Dennis Howlett - 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… - Mistletoe Glen

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_Happy2010!

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

amen, sister. - Yolanda

15 more comments

Some folks just look for a plain ol' vacation, but I know a few places in Cabo which might be up your alley. ;) - Steven Perez

I know that feeling. - Fa La La La Lindsay

Steven, I was just in Cabo! I should have talked to you before I went....(except, wait...I didn't know that's where I was going) - ~Courtney F.

I need one too! - Sir Shuping

Courtney: lovely place, no? I still can't get over how many miles of unspoilt beaches there are. - Steven Perez

Well, if that's what you want do on your vacation, go for it! (Factor in just a little time for food though.) - Mark "DerBingle" J

i'm getting the vacation, just not the first part. oh, well. - Joe Silence

Steven - definitely! - ~Courtney F.

I thought those were illegal... - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

No, they just feel so good they *should* be illegal. - Mary Carmen

*checks flights to Bangkok* - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Muffins are illegal? - Steven Perez

What is this thing you call "Vacation"? - m9m, Crone of FriendFeed

I don't know, but I am hoping to get re-acquainted with it. - Mary Carmen

I'm probably going to get a week on a proposal team rather than vacation. It will at least be in different surroundings, with different coworkers, and doing different stuff for a while. Does that count? - Ladybug Heather

Absolutely counts. - Mary Carmen

Or, what I think about it. - Anthony Citrano

55 more comments

I would rather everyone be anonymous than no one. - jeneane sessum

Gerard: as I said in the other thread this would be impossible to enforce so I wouldn't worry about it too much. - Robert Scoble

I commented on your blog: I think anonymity is both a horrible thing and a great tool, it depends on how it's used. In some countries complete anonymity is needed, otherwise they would be put to death or jail. I find its far more respectable when someone puts a real name and face to their opinion, though it isnt always needed. - Colby Olson

Robert: I just think it's interesting that you want to abolish anonymity, that in itself is an odd thing to say, I suppose. Perhaps you could explain your reasoning? - Colby Olson

Robert I think we all realize it would not be enforceable but what I'm going after is the idea behind it - that *were it enforceable*, it would be a good thing. To me, the underlying idea that anonymous speech is a bad thing and should be eliminated is rather authoritarian and terrifying. - Anthony Citrano

Colby: everything that I have seen negative on the Internet is due to anonymity. Can you link to one positive thing? Mini Microsoft but even that would be much better if the guy who wrote it would sign his name. - Robert Scoble

Anthony: well, I don't see it as a good thing. I have freedom of speech already and would die to defend that. Anonymity is for cowards. - Robert Scoble

Robert, speaking out on the internet against oppressive governments is not a bad thing. And as I have stated previously, many revolutions start in anonymity. Again, rules of absolutism don't allow for both sides. Anonymity is a tool and it can be used for good and bad. - Tim Finucane

Kind of a night of drastic comments from the Scobleizer, huh?? Everything negative on the internet is due to anonymity. Yikes thats a whole new round of overstatement. I love following you Robert and agree way more often than not but that's silly. - Cody Heitschmidt

tim: what revolution started with anonymity? Certainly NOT the American one. - Robert Scoble

It most definitely did start with secret meetings. The crown didn't know identities until after things got under way. - Tim Finucane

Robert: You just spawned numerous blog posts and threads with that one. I agree with you up to a point. One of the two that I have blocked on FF was determined to be a troll and supposedly anon. However, there are many countries that speaking up and signing on the dotted line will get both your head and hand chopped off. - Mathew A. Koeneker

Cody is right. I did overstate that and I am sorry about that. - Robert Scoble

The Internet is and should be about choice. You should be able to choose your level of anonymity. It is not one shoe fits all. - Jauder Ho

Robert... i would follow you into the fire.. and here is why we all follow you: Your are passionate. Sometimes it gets in your way because you overstate things but then you admit you are wrong. A guy with 30,000 followers could be big headed enough not to admit something he said wasn't quite right. It's cool that a little guy in Ks can make a contrary statement at you and not just get blocked and you roll over him. Now admit you were wrong on the rule against anonymity too. lol just kidding. - Cody Heitschmidt

Robert -- There is legitimate reason for anon speech, especially on the internet. What I think you really want is a "Personal Global Internet Filter" that allows the removal of the ugliest side-effects. Even looking to the American revolution, pen names and aliases were used countless times by the likes of Thomas Jefferson, et al. There is a legitimate purpose to it... the statement that no revolution was started by anonymous is a bit of a stretch. - Mark Philpot

There are a ton of reasons for a person to use a pseudonym on the internet. Especially when you look at people in other countries who can only speak by being "nameless". I even have reasons for using a name that isn't my real name. - Candace

Don't admit you were wrong on the rule unless you believe it... until you believe ! hehe lol Great freaking discussion who started this whole mess with the rule comment? - Cody Heitschmidt

I believe it was started by Robert's response to Laura Fitton's question: "What one "rule" would you make about the Internet?" - Tim Finucane

To all those under pseudonyms: Why? Are you truly in fear of reprisal? @Dtrizzle a link to your blog profile quickly reveals you. @Corvida do you have a reason? - Mathew A. Koeneker

i'm sorry he's wrong or right depending i've been batting this question lately and i use the internet not to shield who i am but to get people to talk to me who wouldn't do to disability. and if i ever meet any net folks in RL my hope is that they will be over it quicker due to knowing I'm capable and cool to begin with - Cecil Sandus

@Robert Scoble (scobleizer): What's so negative about my blog? Well, other than the fact that I don't apply myself. Sorry, there've been too many firings and too many "we won't hire you" situations because of uptight control freaks in power who can't stand employees who have their own minds. Anyone who really desires it can find out who MiniMage is, but I feel the better for not broadcasting my real name, and so do my parents. - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF from NoiseRiver

well said Mage - Cecil Sandus

One rule for the internet is that all data is equal. The second rule is that there are no other rules. I think Scoble's idea of not anonymity is becoming more a reality with people's lives becoming intertwined with their online identity. I would like to preserve anonymity for whistle blowers, etc. Anonymity is a tool that can be used or abused. - Erik Weese

Pseudonyms mean nothing. People do find out who you are. I spent two days in a courtroom reading my blog entries aloud that were posted under a pseudonym. If you don't want people to read what you write, buy a pen and a blank journal and stick it under your mattress. - Trish R

MiniMage many many more people have been hired for their blogs than fired for them and I can't think of an instance where someone who was fired wasn't behaving stupidly. We have a whole chapter in our book about that. - Robert Scoble

yes Dtrizzle that makes sense to me and Trish as for your idea it's an oldie but a goodie... - Cecil Sandus

corvida isn't anonymous. I have talked with her on the phone. Minimicrosoft is pretty anonymous but I know at least one person who knows who he is. - Robert Scoble

Dtrizzle - The bit on your educational background while perfect for a resume can provide an easy way to start skip-tracing you. Not that I am. Just one of the little tricks I learned where tech meets accounting. - Mathew A. Koeneker

it is amazing the conversations that can start with a simple word or two. I am at a wedding with people who have left Iran to get the freedom of speech so understand well the problems with using your real name. One guy here was in Iranian prisons for years. He is not afraid to stand up in public against injustice. - Robert Scoble

@Robert Scoble (scobleizer): Do you remember the Chronicle of Higher Education article where someone talked about being on an interview committee? These EDUCATED folks attitudes were explained thus, "Several committee members expressed concern that a blogger who joined our staff might air departmental dirty laundry (real or imagined) on the cyber clothesline for the world to see. Past... more... - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF from NoiseRiver

Scoble I think he was referring to the fact that I don't use my real name online at all. As for the person who asked why, because I don't want people Googling me. I like to keep my personal life separate from my online life. Same person, different interactions and I don't want them overlapping in any way, shape, or form. - Corvida

@Corvida - Why keep yourself so fragmented? Then you have to remember who you with whom. I am with Robert for the most part on this one. You instantly gain more respect from me if your are proud enough of your name to attribute ALL of your actions whether in the VW or RW to it. You are an American are you not? Unless, you have a TS like my folks then who or what are you hiding from. Telling me that it is just a personal choice is a cop out. @Dtrizzle gives some valid rationale for his decision. - Mathew A. Koeneker

There are certain place on the net that you NEED anonymity !! Take a look at some Forums that ONLY focus on vulnerability disclosures. Each and every one of them is only known by a handle. Chances that you actually associate a handle w/ real name /face is near impossible. - Peter Dawson

I could argue the same. Most in my situation do take that approach. My disease is just that a disease. It is what it is. Like I commented earlier there can be valid reasons; I just wanted to hear Corvida's rationale both from a personal interest as she is just another human being as well as from the pov of the well known blogger. - Mathew A. Koeneker

Interesting convo. I actually talked to Mark Hopkins about this. He brought his anon handle into his identity. I've kept mine apart. I don't agree with no one being anonymous; I happily existed online for years and can still write about personal issues and my children without compromising their (or my) privacy. - Cyndy

I vote for anonymity. If you are anonymous and threatening though, realize that I also support using every tracking method possible to make a community safer. People can not yell "FIRE" in a crowded room. I can not call my neighbor a "RAPIST" just because I feel like it. Regulated Free Speech is ok. Unregulated free speech is not, just as I can not go around town physically hitting anyone I want to ("Freedom of Action"). - Mitchell Tsai

The vast majority of my college friends (Harvard 1982-89, age 40-50) are still petrified of Facebook due to Corvida's concerns - and I have mostly techy friends. There are discussions on our alumni boards (on & off Facebook) about all the potential career dangers. About 30-40% of my college friends are on LinkedIn because they understand resumes & how you can control the presentation of... more... - Mitchell Tsai

P.S. I've spoken with Corvida on the phone also. We were going to visit Georgia Tech together, but plans didn't work out (and my college friend who's a professor there turned out to be out-of-town also). Bummer. - Mitchell Tsai

Assume ANYTHING you e-mail, post on the Internet, or say on a phone is recorded somewhere and scanned for verbal/textual keywords. My first company is now partially owned by the C... and we process information to find ter...... Over 10 years ago (1992-98), I attended academic data-mining conferences where people from the phone company presented the algorithms they were using to scan... more... - Mitchell Tsai

“regulated free speech”, Mitchell? Can you be serious? - Anthony Citrano

Yep. - Mitchell Tsai

well i think the concept is absurd, myself. but i'm out. also, why post 5-6 messages in a row instead of 1? it's messy and inelegant. - Anthony Citrano

Paragraph marks in a comment would work too. I don't like how everything runs together in one comment... - Mitchell Tsai

@Robert people tend to act differently online than they do in real-life, anonymous or not. They perceive a disconnect between their online profile and life. Makes people be more direct, confrontational, and sometimes hostile. They don't feel bound by the same social rules (have respect for each other). - Alexander van Elsas

