course it's my personal opinion, but they have gone too far in the battles over traffic and pageviews. their destination is a tabloid with a few to no real value. the only reason i could click on a ЕС link was a good discussion onver it on friendfeed. so, they completely lost at least one reader because of their CEO's personal stuff. that's not that professional i guess - Kirill Bolgarov

"Reproducing Wikipedia in a dysfunctional physical form helps to question it's use as an internet resource. Articles in the book: Wikipedia's featured articles." - Cee Bee from Bookmarklet

42 more comments

Can't wait for the handy pocket edition! - Michael McKean

Seems smaller than those big sets of encyclopedias we had when I was a kid. - Alix Whitmire

my thought exactly Alix... - Ňicķ

My first thought too... kinda disappointed - Internet's Tad

It's only the feature articles - the ones that have been properly vetted, redacted, agreed on and quality controlled (no half finished sentences and "more details needed" stuff) - from the source: "At present, there are 2,529 featured articles, of a total of 2,903,080 articles on the English Wikipedia." The full wikipedia would be 1000 times this, but most of it would be 25 line standard templates with "this article is a stump" - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

Featured articles are disappointing: that there are so few of them, and that so many of them are on arcane narrow topics (one painting, one book etc.) - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

Alix- I was thinking the same thing. My childhood set of pedias in the 80s (that were from the 60s and 70s) stacked a lot higher than that. I'm more surprised that there are only 5,000 8.5 x 11 inch double sided pages of Wikipedia information. Seems low. - Tony

Joelle- Now that seems more along the lines of what I was thinking. - Tony

disappointed to see so many incomplete articles on wiki..:-( - Özhan Yiğitler

But you can edit featured articles. Which makes the book out-of-date already :). - Nikhil Dandekar

that is %5 of a tree i guess. - bora "head" basman

I wonder how many pages there would be if you printed out all the pop culture related articles on things like Jedi Knights. - Jess Lee

My first thought, Holy shit that's big. - Matt Ruiz

I'll finish this book in 24 hours :) (will have) :D - Özgür KORKMAZ

I don't get WHAT they're trying to prove? - Scott of Two Countries

it's an art project - Cee Bee

art indeed and good metaphor to save trees... go digital - Yann Ropars

@Cee Bee: Yes, but if the quoted description is part of it, I don't see how it "helps to question [Wikipedia]'s use as an internet resource." - Scott of Two Countries

wow - Rob Sellen :o)

wonder how long that will take to read! - Rob Sellen :o)

Those are some tight pants for a dude. - Mitch

all the rage now mitch... back to 80's aint it. ;o) - Rob Sellen :o)

I made the mistake of looking up "Furbys" once - never do that again --- ewwwwwww - Brent Smorgen Bleg

Woooow!!! that's incredible!! - Michael

Mitch: They're called "skinnies" - Nicholas James

BTW...wonder how much this would weigh ? - Nicholas James

That's just wrong! How many trees died for that? (sorry, I'm a tree hugger from my old Santa Cruz days) - Arleen Anderson

kool - Cynthia Yildirim

Arleen: its ok, the new trees planted will suck up more CO2! My first thought, was, "how often will they have to re-print? - Alistair (alpinefolk)

its huuuuuuuuuge :) - Göksel Şirin

Just after have printed this mega volume, this is already passed - Roberto from fftogo

wow that's huge... how outdated is it already now? hehe - Marko Saric

Not huge at all, even if it is only featured articles. Alix noted it looks smaller than book set remembered a kid and I agree. Now, if they printed all the smaller, cross referenced articles each with a page, it would be huge. - Michael W. May

Surprised it is so few pages - Chris Sparno from BuddyFeed

wow, that's a fantastic visual on the size of wikipedia - Susan Beebe

They could break it up into volumes like every other encyclopedia does. - John Hardy

How long would it take to find: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...? - DaveDelaney.ME

Dave Delaney: Ironically, that article would not be in the encyclopedia. It isn't marked as a Featured Article. - Rishabh Mishra (p248)

All thanks to...http://friendfeed.com/jimmywa... shhhhhhh.... - sofarsoShawn

Great bedtime reading.... it'll prolly break the nightstand tho :p - Zulema ◕ ◡ ◕

It can *be* the nightstand - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

Hypertext is vital these days to make sense of all that. - Mark Edmondson

this just strikes me a a pointless exercise (at best) - and the quote seems to suggest that printing it shows how it is less than valuable as a tool. Huh? - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

Bradley Goetsch › Likes