I can fully understand that some wish to be anonymous on the web. But thinking that the things you do online are disconnected from your offline life is stupid. I am not anonymous online and I am aware that my interactions are always visible. - Alexander van Elsas

Resurrected because of this: http://friendfeed.com/rww... - Anthony Citrano

I'll just add here that I don't agree that we should chop off our whole arm but if someone can point the finger and label me negatively knowing full well that I am public and not hiding behind a fake avatar, I should be able to see who is doing the labeling and so should the community since the insult was brought to the community's attention by the hiding labeler/harasser. We should... more... - Jeunelle Foster

Even aside from my opinion that the Imus thing was a bunch of BS from a clueless Outrage Nation, I disagree that providers ought strip away anonymity every time someone's feelings get hurt. - Anthony Citrano

My rule would be no obnoxious bloggers. - Cristo

There are good (edit: adequate) legal processes for handling truly abusive cases. - LogEx

This is a long thread and I may have missed it in a later response, but what about people finding you in person through the internet? I play WoW and my guild leader was stalked by someone who knew only her first name, state, and profession. He called her and flew to her area to find her. This is just a simple case of a nut job, but the internet is full of them. When you bring other countries, with less freedom into the mix things just get messier. - Heather

The thing is, he never defined his terms either. Is creating a bogus account and logging in through a proxy for a one-time flame the same as using a long-term pseudonym for mostly constructive purposes? I think not. There are so many good and valid reasons for not living completely transparently. - LogEx

@Anthony it's your opinion that you found the Imus thing BS and I'm not talking about when people's feelings get hurt, I disagree in cases where someone can get physically hurt, here is an example. Blogcatalog was in heat a few months ago when some of these members who I see as negative while hiding behind fake persona, fake avatars, hiding their Ip addresses and whois information took... more... - Jeunelle Foster

WOW. I was trying to figure out why I had this pop up from a year ago. I still pretty much side with The Scoblezier with a few exceptions. If you are blogging, chatting, or even surfing on-line....odds are pretty good that a determined individual or govt entity can find you out. You may think that you are "anon" but in reality you are not at all. Plus, I have a lot less respect for folks esp in this country that are unwillling to put their real names in their posts. - Mathew A. Koeneker

I didn't feel like cutting and pasting so sorry. But if you think that your on-life persona is somehow sacred and secure from your real life identity then you have some harsh realities to wake up to. This is the information age people. - Mathew A. Koeneker

Recommend checking out the firesales soon to start up in Detroit. - Dennis Howlett

Reminds me of the old Robert Wilson piece, Death, Destruction and Detroit II http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem... - Cliff Gerrish

Gives the "Trust" and "Personal Trust" business a whole new slant. - Cliff Gerrish

Does that mean that the distrustful are bankrupt? - Aron Michalski

Not gifted with the pithy and snappy comeback today. But speaking of Detroit, Francine wrote an excellent post on Fast Company about patriotism, community, and Detroit. Recommended. - Karoli

My comment was both an attempt to be humorous and to ask a serious question; if we switch to a more affinity-based currency, do those who stand alone put themselves at a serious disadvantage? - Aron Michalski

"A man with friends is rich beyond imagining" takes on a whole new importance, doesn't it? - Aron Michalski

hard to answer that question. Reading an article right now about misplaced trust and money that would tend to place the advantage more toward the thinking alone person than the more shallow trusting person. - Karoli

I hope that others weigh in on this conversation; I think this is an important question and a valuable one. - Aron Michalski

So, in thinking about this...the "no man is an island" quote comes to my mind. We all trust someone. We all place our trust in a set of institutions and people. Even loners. The question isn't whether we interact with those we trust. The question is how trust is built and determined. The loner may withhold his trust signals from the larger crowd, but there is no assumption that he will be bankrupt by not placing himself on a stream for others to trust. - Karoli

Monetary currency itself is a matter of confidence. Paper money isn't mapped to gold. (In God We Trust) - But how is social currency banked? Traded? Time-shifted? If money is the poor man's credit card, what's the equivalent in 'trust?' I've explored a few of these issues here: http://blog.echovar.com/... - Cliff Gerrish

I've read that post a couple of times. Still chewing on it. What stops me from embracing it altogether is how simple a system like that is to game. Retweets create an ecosystem of middlemen. (note: I am not saying retweeting doesn't have value. I believe it does.) Retweeting is a component of trust, but not the primary one, IMO. Consider Digg and how easy it is to game it. There has to be an editorial, a human component. Something genuine. - Karoli

Just reread the !Kung piece and a thought comes to me; the gesture as poetry. It serves as a filter for those who read without seeing, see without feeling, hear without listening. The violent gnashing of the comment sections we visit and how the poetry of an interpretation seems to narrow the stream of valid currency into the right account. On the other hand, finding a universal... more... - Aron Michalski

and yet, almost hysterically, it's all the 12 bar blues in the end. - Aron Michalski

I want to come back to your comment about the gesture as poetry, Aron, but this discussion reminded me of a somewhat petulant post that I wrote back in 2007 speaking to the question of gaming. http://www.drumsnwhistles.com/2007... - Karoli

As much as I love Spamku, gaming poetry is not something you can truly do. It either reaches you or it doesn't. The maudlin Hallmark moments might sell greeting cards but will they be quoted for generations? Will they provoke thought? It might not be cryptography but the human heart can't be fooled for too long. - Aron Michalski

That's why I made the separation between your poetry thought and gaming. The difference between greeting cards and poetry that lasts is an authenticity. there is something in the poet's voice, observation, use of metaphor and imagery that resonates to a deeper truth with the reader. Authenticity brings trust. The poet's ability to make us sit up and take notice of the truth he or she is... more... - Karoli

I wouldn't. - Alex Scoble

95 more comments

I would. Of course, "everyone" won't, so it'll be much more than $5. - Hiro Asari

hell nah! - Carlos Ayala

Only if it gave me a 5$ stake/vote in the company - Micah Jefferson

This GM? No... A fundamentally revamped GM, maybe... GMH is a large employer in Australia and the Holden Commodore is an icon here. What happens in the US effects everyone you know. - Johnny Worthington

Actually it is $500 per person! - Bindu Reddy

No thank you. - matthew john ernisse

Let's put it another way...I won't buy a GM car to save GM... - Alex Scoble

no - Shevonne

Nope - BEX

NO - Morton Fox

Yes, but i'd be giving $5 to help out the workers who need jobs, not to save the company... it's not their fault their bosses can't run a company. - Ted Roden

No - Deepak Singh

Management was not entirely to blame for GM's failings. - matthew john ernisse

I think the tax payers wouldn't go for saving GM if it were put to direct vote. Yet, we keep rescuing one institution after another. After paying trillions of dollars into banks they have started to make money again and give out bonuses again... Sigh - Bindu Reddy

Nope. I feel for the employees but saving the existing company will just result in more of the same. Not actual, needed change. - CAJ, somewhere else

Not if our president had anything further to do with it. - James Stratford

I wouldn't even invest $5 right now in GM mainly because of how bad the mgmt has been doing for the last decade! - Shivanand Velmurugan

No. GM can't be 'saved' with more money. - Dennis O'Neil

I wouldnt invest $5 in a GM car, let alone the company... - Jeremy Toeman

Nope. - Mona Nomura

No. - Soup

nope - Steve C

They don't have to be asked. GM is traded on the open market. Everyone who wants to put money into GM already has. If more people wanted to put money into it, the stock price would soar, and they wouldn't be in bankruptcy. - Mistletoe Glen

Thanks Glen - saved me the trouble. - Tad

Glen nailed it, end of thread - Mark Traphagen

BTW, I've already given more than $5 to GM, if you calculate that my taxes will have to repay the government bailout money (it's gotta come from somewhere). - Mistletoe Glen

Nope. - Wirehead

It depends on what degree of assurance I get that my $5 would actually save jobs. What Glen said. - Mr. Gunn

nope - John Wang

nope - Uncle CW™

HELL NO!! - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)

Yeah, no. I would rather save jobs by investing in a viable industry. - joey

Bad news: you all already did, times a thousand or so. - Anthony Citrano from BuddyFeed

If I had a paycheck, and if I got a share of stock, and if there was a money back guarantee, maybe. - Grant Bierman

No. - Aram Zucker-Scharff from fftogo

If I had a choice, hell no. - Beau Liening

@Anthony, Unfortunately yes, we all already did... Many times over. :( - Bindu Reddy

To save the company? No. To give to the poor workers who have lost their jobs? Maybe but I don't have my own job atm. :-( - Kol Tregaskes

Why would they deserve a dime from me? They give me one of those 2009 Cameros and I'll give them five dollars. - Danny Minick from BuddyFeed

nope. The management failed everyone. I won't encourage failures like them with even a cent of my money. - vijay

no. - Thomas Hawk

I'd give more than that to save GM. My issue isn't that we're giving too much to save GM, but that we're stealing too much from the very people that should make the hard decisions about how to save GM. I assure you nobody in government has a clue. - Jason Nunnelley

Not a chance. - AJ Kohn

Not a chance. Don't own GM stock now or ever (though it may be a component of one or more of my mutual funds). - Craig Eddy

@craig - if you're a US taxpayer, as I said above, you do own GM stock. It's just not worth anything (although you did pay dearly for it.) - Anthony Citrano

You say NO...but we all know that means YES. - suzanne

hell no - Jim in Real Time

Nope - Dan Morrill AKA Techwag

No way - Håkan Dahlström

No. Hell no! - Zulema ◕ ◡ ◕

No! - Borislav Borissov

I don't think people would willing pay to save GM. Although they're going to have to ;) - Nicholas James

Hell no! They're on of the main reasons our air is unfit to breath and our planet is dying.To hell with GM and all other polluters. - Dv8thwonder

heck no. - Alan Le

yeah maybe, but there s/be no union shit ! - Peter Dawson

No, that would be immoral. - Dave Roth

nope - Alfredo

No effing way - Alex Scrivener

It depends, would the $5 go toward a factory in my former home town that would help give those folks their jobs back? If so, I would. - Brandon Mendelson

Of course. I'm unemployed. - Emilio_M from twhirl

nope - Michael Habib

Not I. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

I would "save" a lot of stuff, but not GM. - Amit Morson

not willingly. but i would contribute $5 to the Help GM's Former Employees Eat Fund. i own one of the worst GM cars ever made. i know 4 other people who own the same make and model (different years) and we have all had similar problems with our cars. GM needs to die a death and be born anew. - tiffany

As long as it didn't go toward executive bonuses, OK. - Tom Landini

Haven't we each already effectively done that -- except we've each given about $150-200 ($50billion into 300MM people in the US, roughly)? :-) - Karen

Haha tiffany! Phoenix Motors? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Phoenix Motors would be a great name for one of their cast off brands, Mark! - Alex Scoble

Absolutely not. - Nicholas Kreidberg

Karen I think of the 300 M ppl I think only 100 M or so actually pay taxes... So yes we have paid about $500 each. Tiffany what car was it? - Bindu Reddy

The Canadian portion is just over $300 per Canadian citizen. - Kenton

Hmm. I would if: That actually bought me a 5$ share in GM (with the usual shareholder rights), and if there was some guarantee that I am only obligated if the aggregate total reached some figure that was determined to be sufficient to 'save' them (albeit with no guarantee of success). - Michael R. Bernstein

We've already given to GM through our government, way more than $5 a head. - Mike Reynolds

Nope. - Brandon

Yeah, aren't we already doing that? - Pete Delucchi

I would start a national campaign encouraging people to keep their money and hope that GM went under. - The Kid

Nope. - Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah

I would. I think GM has been unfairly boxed in and painted with a large, loaded broad brush. - Karoli

No chance - Dennis Howlett

No. - Jeff P. Henderson

Nope. - Helen Sventitsky

Most of you voted to save GM, and ALL of us are paying a lot more than $5 to "save" them. Thanks, Hopenchangers. - Robert Kenney

Robert, GMs problems are a whole mishmash of issues, but one of the most major was the fact that they could not shoulder the healthcare costs for their employees. Yet, those of you who derisively refer to us as hopenchangers, condemn ob/gyns as babykillers and all the rest are also unwilling to confront the ongoing health care crisis in a fashion that will actually reform it. So forgive me if I don't bow to your sarcasm or quake at your condemnation. - Karoli

No bowing or quaking needed, thanks. I agree about the healthcare issues. Management should have offered basic healthcare to it's workers like most other companies, instead of the gold-plated package. But I guess the union wouldn't go for that. Who's fault? Both of them. - Robert Kenney

We already did. They got bailout money. - Vaughn

My brother and I did the calculations today; each person in the USA has donated about $185 towards saving GM. I doubt that an additional $5 would help. - Mistletoe Glen

What are the comparable numbers for the bank bailouts, then? And I don't just mean TARP. - Andrew C

The imports makes more cars in the US than the three big US carmakers. It is a matter of time before the imports hires more people in the US than the three big US carmarkers. And Americans can own the stock of the imports. How is GM more American than any of the big imports? - Peng-Toh

No. Now would any of you give up $5 to "save" my sorry ass? Didn't think so. - Sue Radd

No, not unless they really innovated and came up with a no gas, no emission car, Under 10 grand and mass marketed it. then Maybe. - InPerpetualMotion(Gina k)

Gina: You're going to be paying $5 for GM regardless ;) - Nicholas James

Nicholas, not if I don't get a job soon, I'll be headed to India, and I dare them to come drag that $5 from my sweaty scarf wearing hands.(edit: because I'll be living with my in-laws in the house my husband bought them.) - InPerpetualMotion(Gina k)

Didn't I already do that? Should have failed years ago. - Andy Bakun

not without a DAMN good presentation on why I should. - Josh Haley

No, I don't think I'd donate any (more) money to GM. Voluntarily, that is. - Rick Cogley

GM can go screw. They suck, so they failed. Oh well. - Aaron Turpen

"The move is certainly consistent with Apple's modus operandi: Enter a new market late, and wipe everyone out. Apple did it to digital music players with the iPod, which it introduced in 2001, years after the introduction of the first portable digital music players. And it is busily doing it again with smart phones since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, Munster argues. "We believe Apple is observing the netbook market in a similar way, and will eventually enter with a tablet." Will it work? Who knows. Here's our unbiased take: Whatever it is, we'll buy it." - Anand Sharma from Bookmarklet

great find Steve - btw, would it be ok for to drop you an email? Just a short one don't worry - Zee.

17 more comments

Like this. +5 more points for FF. - Amani

Steve, I love that I made a cameo in your post. I only wish my short URL was more inspired. - Scott Gatz

Finally! Yay! Wish Twitter had this a long time ago. That's the reason I never use full links that get converted. I change the www. to w3 .website.com and that way everyone can see the full link still and copy and paste it if they want to view the site. I got annoyed at clicking on duplicate TinyURLs. - Adam

@Adam, Just try out the grease monkey script, it will let you see all the tiny url's. http://tinyurl.com/5wduxf - Dennis Goedegebuure

Nice feature add. Keep them coming! - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

Nice feature enhancement!! - Susan Beebe

What Mohomed=genieyclo said! Thanks, FF crew. :-) - Lisa L. Seifert

One small nit. Does not work in comments. Try this link - http://tinyurl.com/5wduxf - Atul Arora

@Atul Arora Right! First thing I noticed. I also wonder with how many shortening services does it work with... - Nikos Anagnostou

This is awesome. Hopefully this can be added to twhirl too - Guy

This should be definitely exported via API - Alex Kapranoff

Finally! - Mr. Gunn

This is an awesome feature! - Nicholas James

Lovely! - Mitchell Tsai

I use the greasemonkey script tinyurl-ru at http://kapranoff.ru/friendf... but it only covers tinyurl.com and tinyurl.ru | Maybe we should do a community project that keeps updating that script with all those url-shorteners out there. | Alex, are you game? - ĎÚβĨŐÚŚ Dod

Is this a feature that friendfeed removed? Because it's not working in Chrome. - James Poling

I don't see any short URL's in FriendFeed anymore. all are automatically expanded. - Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah

http://bit.ly/vVvYi - James Poling

But I might want to comment, or spread the info out to others...must be a better word than 'like'. Notice, maybe? - Karoli

90 more comments

Yeah. Should say something like "Don't miss this" - Francine Hardaway

How about "recommend" - Leo Laporte

Yeah I think recommend would be better... - Rustic Thoughts

I'm finding it more likeable by the minute. As in I like how stupid this is or I like this enough to say so. Other benefit is that the rest I don't like without having to do anything - Steve Gillmor

I like contrarians. Even grumpy ones. - Karoli

Or "Flag"? - Greg Byrne

my point exactly Karoli - Steve Gillmor

"Mark". "Spray". "Foul". - Aron Michalski

steve, how do i know if you like how stupid it is or like it for real? - Karoli

or? - Steve Gillmor

yeah, or. - Karoli

Flag has negative connotations ("Flag as mature") and recommend implies emailing to me. I've just gotten used to 'liking' horrible things and hoping people know what I mean by doing so. - Rob Haas

Does @stevegillmor like things for real? I had no idea:-) - Francine Hardaway

If you take a position and want to state that, a short comment is the tool - it gives you whatever word you want to use. - Micah Wittman

Approve doesn't work. I don't approve of torture or stupid republican tricks. (stupid modifies tricks BTW) - Karoli

Aronski. I like "mark" - Francine Hardaway

When I send something important over Twitter, whether I agree with it or not, I just say "Must read. " That seems to work - Francine Hardaway

I posted on this back in November (though I'm comfortable with just Like now) http://friendfeed.com/micahwi... - Micah Wittman

I'd love to see a service that says "Aronski clicked this for no apparent reason" - Aron Michalski

Micah, I liked that - Karoli

We just need an array of, like, half a dozen different emoticons and you just click on the one that applies, ala GetSatisfaction - Ken Sheppardson

Ahyhhhhh, Kshep you are on to something. - Francine Hardaway

Liked your liking :) - Micah Wittman

ah...another contrarian in our midst. humor and funny guys everywhere. - Karoli

naah I like everything I click like, just for different reasons that I don't care to share - Steve Gillmor

no,no,no, simplify, not complicate. - Aron Michalski

I wanna mark them "Things that make you go Hmmmm" - William Kapes

drives me crazy when i see retweets on twitter @karoli liked [cite article here on bad stuff] - Karoli

don't read twitter - Steve Gillmor

Yes, it's cognitive dissonance - Francine Hardaway

no it's not - Steve Gillmor

twitter is one of my feeds here. i read here. hence, i read twitter. - Karoli

if you say so, I disagree - Steve Gillmor

OK, if we don't solve this soon, I will have to go back to work. I work. - Francine Hardaway

here is ff - Steve Gillmor

this is work francine - Steve Gillmor

Not hard, though - Francine Hardaway

I get what you're saying but to me, "flag" sound like spam. Things that are 'icky' to some may not be 'icky' to others. I don't use "like" in its literal sense on Friendfeed. I use "like" to mark things I find interesting, things that deserve attention, things that i want others to see... i actually may or may not literally "like" it. - Violet Mae Lim

Who is paying me? - Francine Hardaway

dunno - Steve Gillmor

Exactly Violet, but then people wonder what you believe - Francine Hardaway

here is ff. ff includes tweets. twitter is where 90% of the folks i follow still inhabit. the idea of @karoli LIKING anything to do with ugly topics drives me crazy. - Karoli

Unfortunately, me neither, Steve - Francine Hardaway

no I dunno who pays you - Steve Gillmor

I would like to call attention to the fact that a bunch of good friends are now having fun having a real time conversation - Francine Hardaway

I resent you saying that francine :) - Steve Gillmor

Violet, agree with you on flag. and I 'like' for similar reasons. it's when it is rebroadcast that my cringe reflex kicks in. - Karoli

ROFL ROFL - Francine Hardaway

LOL Steve. FTW. :) - Karoli

This is Steve GIllmor. Thanks to everybody who showed up and especially to those who ddin't - Francine Hardaway

Francine- what do you mean? Do you mean in terms of my morals, values and beliefs? - Violet Mae Lim

No, I meant "you" in the sense of "one" - Francine Hardaway

text-based NewsGang Live? lol - Karoli

I can't decide if I Like this thread or not. - Ken Sheppardson

Cute - Francine Hardaway

I Flag, it... not sure if I'd go so far as to say Like. - Ken Sheppardson

Francine- Ah, I see what you mean. That might come with the territory of using a word like "like". On this platform it means different things to different people. Personally, I do "like" things that I literally do like but I also "like" things that are the opposite of what I believe. As a person I objectively read both sides of every argument to balance myself, my thoughts and my views out. /long explanation - Violet Mae Lim

I have the same problem. Given that this is all meta-topical, I'd say you "like" the way it was brought to your attention. I still tend to not "like" the notice of something unless I also like what is being discussed. - Dustin Sallings

I like the lack of Like's for comments so that it becomes an intelligense test to figure out what comment I liked - Steve Gillmor

Steve, i'm flattered that you would assume i have intelligence. I have long since decided i cannot figure you out, rely only on instinct for that. - Karoli

much as I do - Steve Gillmor

@leolaporte is onto something calling it "recommend. you define yourself by what you "like" ie find relevant or worth paying attention to. cant say too much without saying too much. " this is really a million dollar question with deep implications. you'd love what we're working on at TheWibe. the confusion >>> incomplete paradigm. - Elias

But there are very few things I "Like" that I "Recommend". The way I've heard the FriendFeed folks explain it, and the way I use it, is "I like the fact that you shared this." which has for me sorta morphed into "I like the fact that this entry/discussion exists." I'm not Recommending that anybody else read it, I don't endorse the opinion(s) expressed, and I certainly don't necessarility agree with any of the comments or opinions. - Ken Sheppardson

Maybe they could rename it "Eh" - Ken Sheppardson

I like Leo, but I think Recommend is neither here nor there. It very much carries the same (conventional) connotation as Like. If you recommend a dentist, it's not because your mouth is still numb and there's an interesting malpractice story to tell. - Micah Wittman

Micah: Do you like Leo or do you *Like* Leo? - Ken Sheppardson

Ken, or "huh" - Karoli

Maybe it should be, like, a little picture of Spock raising his eyebrow, and you just click on his face. - Ken Sheppardson

Ken, Leo *dead*s me. - Micah Wittman

Recommend: Here's the RT on Twitter: @Karoli recommends Waterboarding only tip of torture iceberg. 100 years from now my great-grandchildren will scratch their heads and wonder what DNA they cary. - Karoli

I'm waiting for Steve to suggest calling it "Gesture" - Ken Sheppardson

it's A gesture, but so is not saying anything - Steve Gillmor

Elias: You said that already. - Ken Sheppardson

Karoli, do you have stacks of telegrams from your great-grandparent to pour over and analyze? Would you rather have a trove of mysterious documentation than none at all? - Micah Wittman

sorry thought i could edit - Elias

Oh, jeez... you mean our great-grandkids are going to read all this? Why didn't somebody tell me? - Ken Sheppardson

Ken, only if they know you as Great Grampa Kshep. - Micah Wittman

Micah, funny you should ask. I have been trying for years to get some info on my father's gf...finally received the most mysterious packet of info. It's a challenge trying to figure out why people saved some things, not others, wrote about weird out-of-step topics, etc. If 1/100th of what I write is preserved for future generations and I don't control what it is, and it comes from... more... - Karoli

"When the gesture sang for the king and queen / In a coat he borrowed from james dean / And a voice that came from you and me..." - Micah Wittman

i LIKE Micah's lyric. - Karoli

How 'bout "gesture"? Or does O'Reilly own that too? - Aron Michalski

Dude. - Ken Sheppardson

Elias, i heard you the first, second and third times. you're not selling us something, are you? or self-promoting? of course not. to edit original post: click "edit", make your changes, and then hit "post". It will remain in original thread, with new text. - Karoli

Karoli, sorry no joke, I'm having a handfull with my g1 app and a toddler. first time I thought i could edit - Elias

Elias, my bad then. You can edit. just click the edit button. don't use your browser to go 'back', edit and repost. all of your posts are editable in their original position. - Karoli

Why not simply "Notify?" That seems to not offend anyone, and it's what you're actually doing. You are notifying friends, a network, or a process of something they/it should be aware of. - Shoq

Not getting payed for this but google actually got closer to this one than anyone. "Star" entails marking it special, without any emotional or qualitative connotation. "Like" was probably positioning against that fact... I wonder if google owns "star." - Elias

@Ken_Shepardson Right on the money, you might only recommend a few of the things you "like" seeing. In fact sometimes you run across something noteworthy but you starkly disagree with. Let's just say we haven't seen the solution to this one yet. - Elias

I've always thought "like" is the wrong word and should be "mark" instead. I want to mark posts on here as notable, but I don't want to "like" really negative things. For example, I'd hate to "like" someone's personal loss or whatever. Bad kharma. - Rick Cogley

I've mentioned this a few times. I'm in favour of 'Star', as an icon rather than a word. There is no implication of approval or otherwise. If Like is a keeper then let's have the option 'Dislike' as well. The only other option I can see is 'Noted'. Again there is no implied approval. And that looks a whole lot more grown up in the Twitter feed than Liked. - Gilbert Harding

I dislike like. Of the alternatives, I think "mark" or "star" are the most agnostic. - chauncey

Positive points only please. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

31 more comments

That's good, Abby, thanks. :-) Anyone else? - Kol Tregaskes

Love the DMs! - LB - not a snow bunneh

I like the "my discussions" button. - Nurse Katie

I'm finding it more and more difficult to find things I dislike. Live is definitely a good thing, I feel more immersed in the flow. I now find myself more and more annoyed that I have to actally click something to update my Facebook view. Best of day I look at from time to time. And what Katie said while I wqas typing this (and it just appeared, live is cool), My Discussions is great. (And being able to go back and fix my terrible typing helps) - Andy Kruger

DMs, Real time in all its variations and functionality, email updates, IM and email notifications are huge positives ( though I am not sure everything is UI related). - Brian Sullivan

Being an info-junkie, I am head over heels in love with the Live Stream of constant information, and how I can comment and contribute so easily. - Carlton Hackett

I like much of the old functionality is still available in the new FF. - Peter

I miss the old feature when there's a new post in a group, the group link moved to top in groups list. - LouCypher

Lou, read the title, positive comments only please, ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

bigger pictures of my FF buddies. - Stephanie_Happy2010!

DMs and profiles, real time rocks. Did you know that a DM can make a very very good IM platform? Well, you probably did Kol 'cause you know how to rock FF, but I just discovered this recently. - Jim in Real Time

Jim, yep I was "IMing" with my cousin the other day. Much better than the real IM, hehe. - Kol Tregaskes

posting to multiple groups at once! - chrisofspades

Oh, sorry. Well, I like the ability to post directly to Twitter, multiple posting, DM, and select multiple images to upload. I hate the rests ;p - LouCypher

The things I think are super-great far outnumber any (well intentioned) criticism. - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)

Thanks all, so not many good things then? ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Two things I like are the post to twitter checkbox and the my discussions button. I think the real-time feature is something we really will get used to in a while and can't live without anymore. - TobiasVerhoog.com

@Fabian: that's only you who wants custom background - LouCypher

The new UI makes it so easy to complain about the new UI. :) - Morton Fox

realtime update, send to multiple groups, direct messages, Panama cricket girls - Remo

realtime, multi group/feed posting, DM, email/IM read/post, CC:Twitter box (wish for more of those!), colors, selectable groups in my sidebar list, saved search.....and the fact that it's still smoking fast ;) - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

Subscriber management just got a whole lot better today: Profile Avatar > N subscribers > Manage subscribers ( friendfeed.com/NICKNAME/subscribers?moderate=1 :) - Micah Wittman

Micah, yes very useful. I got a whole bunch of people I'm not subbing back to. No idea how I've missing them. It would be nice if the page used AJAX so subbing to lots of people was easier. And I agree with Tina's suggestion that there should be a sub to all option or at least a select all with tick boxes then an "subscribe" button at the top. - Kol Tregaskes

I like that there are more African-American and Hispanic people engaging in conversation...sweet. - Terence

I love that there are so many different cultures and people from around the World here that we can all interact with. It's great. I wish there was a way to auto-translate though. - Kol Tregaskes

♥ It's back! The new-post-in-a-group-move-to-top-list is back! ♥ - LouCypher

DMs - Isha (Marysia)

I like real time. I like DMs. I actually like most of friendfeed's new features, just haven't quite mastered them yet. - Karoli

I think DMs and real-time (and saved searches) are the big additions to the new UI. - Kol Tregaskes

Love it! Real Time, Real Time, Real Time !!!!! - Jose Luis Santos

For me, one of the most awesome things is being able to subscribe to someone's likes or comments without having to subscribe to all their other stuff. - April Russo (app103)

I like it that the color scheme is easier on the eyes :-) - Pandu ● IT Optimizer

Since the beginning of 2008, I have been bookmarking links to my blog on Delicious, tagged "coverage" - Louis Gray

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You can see the thousands of links here: http://delicious.com/louismg... - Louis Gray

I add secondary tags for the subject, like "blogging", "friendfeed", "twitter", etc. - Louis Gray

The delicious bookmarks get shown on FriendFeed. - Louis Gray

Good idea - Bwana ☠

Now, I set up my settings so that every delicious bookmark I make goes to Twitter via FriendFeed. - Louis Gray

So if you are linking to me, not only will everyone here see it, but everyone on Twitter will see it. Guaranteed exposure. - Louis Gray

And in theory, it gives more exposure back to me by making it look like my blog has a higher rate of visibility. - Louis Gray

Love it Louis. I rt those who have linked to me: http://twitter.com/brianso... - Brian Solis

Very good idea..my delicious bookmarks all go to Facebook as well. - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

Great idea! - Craig Huffstetler

I like them in friendfeed. - Robert Scoble

briliant, thanks for sharing - anna sauce

Robert, I try to do the same, assuming they are here, but FriendFeed is not yet the superset. I also tend to share them in Google Reader when possible. - Louis Gray

Hmm Must add Friendfeed to my blog - Lindy Asimus

And we know the power of a Scoble "Like!" - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

Plus sometimes you strike up conversations with the bloggers, freely sharing ideas and explaining. That impressed me way back when... - MaryAnn Chick Whiteside

That's a fantastic idea. Think I'll start doing it. - Paul Balcerak

Yes, Mary. It always makes sense to make comments and engage with those discussing your content, if you have the time. - Louis Gray

Nice. Encourage people to link to you by linking to them in return. Not a new concept but definitely an innovative way of doing it. - Mark Bockenstedt

Great idea Louis. You have become my social media constant, I have to hang on to you so I don't get LOST. - Matthew

new strategy: link to louis in every single blog post... muwahahahaha - andy brudtkuhl

I used to do this a lot but then he got me all caught up in this 'new adopter' stuff and I couldn't get anything done (Louis rocks :) - Charlie Anzman

I got the idea from Louis awhile back, but here's mine: http://del.icio.us/jessest... and for socialtoo: http://del.icio.us/jessest... - Jesse Stay

those that link to vertical slice I tend to thank, I'll even come to them and offer to involve them in the show production at times by offering to involve their articles or creations. Sadly there's only one guy that does post some episodes to his blog that I'm aware of. - alphaxion

Louis, what discovery tool do you use to find those linking to you? Google Alerts? - Rick Bucich

We reward those who give our comic what we call a "Mighty Link", with a nice link back under the comic... http://www.geekculture.com/joyofte... - Snaggy

PS - that question goes out to everyone else as well. I love the idea and use it to a degree but never in a systemic way. Do you think http://delicious.com is the ideal platform? - Rick Bucich

Mike Fruchter started the same: http://delicious.com/mfrucht... - Louis Gray

@Rick i prefer diigo... it allows you to build communities around the links - andy brudtkuhl

Rick, Google Alerts are okay (not perfect). Technorati actually still does a better job. - Louis Gray

Dang, I didn't even think of doing that, ok - off to go link love people. thanks! - Dan Morrill AKA Techwag

But, i used to do the same thing back when i was a delicious user - http://delicious.com/48web... - andy brudtkuhl

I also have FriendFeed post my delicious saves over to Twitter to further the reward - Jesse Stay

Good to know, I'm a newb when it come to Technorati although i do have an account - Rick Bucich

Andy, if you do link to me in every post, you'll probably lose readers. I dare you to try. :) - Louis Gray

@Louis haha i doubt it .. everyone loves them some louis - andy brudtkuhl

Does Technorati work for websites not on a blog platform? We have both - Rick Bucich

Andy -- for example, should I bookmark this one? http://billolearysblog.blogspot.com/2009... Knowing that it will get redistributed, I'm less likely to. But I may comment there instead. - Louis Gray

I'm going to do the same - Was thinking linking tweets as well, but then that would be too much... - Bwana ☠

I love this! Way to rally the community! - Dan Morrill AKA Techwag

A most valuable conversation thread indeed! - tony obregon

I like the "coverage" tag idea. Must incorporate into my blog routine. - Ms_Krista

Great Idea! Luis, how do you know who is linking to your Blog? I just linked to you ( http://bit.ly/4webways ) - frank barry

I got really excited when I noticed a link from louismg in delicious. I wondered why, as I don't write about anything social networking related. When I figured it out I started doing the same thing: _both_ sites which linked to me have some shiny delicious.com love from me. Heh. - DGentry

i make cupcakes for each link and mail them to each person - Allen Stern

I so never got my cupcakes! Maybe you should email 'em Allen ;-) - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

I'll link to them if I really like their blog, otherwise I stumble a post - Kate

I delicious people who write about FriendBinder: http://delicious.com/rythie... sometimes I Twitter about them too or Digg them. - Richard Cunningham

joined in with this idea too http://friendfeed.com/alphaxi... - alphaxion

now if only i had my delicious bookmarks all organized like that. - Alfredo

It's not too late Alfredo :D (or is it) - Bwana ☠

idk take a look http://delicious.com/fredyga... - Alfredo

Yeah your tags are ... how do you say... scattered :( - Bwana ☠

aye, looks like you struck into the problem I did - you can't have multiple word tags unless you take out the space and bunch it into a single word. Not even quotes works - alphaxion

Great strategy Louis, I am going to start doing a similar thing at http://delicious.com/garinki... only I am going to tag the Blog with whatever category it belongs to instead of "coverage" - Garin Kilpatrick

Sounds like a plan to me! Will start implementing today! - Mike Paul

So that's why one of my posts got a tweet from Louis Gray! That puzzled me a lot. Only now that I remember that I've linked to Louis in that post. Sweet! Nice touch. ",) - jan geronimo

I stream my ego feed on Twitter - Beth Kanter

I do something similar. When I notice incoming links, I share them in Google Reader. This ends up on Friendfeed, of course, and gets shared with the few folks who follow my GR. I have a sidebar feature on my personal blog set to pick up the gReader bookmarks and parse them as HTML, which Google indexes. Finally, I pipe my gReader shares to Twitter via Twitterfeed. - Chris Baskind

Help! What about posting to SU vs. Delicious? i don't want to submit 2 things to my feed....ideas? should i just use delicious? - Lawton Chiles

Lawton: I have accounts with SU and delicious but recommend using delicious because I find it more efficient, especially when used with the Firefox plugin. - Garin Kilpatrick

Revisiting this old thread because it's so useful. - Rick Bucich

"This blog entry is a bit of a written confession from the Sun Drizzle team. It tells the story of the last few weeks, and how we didn't "Do the Right Thing". It's a tale which ends, hopefully, in our redemption through acknowledgement of what happened, a written commitment that it won't happen again, and a bit of a manual on how to have our actions match our team values." - mjc from Bookmarklet

It's a pity we don't see the same open-ness from the enterprise dev teams around the globe. - Dennis Howlett

it's a pity we don't see the same openness from non-enterprise dev teams around the globe! most OSS is guilty of this too. - mjc

Delete it. I showed the way and I have no regrets :-). I think it's the way forward. - Richard A.

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Depends on if you can force them onto FriendFeed. Twitter has become a cesspool of spammers and celebrities, which is usually a sign that it's time for people to move on. - Mike Nayyar

other services like ? - Marco

What services are they using. - Sweyn Venderbush

What are the other services that they are switching to? - Jason

what are the other services? FF? other? - nrlaskey

Force them? It's not about forcing anyone to do anything, It's about whether you're still getting anything out of the network you're investing your time into. - Richard A.

No Kittens die. Most people will follow where you lead. - Russellreno

I'm not there yet, Richard. But I do note that Facebook is getting more interesting to the early adopter types I usually hang out with. - Robert Scoble

I'll use my mom's argument: "If all your early adopter friends jumped off a cliff, would _you_ jump off a cliff?" - Nick

Yes, I'd like to know what services too? And don't say FriendFeed :) - Michael Pilla

Why would you kill off that audience? At least keep it up with a pointer saying you can now be found at X. You know that if you delete the account, in 6 months, some blogger will write a story about how Robert Scoble doesn't get social media because he's not on Twitter and then it'll be the top story on TechMeme for at least a week. - Mark Trapp

which other other services are attracting the early-adopter crowd, Robert? Anything cool you can share with us? - Andrew Terry

I agree with Mike. Once a service has gone mainstream, it's never the same. Good example was SxSW this year. Too many people were using the hash tag for non-related things like "I fed my dog #sxsw" and it jammed up the network, making it hard for people to legitimately find events. - Allen S.

Sure, no kittens would die. But I continue to find Twitter invaluable and more useful than FriendFeed. However, FaceBook is becoming more useful as a communications and stay-in-touch tool, especially for those with whom I share a relationship of some type. - Michael Krigsman

Nah, not friendfeed, although it's interesting that this comment is getting more engagement here than on Twitter. :-) - Robert Scoble

Facebook for the win. It is more interesting to me also. Amazing how they did that. - Russellreno

What are the other services??? - Jennifer Windrum

Michael: Facebook is the one I'm thinking of. It's coming on very strong with the types of people who made Twitter popular. - Robert Scoble

@Mike, I was thinking the same thing. We are early adopters (ok, some are earlier than me) and we enjoy the close nit friendships created and nurtured through small groups. - Damond Nollan

I think you should keep your Twitter account to follow the evolution of Twitter into FriendFeed, through all kind of bolt-on services like Twitpic and Twerbose ( http://twerbose.com/ ). - Meryn Stol

Trapp, because that audience is only interesting if you get it onto a more conversational platform where anyone can make sense of the conversation a month after it happened. Twitter makes that impossible. - Richard A.

this is the classic age old early adopter twitch, if you were a real early adopter you wouldnt be asking and you'd be gone already.. fear not however, where ever you go, the masses will follow - Dan Rockwell

Why delete it? To make a statement? Just abandoning it quietly is a better choice. - Brian Sullivan

Robert; If twitter was alive and well people would be chatting, not retweeting, they would be conversing with more than one tweet per day per person. - Richard A.

I'm liking Facebook much more since it's a direct FriendFeed copy, but it'll need to go asymmetrical to kill Twitter. - Steve Isaacs

I agree that Facebook is becoming more interesting. What I'd like though, is a version of Facebook that doesn't allow any of the really stupid applications. I'm sick of getting poked, hit with a pillow, being served fake beers, etc. - Tad

Dan: I was a big Facebook user right around when the Platform came out. Then I moved to Twitter cause more of the people I liked to talk with were there. Now I notice the flow is headed back to Facebook and I'm not the only one to make that observation. - Robert Scoble

the day Facebook will share outward their status update, then it may kill everything else around.... i don't think it can yet. - Yann Ropars

@Robert: I suspect you've inadvertently validated why projects like Yammer and ESME should do well - 'your early adopter friends' says it all - it's about YOUR community, not everyone's. - Dennis Howlett

No, seriously...what other services? - Adam Gonnerman

I use multiple social networking tools. - Dan Krivolavek from twhirl

Robert: All my real life friends, and all those I trust are on FB, those I don't trust yet are spread to other networks for the moment. - Richard A.

Robert: I get why you want to make the personal statement, but given your new role at Rackspace I'd say you really have to be everywhere. - Ken Sheppardson

and, what's motivating your friends to move? Are other services offering features that Twitter lacks, or is it because they consider Twitter to be too mainstream/overcrowded now? - Andrew Terry

Yann: not yet, but Facebook is moving in that direction. - Robert Scoble

so long as you tell us where you're moving, LOL. - Kayce Maisel

Someone's discovered the Real-time View :) - Richard pancakhaus Walker

Kayce, he wouldn't be moving ;-). He would simply be re-focusing on another service ;-) - Richard A.

Andrew: everyone has a different answer. Most of them say they must be on Facebook because their normal friends are there, but aren't on Twitter. Facebook is growing far faster (in terms of people) than Twitter is. Just passed 200 million users, while Twitter is at about 10 million. - Robert Scoble

i think facebook would be more interesting if they made all profiles public, ala twitter. The openness of twitter is really the win. If facebook can do that then I will consider seriously using it. - akeem adeniji

Richard W, I've been using the realtime view for weeks by now, or for a while anyway, I live in i. When I'm here. - Richard A.

I think that any process of "flow" between platforms isn't necessarily final, So I say : keep it. You may need to go back. - Iain Baker

Still a strong believer in Facebook for personal friends/family, Twitter for public engagement/networking. They work together. - Ian Mikutel

I think microblogging transcends the specific service you happen to be using. The interesting thing about Twitter is that it's a sort of lowest-common-denominator microblogging platform that makes for a good place for all of the various streams to dump into and/or a good starting point to feed into your other services. But focus will gradually shift from the specific service to the microblog stream as a whole. - Grey Drane

Twitter is mainstream now; usually indicates the demise is forthcoming - Tom Allinder

Akeem, there's no way I want my FB profile public. - Richard A.

What specific functions is Facebook enabling/offering now that are you seeing that is attracting the early adopters back & causing you to consider this? Is it much more than the feed & grouping? - Lyn Graft

Ian: that was Facebook of yesterday. Zuckerberg told me Facebook will have a public engagement piece too. This is very important for brands, celebrities, news organizations (which is where Twitter is getting its hype). But Facebook is far more engaging, especially now that they copied friendfeed's features (albeit not as well) and Twitter's river of noise. - Robert Scoble

Judy you're one person I would never follow on twitter in that case. - Richard A.

Scoble, just delete the thing and be done with it! Who cares if you have a place to land... you yourself recently jumped without a net and it turned out okay. Kill it. You'll sleep better at night. And I agree with Tad, fake beers are teh suk! - Jim in Real Time

I am not so sure. Twitter is exactly good because it produces some noise. Noise good, since it allows one to be creative in filtering the information out. It gives much more room for chance than e.g. Facebook. If one bunkers into their peer groups, inspiration becomes a very hard thing to get by. - Mark Jacobs

@Richard how am I supposed to find you on facebook and to discuss similar things if we have never met and aren't in the same groups? - akeem adeniji

Jim: I had to check if a kitten would die first. :-) - Robert Scoble

do it maan... its da way forward :) - simran from twhirl

Robert, the difference is facebook is more like a village in outlook, there's a good chance many of your friends know many of your other friends. It's a much nicer and social community. We have a lot more freedom in what we post there. - Richard A.

@Mark - Exactly! - Grey Drane

I foresee Twitter usage reverting back to status updates, and the micro-blog moving to services with better conversation and filtering/grouping capabilities (like FriendFeed). - Daniel Sims

Sounds like a great example of jumping on and off bandwagons as they go by. You can post to Twitter from Facebook and vice versa. With Ping.fm. you can post to all the social networks you belong to and spend as much time in whatever platform you want. - Paul

I don't know if this matters to you or not, but I found Robert and others through Twitter. I "thought" I was connected and well read in the technology/web industry, but with Twitter (and now FriendFeed) I was introduced to a whole new world with new players. If you go back to Facebook alone, I'm afraid people like me would miss out on good people like you. Fortunately, I've subscribed to a great many of industry leaders' blogs, so I guess you can go anywhere and I would be fine, but there are others who. - Damond Nollan

I told you twitter managment would kill twitter ;-) :-) happy to see it's turning into a reality slowly. Of course this is only a problem for early adopters. - Richard A.

Paul: I watch engagement, not posting behavior. If you post a Tweet and no one is on Twitter to listen to it, did it really matter? - Robert Scoble

...haven't been fortunate enough to meet you. I say, do what you feel is best, but know you take a lot of folks with you. - Damond Nollan

Richard: I've been doing online communities since 1984. The normal people ALWAYS follow the early adopters. I can't think of an example where that was not the case. Early adopters used to be on Prodigy. We aren't anymore. Neither is anyone else. Same for CompuServe. Usenet. AOL. Etc. Etc. - Robert Scoble

This is how active twitter conversations would have been at one time, Hundreds of tweets on the topic, and you would have followed back many of these people as a result. It would have helped with meeting new people :-) - Richard A.

Next service to fall... Friendfeed? - Jordi Soler

Robert: What's your view on the current best replacement for Twitter? - Michael Krigsman

LOL at Robert. Did you land on a LOLcat? - Jim in Real Time

Michael: there isn't yet a good replacement, although Facebook is definitely moving in that direction. - Robert Scoble

ability to tweak friend lists in FB allows de facto asymmetry - just create a "follow" list to see more of, dump all those you wouldn't follow onto a "view less list," drag and drop the more list to the top so FB defaults to it... - Todd Randolph

Curiously, there are 5 million comments here on FF, and I saw only 2 @ reply on Twitter...from @JMaultasch and @SashaKane...so far, FF wins as a forum where people participate (as opposed to sell). - Eric Matas

Todd, advantage of lists on Facebook is you can sort your friends according to geography and how you know them. Makes seeing the most relevant news easier as a result, doesn't mean you pay any less attention. - Richard A.

Eric: Why do you think I jumped from twitter to here? I came for the community. - Richard A.

Do you have a list of your early adopter friends? - Paul Sanchez

Twitter is morphing into many different business models (at an alarming pace) and the twitter feeds will continue to be the lifeblood in these new startups. - Whip

Why do we need to move on like this was a clubbing scene? I think Twitter has its place in the ecology, so has FriendFeed. I would feel most uncomfortable in relating to people I have not met in person on Facebook mostly. Once we go back there, we may as well call LinkedIn or Xing as the next big thing. - Mark Jacobs

Robert: Keep one thing in mind, all your twitter friends were imported onto Friendfeed the day you did that sync, as a result everyone is still followed, but on a different platform :-) - Richard A.

I just retweeted and searched...was the 3rd to retweet. Thought the cat part would grab more attention... - Eric Matas

Heavens no Scoble. - Roberto Bonini

Robert: Facebook just doesn't have Twitter's ability to easily sift and find interesting new folks in one's particular area of personal interest. That's what I *NEED* and Twitter does it excellently. - Michael Krigsman

No kittens would die if @scobleizer swam away from the fail whale. - Bernie Goldbach

I think your kitten would simply ask for a cheezeburger. While Facebook status is becoming more Twitter like, I've found myself using Twitter much more since the demise of Pownce (deep sigh). In my world though Facebook and Twitter are tools I use to connect with different audiences. FB I use primarily for connecting with real world friends, while Twitter is more about sharing info with Webdev/mktg peers. And I like that Twitter is less cluttered even though we're seeing more new spammy users. - Heidi Cool

Robert, are you sure about that? Do you really know how many times you have mentioned a service on Twitter or Friendfeed or your blg that didn't result in I or others going to that service to find out what it is all about? Adopting an app that you pointed to (e.g. Twhirl). If your measuring engagement by the number of people that respond directly to a post then you and other early adopters are sorely underestimating your reach. - Paul

I think Twitter still has quite a bit of use. FriendFeed never seemed to have pick up that kind of attention (though I wish it did - its great for conversations!) - Colin Charles from twhirl

I think the problem with friendfeed is with its interface... it's a pita - Marco

Paul: I know there's quite a bit of engagement on Twitter, but other services are going up while Twitter isn't growing so quickly. I track these things. - Robert Scoble

You mind sharing a few of the early adopters names :) - Paul Sanchez

Is this comment bait? :) I don't see any benefit to deleating your Twitter. Would you have chosen to delete your radio blog because you were moving on to wordpress? - Christian Burns

Robert, Would you please give some examples of services that might be better? - Andrew Pass

Marc: online communities are a LOT like the clubbing scene and that's exactly why some get more popular and others get less. - Robert Scoble

If early adopters did start jumping off a cliff, I'd be very interested in the cliff. - Eolaí gan Fhéile

Marco, only thing missing from Friendfeed is to see when people have commented to something you've said, then it would be much more useful. - Richard A.

Robert, just wondering: What kind of response do you get on Facebook on questions like these? - Meryn Stol

Meryn: not as strong because I haven't participated in Facebook for more than a year. I should try. - Robert Scoble

Twitter is much more like an index, without much real / meaningful conversation. Not to say that individual posts aren't meaningful, but they usually lead to real value somewhere else. Friendfeed has much more in-depth conversations. For me, the question is still out there on facebook - it still is mostly a light hearted socializing tool, without much serious value. At least, not yet with the people I know who use it. - Chris Rogers

Robert, if you move to Facebook I would die, because I'm not in your 5,000. :-( - Jesse Stay

I agree with Steve, FB would have to go asymmetrical. Only the very tiniest percentage of contacts I have on FB are people I have not interacted with in person face-to-face at some point in my life. - Andy Kruger

Some of my twitter followers who used to Lifestream in public seem to have moved that function to Facebook... starting in the immediate days following the redesign and the ensuing hubbub. - Ahsan Ali aka. Slick

I don't think FB is as interesting as Friendfeed. I really do think Friendfeed is the most interesting community to be part of at the moment. It has the potential to build new onlines communities without the hassle of knowing those people in person. - Richard A.

Like many of the others, I use FB for friends/family. Twitter is where I am getting/sometimes sharing info on tech things that interest me. - Sherri

Hmm I think it would be quite exciting if the "FriendFeed ethos" would get transferred to Facebook. - Meryn Stol

Meryn: keep in mind that up to today Facebook is only for discussing stuff with your friends. For me Facebook is capped at 5,000 friends. Facebook's more public entity, though, AKA "Pages," are being expanded and will get more of an equal billing on the social graph. On friendfeed I have 31,000 followers, and this message went to Twitter where I have 76,000 followers. So, that's a LOT more people than I touch on Facebook. - Robert Scoble

@Chris - Yep! Use Twitter to find the interesting stuff, then follow the tidbit to wherever else it leads in order to discuss it and find the real value in it. - Grey Drane

why not use identi.ca? - very calm there - Wittkewitz News

Meryn: actually that's EXACTLY why Twitter is getting more hype, but why people who aren't celebrities (IE, don't have more than 5,000 followers, which includes most of my "early adopter" friends) are not feeling the Twitter love so much anymore. - Robert Scoble

I'm amused at this conversation because none of you are aknowledging friendfeed as a platform. That's where I came when I deleted my twitter account. I was among the 200 most active users of twitter at the time. - Richard A.

I second what Richard Azia said: "Marco, only thing missing from Friendfeed is to see when people have commented to something you've said, then it would be much more useful." - Rick Bucich

It's kind of funny -- when you said "early adopter friends" I thought you meant a "new" service. You're just going back to Facebbok because they've added some better features and have gotten a bump of mindshare. Then some other service will evolve their features, etc. and people will go back.... What I think is really important is the recognition that Twitter, FF, etc. aren't really... more... - Steve Lynch from twhirl

Steve "bump in mindshare?" Hah! 200 million users is more than a "bump in mindshare." Twitter actually has gotten a bump in mindshare lately. Everytime I turn on the radio or TV I hear about Twitter, it seems. - Robert Scoble

Great debate - Dave

Hmm I think it would be a shame if you left FriendFeed. For me it's all about the loose-ties. :) And Twitter, in it's current incarnation (e.g. without a very advanced client, turning it into something similar to FF) just doesn't work if you want to discuss anything but the simplest things. - Meryn Stol

I hear about twitter a lot more but I don't see anyone using it anymore? Are there any signs that people are still reading tweets, rather than just posting? - Richard A.

for an early adopter, a site /technology become's stale within 6-9 months.. the hype and fun is finito.. as such I was active from feb/07 .. I think I was the 300th odd person on twitter and by OCt/08.. I hardly use twitter.. yes early adopters keep moving on.. thats why they are called "early adopters" :)- - Peter Dawson

Mohamed: Heheh. Even if you have thousands of friends you can't publish to the public (ie, Google can't index your facebook stuff). That's one reason why Twitter and friendfeed are more interesting. - Robert Scoble

If a person uses Twitter because they want people to follow and pay them attention, I could care less. Twitter continues to be a useful micro-blogging tool, as long as it is free. If Twitter is fun, I'll use it. If it is just a new way to market shit, and if they start charging for it, I'll be gone. It seems that people are now getting more attention just for leaving Twitter. Good riddance. - John Johnson

Facebook is trying to be everything. The path from Yearbook to Aggregator-cum-microblogger is long and hard. - Ahsan Ali aka. Slick

So there is no equivalent to this on FaceBook? http://twitter.com/search... Because that is one of the most interesting things about Twitter. Following subjects is often more interesting than following people. - Matt Griffith

Let me ask a question back to you. What value would you derive from deleting your Twitter account? - Thomas Hawk

Thomas: well, I would get a lot less auto DM spam. :-) - Robert Scoble

Didn't Leo delete his Twitter account at one point? - Thomas Hawk

Thomas: yeah, he did, then he came back. Hasn't seemed to hurt him, other than he isn't on Twitter's recommended follower list. - Robert Scoble

But why would less DM spam matter? How would deleting the account provide more value than simply leaving it intact and ignoring it? - Thomas Hawk

I triple dog dare ya. - timedalkat from twhirl

another thing that friendfeed has not: a decent client - Marco

Thomas, You can't ignore a twitter account, that's why :-), There's no way you can walk away from a functioning account. Many of us have tried and not quite succeeded more than 8 days. - Richard A.

Thomas, I think he just "left" for awhile and returned when it was clear Jaiku didn't have enough people on it - Richard pancakhaus Walker

I guess my point is why delete the account? Simply ignore it. That way if you decide later on that you want to come back it's still there. You might find that you want it back at some point. At a minimum though you can still direct your FF content there which includes a link back to your conversation here with every tweet. I'd think this would be a good encouragement for people not on FF yet who are on Twitter to find you here. - Thomas Hawk

that and maybe change your bio I'm mostly participating on FF or Facebook or whatever. - Thomas Hawk

personally I find FF far, far, more engaging than Facebook. But maybe that's just me. - Thomas Hawk

Thomas I agree wih you, I like FF for that. - Richard A.

This is one of those threads that's just too big/fast to try to catch up at this point, but instead of being the jerk who comes in and says something that was said early in the thread because they're too lazy/busy to catch up, I'll just demonstrate what you're supposed to do in this situation. *shuts up* - Matthew DeVries

Twitter is becoming mainstream, even in such backwards countries as Ukraine. For a true geek, it is a sure sign to get out of here! However, for me it is still interesting for the dynamics of signal/noise ratio within system. - Pavlo Zahozhenko

Yeah, but to your point, you can't talk to the public and a lot more people will follow you on Twitter that will never friend you on Facebook. I'm speaking generally, here. - Steve Lynch from twhirl

This really is just an intellectual exercise, right? How can you be talking about all this Building43 stuff and promoting "social media" then turn around and talk about disappearing from the "social media" service with more MSM press/attention than any other right now? - Ken Sheppardson

What would YOU gain from deleting it? is it more than you would gain from keeping it? You use Twitter in your own way which is most likely vastly different than anyone else who uses it, but that doesn't matter, it's up to you to decide how to use it and how to gain value out of it. It is a tool. Whether or not you want to delete it should be based on what YOU think in terms of value, not others. - Ivan Lukianchuk

Ken: It's April 1, take that in mind. Yes, it's just an intellectual exercise, although I was dreaming about it last night so at least part of me wants to do it. Building43 is for people fanatical about the Internet, not going to be about any one thing or even just about social media. - Robert Scoble

Robert: April 1 is Wednesday. You going to keep this up for three days? :-O - Ken Sheppardson

Within two months your account will be deleted. There's a chance. If you think about it then it's not just a thought, there's a reason there, somewhere. - Richard A.

Ivan: overall I would probably lose more than I'd gain, but I've learned in life that you must destroy before you can build. When Vegas builds a new casino they tear down the old one first. The trick is to know when the right time is to tear down the old one. :-) - Robert Scoble

Azia, you are using the "royal we" or you are talking about an undefined group... and I personally wouldn't make such over-generalizations even with a :-) - Richard pancakhaus Walker

in this atmosphere of many super-user account, a simple account is useless. - abdellah

Steve: unlimited friends are coming to Facebook "soon." (We already have them on Pages). - Robert Scoble

Besides, Twitter is a lot easier to use and more open... and there's no application spam. I hate app spam. - Steve Lynch from twhirl

Yeah, but there's still a signal-to-noise problem. FB wants to be your social presence on the Web. People don't want an unsuable presence on the Web. They want to see what parties their friends are having and what their high school ex-girlfriend is up to. As a richer social medium, Facebook is much more vulnerable to Dunbar-number-type limitations for the average user. When someone... more... - Steve Lynch from twhirl

Does anyone know the mean or median number of friends for FB users? - Steve Lynch from twhirl

ccheath just said 120. makes sense. - Steve Lynch from twhirl

It's interesting, but as a non-blogging, earlier-than-early-adopter-burnout, FB feels like AOL to me in an uncomfortable way. In spite of that creepy feeling, it seems to be where I get the most engagement for the least amount of effort. Of course, my FB circle is a tight one of 99% friends from over the past 30 yrs. Seems I only glance at Twitter & interact more deliberately on FF. FB is pointing out I seem to have less in common with my friends & I'm less friendly with common-interest acquaintances. - ɐ ɯıʞ sıɹɥɔ

Twitter is "mainstream" with 10 million users, but Facebook with 200 million isn't? FB is a mess and whenever I log on I start getting real-time chat requests from people I haven't talked to in 10 years. I find Twitter to be a superior experience so far. - Pete Smith

It's been interesting to watch the evolution of Twitter. Sadly now there is a tremendously large amount of noise covering up the best signal. Even worse, the changes that have occurred to Twitter as a result of the flood of people from the masses has been painful. I much prefer the Twitter of circa June 2008 and just prior when there was more functionality (a la track) and better discussion. In fact I much prefer seeing the fail whale than seeing Britney Spears occupying such a large mind-share there. - Chris Aldrich

+1000 to chris kim a. FB feels like AOL to me - tons of spam, tons of intimate minutia, very little engaging content. I DON'T WANT YOUR PLANTS. It feels like work and doesn't relate to anything outside of itself. FF offers engaging, substantive conversations sprinkled with LOLCats. Twitter offers bite-sized entertainment, and (some) real-time interaction that doesn't have to involve a chat client. I prefer the latter two and consume most of my content there. - Jennifer Dittrich

Facebook is a student community where the students have graduated as a result of which more options are now offered. When are people going to remember that fact? - Richard A.

Where are your friends going instead? - Rae Gross

via PETA autobot: STOP MURDERING SEA-KITTENS, ROBERT SCOBLE! :) - Richard pancakhaus Walker

@Richard_Azia: I've always been clear on that point, which is part of what makes it so disturbing. Finally, my RL friends (now the parents of the original target FB audience) -- but to my horror, they have regressed into Super-Poking, Green-Patching Hippie-Gifters. Look, if you can SuperPoke me, then you can post a "hey how are you?" to my In box or wall. Frankly, I don't find the games of FB particularly engaging as a 21st-Century version of pigtails in inkwells, either. - ɐ ɯıʞ sıɹɥɔ

@Steve +1 to app spam on FB. Hate it! - Grey Drane from BuddyFeed

Chris Kim, that's why I ignore all requests. Much easier to ignore them than to reject them. Luckily those I know hardly spend any time doing all those things. - Richard A.

If you deleted your account what would happen to the scobleizer name. Could someone else claim it? Or is once a name used on Twitter it is forever off the table? If you changed your mind later could you get the scobleizer handle back? - Thomas Hawk

Thomas: I don't know. I won't delete it, though. It was mostly a fantasy I was having last night. See, normal people dream of supermodels or getting a cool car. Me? I dream of deleting my Twitter account. :-) - Robert Scoble

@Scobleizer "But I do note that Facebook is getting more interesting to the early adopter types I usually hang out with" I would say "for Internet newbies" LOL Green Houses (Walled Gardens) are usually better for a start - no scary wolfs like in Green Forrest ROFL :D - Lora Lufark

I refuse to believe true early adopters are all-of-a-sudden enamored with Facebook because they copied a few things from Twitter and Friendfeed...then again... - Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah

And here we are, the very reason I continue to hold that FF is my favorite engagement tool. These comment-baiting discussions naturally epitomize the value of eating one's own dog food while also pointing out that there are more dishes at this potluck than the one you bring yourself. - ɐ ɯıʞ sıɹɥɔ

Offer your account on eBay and see who bids. Then sell them something else. - Louis Gray

Never delete a well-known account. If you were to delete the Twitter account, then some offshore porn gambling site would grab the @scobleizer name. That having been said, Twitter is seeming to become a "must have" thing, so even if you don't use it, you need to establish a presence there. - John E. Bredehoft

I just don't see the what Twitter gives you when you have FriendFeed. - TranceMist

TranceMist - With all of the recent news coverage of Twitter, a lot of people are on Twitter who haven't yet learned about FriendFeed and they will ask the opposite question that you just asked. - Aaron Hood

If Scoble deleted his twitter account it must be the results of Global Warming - rob friedman from twhirl

Rename it then auction it off. - Ryan Stanley

No, might not die, but but Kitty would be sad: http://tinyurl.com/c8fcc3 - Sarah Garnsey

I don't see why you'd delete it rather than just not tweet, other than a very visible snub to the Twitter guys, right? - jjprojects

I doubt that Twitter would miss you, though your ego obviously tells you otherwise. - Stan Scott

Seriously? You guys just realized that Facebook is interesting? I've looked up to you... I had no idea I was already ahead. - Jaica Kinsman

Robert - I've made the same conclusion as you re: Facebook gaining popularity fast with early adopters like myself, who by the way are not able to connect with you on facebook due to 5K cap. Don't delete twitter, just move to where you prefer to engage your communities. - Susan Beebe

Facebook is the new AOL. I am using Facebook more often to stay connected with Mom and the family, but I would not replace twitter with it. no way. - Karoli from BuddyFeed

Maybe early adopters are spending time on Facebook to try to figure out its appeal. I think they'll conclude it's just network effects and empty virality, then leave again. - Bruce Lewis

You actually still use both? I thought you'd moved exclusively to FriendFeed... Who cares about Twitter anymore? IT SUCKS! - LarchOye

Experiment: If I say "SEO" or "peanut butter" in this FriendFeed post, let's see how long it takes Jiffy peanut butter company or their "SEO Expert" to subscribe to my FriendFeed to try and sell me something. Ready, set, go! (I like twitter, but it's becoming a drag because the marketing spam is now so damn predictable.) - TheMacMommy

Is there a Mac solution yet for porting our twitter buds (the ones we actually want to follow) into FriendFeed? I was looking but gave up on it for a little while. Anyone know the scoop on that? I'll admit, I'm lazy. I want a script to do it for me. on the Mac. - TheMacMommy

I really hope you don't start to use Facebook instead of Twitter. I don't like Facebook at all.. - Peter

Facebook first movers are migrating to twitter. So there is nothing unnatural in this. People move back and forth all the time. The grass is always greener on the other side etc etc... - Dennis Bjørn Petersen from twhirl

I entered twitter late and realize friendfeed is mindcastier than twitter... - Arunn

Mindcastier? - Richard A.

Only the Calico ones? - rob friedman

Robert, Why don't you just increase your activity on Facebook and decrease it on Twitter and then if Facebook is alot better then Twitter then fully convert and if not, you've still got 19k updates and 77k followers ;) - Nicholas James

You can install (or ask a coder to develop) a Facebook App that sends your status updates (and shared links, etc.) to Twitter. You have a history with getting your data out of Facebook, but I guess Zuckerberg now knows you better. This is what most brands do: they make the effort to be everywhere, to suit they many followers. Or you can re-use Jaiku recently opened source (+ App Engine) to make the micro-blogging platform or your dreams. - Bertil Hatt

I hardly use Twitter these days. - Jim Connolly

Interesting thread. I can see why Robert is saying Facebook. It has been the place that I gave received the most interaction these past few months. True that, I am just a wee one and most of my FB friends are real world friends. :-) - Mathew A. Koeneker

information overload.... my nose is bleeding,...shutdown imminent 3....2........1....... (no kitten would die, btw) - ilter

Twitter is useful, though FriendFeed appears to be more so. - Calvin Ayre

"Twitter is well aware that they need to offer similar functionlity In the meantime, you can get it in tweetdeck" - Fred Wilson

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Good to hear that Twitter is aware that "value = better signal to noise ratio" - Cliff Gerrish

I suppose that also means that TweetDeck's goose is cooked. - Cliff Gerrish

Fred what is the similar functionality available in TweetDeck? Groups? - Steve Gillmor

sorry Dave. track that isn't realtime isn't track - Steve Gillmor

haven't used it but wanted to make sure Fred wasn't claiming TweetDeck does track. Apparently not. - Steve Gillmor

Dave, agreed. It's almost not necessary to follow people any more but information stream, and quite honestly just in time works for me. Not everything needs to be real time unless you're doing financial trading or something along those lines. - Deepak Singh

if that's true, wonder whether or why not Twhirl has the same API access. Loic? - Steve Gillmor

@steve - yes: Twhirl does something similar but Tweetdeck makes it easier to consume - Dennis Howlett

Dave, Jon Udell (channeling Jeff Jonas) once said "data finds the data, then people find people". Your usage of Tweetdeck definitely fits in with that, and is how I use Twitter now for the better part. Very effective and great for work too to pick up on chatter. - Deepak Singh

yes Dennis I know. I'm trying to understand how close this comes to real track. Dustin Sallings, do you know? - Steve Gillmor

When Twitter offers the same service in real time, what will TweetDeck's value proposition be?Will Twitter allow API clients to directly compete in real time? (for a price?) - Cliff Gerrish

@steve: I'm less concerned with real time in the way you are. I'm more concerned about 'right time' which is a slightly different concept. I find that what I can get from the 'groups' style of functionality works very well. MSFT did a good job on this at MIX09 I thought. None of this is perfect - Tweets still disappear etc but the delivery to date has been good enough. My sense is the group>topic mode is good enough. - Dennis Howlett

Dennis yes, we think differently. No, track is not back. If twitter is coming back to the table, that's good. if not, I'll wait. - Steve Gillmor

cliff, playing favorites is a form of price competition if in fact that's happening. Hard to tell right now - Steve Gillmor

@steve - that's fair enough. All I can say is those concepts are proving acceptable in the use cases we've identified for ESME. If Track offers significant improvement then sure... - Dennis Howlett

Wilson seems to say Tweetdeck is a stopgap. Eventually it will be replaced by native and better Twitter functionality.Training users to be satisfied with slightly better service, trains them to recognize the real thing when Twitter makes it available. - Cliff Gerrish

Louis Gray on FB to me: "TweetDeck does not do Track. It simply leverages the Search Twitter function for keywords, and is limited by the API, like everybody else." - Steve Gillmor

@cliff: that's a bit disingenuous on Wilson's part. The implied assumption is that TD does no further development while Twitter plays catch up. More important, is Wilson signaling that Twitter might develop alternative clients ot the existing web offering? - Dennis Howlett

Track is good, as long as track-block is not put in with it to prevent system feedback and backtalk. - Prokofy Neva

Authors of popular desktop clients are in an interesting position. They can effectively bypass all of twitter's rate limit controls (and get pretty close to RT track) by what is effectively a distributed attack. It's a dumb way to do it, for sure, but nobody else has that kind of distribution. - Dustin Sallings

Dave: Try out im@twitterspy.org via xmpp -- You just tell it what you are interested in and it tells you when people talk about it. No special software to run, no overhead on your part. But it can be delayed, and it's throttled at 20k req/hr. You'll see the experience and just have to imagine what it was like when it was run by people with access to all the data. - Dustin Sallings

net: nothing has changed, track not back. FB, FriendFeed may get there soon, which may bring Twitter track back. - Steve Gillmor

this will help cut down on your gg time allotment mving forward - Steve Gillmor

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This is like one of those situations where you have a good friend who has a good friend you don't like. It's tough to invite your friend to parties without them dragging along the other one. - Dave Slusher

exactly how I got to know Andrew and like him - Steve Gillmor

I'm really liking this episode. Any one that has Sam Whitmore on it is a good one. I always listen to the ones with K**n up until the point he wears out the welcome. He's had many opportunities to flip me but he has failed every time. Electing to listen to him is like having to go out and hand pick people to troll your blog's comments. - Dave Slusher

I liked what Leo was saying about Twitter. I've been saying the same thing in almost exactly the same language, particularly since the I Want Sandy debacle. "Twitter is not a good steward of their users." - Dave Slusher

sam is awesome, but steve seriously ak is not worthy of your attention or ours... - mike "glemak" dunn

luckily I don't go by the opinions of anyone but my own. sorry you don't detect the difference since he's joined. I do. - Steve Gillmor

Of course I detect a difference. I'm really detecting it in this show he's not on. Did I mention how much I'm enjoying the 2/21 show? That is a compliment, you know. - Dave Slusher

Andrew is important, what's dave got against him? - Christopher Harris

I appreciate Andrew. He adds just the right amount of skepticism. If this were American Idol / Survivor, he wouldn't be the first one I'd vote off. - Ken Sheppardson

also he's listening. his understanding of twitter went from 0-60 in a very short time. - Steve Gillmor

I'm a huge fan of Andrew Keen but I get my butt kicked when I say I liked his book. Ho hum - goes with the turf. - Dennis Howlett

I like everyone, except Gillmor himself, of course. All he talks about is the gesture economy and the fact that Silverlight is dead. - Matt Terenzio

lol - ah, matt to the heart of the matter ;) - mike "glemak" dunn

I think Andrew just the right amount of "oh come on, you don't really believe....." and it forces people to rephrase what they are saying and defend it. Its good stuff and he doesn't dominate, just butts in where he feels the need. - Christian Burns

*ndr*w K**n's shtick is the opposite of mine. I don't just talk mine, I'm trying to make happen the world I want. I'm currently in the act of helping organize a conference bringing new media tools to as many residents of my part of South Carolina as we can. As I interpret him, if what I was doing had any value someone would be paying me for it, thus I and my enterprise suck. I reject that outlook as violently as I can and don't find it at all funny or cute. - Dave Slusher

I'm not against pushback in general to my worldview but to quote Howard Rheingold on K**n: "I prefer to point people to more thoughtful critics." - Dave Slusher

I find both kinds of schtick the least illuminating aspects of the two of you. but the world would be much less entertaining. - Steve Gillmor

who is Dave Slusher? sounds a big dodgy to me. Is it the Berkeley Bagel? - andrewkeen

Oh boy - Dave Slusher

@kshep American Idol for geeks. . . that might get funding even in these economic times. - Matt Terenzio

Wow, great article - Mistletoe Glen

I met Robert at last year's IFA in Berlin for a short walk around the show floor. He's great guy and I wish him and his new venture all the best. And I agree that he should get back together with Rocky. I don't think they are done with their work yet... - Holger Eilhard

Robert has a long history of personal resiliency, so I am thinking that this is just a minor setback. I too want to wish him well. - Brian Sullivan

M, forwarding .. - Daniele Beta

Brian, I don't think of this as a setback for him at all. I think of this as a new and better opportunity for him. Like a lot of magazines Fast Company I'm sure was hit hard in this recent downturn. Robert needs certain things to thrive best. Rocky was a first rate editor. Robert's time is best spent doing what he does which is out and about interviewing people and having someone like Rocky to edit his stuff was important. Robert will do better someplace that is growing rather than cutting back. - Thomas Hawk

Robert you might want to tuck that away for your eulogy. Quite a tribute. - Todd Hoff

Todd: Thomas is one of the best people I know, it's a real honor to have him as a friend. - Robert Scoble

We all know Scoble will be a-ok in the days, weeks and years to come. I'm sure we're going to hear news about this awesome new service that pays by the kilobyte of awesome video you post, meaning Scoble will become very, very wealthy... - Mike Nayyar

Great post Thomas - I'm also looking forward to his next venture ... - Patrick Jordan

A very good article that helps us remember how much he contributes to our community. - Jonathon

Mike: actually that's a very interesting idea! :-) - Robert Scoble

Very nice post on Scoble. I've never met either of you, but from your descriptions I can tell that you both are exactly how you come across online. And that is most definitely not a bad thing :-) - Rene Wirtz

We have to wait until SXSW? You're killing me! Whatever he does you know it's going to be good. - Bruce Lewis

Good luck Scoble. We met at a Social Media Club event in Phoenix a few years back and I have been following you ever since. Looking forward to your new adventures. - John Seiferth

Amen! You've got lots of helpers if you ever need them! - Scott Loftesness

What a wonderful article, and the pictures at Flickr were enjoyable as well. I wish the two of you would do a photowalk in San Diego so I could meet both of you in person! - Laura Zickus

Best of luck to you! May your next chapter be profitable to you in every possible way! - vicster is...

Great post Thomas! - Kenton

That was a great summary of Scoble. I'm sure his next adventure will be something to watch. - Jeremy Brooks

The sentiment here about Robert (and folks like TH too) are right on - the level of transparency, integrity and work ethic we see sets the bar high for leaders in a community (a network of micro communities, as it might be put better). Think about Paul Harvey. An endearing, tireless pioneer who reached his community with the media/technology of his day for 70+ years. Scobleizer's journey, I believe, has just begun. - Micah Wittman

more time to spend with the Sean McBrides of the world. lucky "fast company" to be rid of a man and his destructive politics. - Noah David Simon

Really, really nice piece Thomas - Charlie Anzman

Fabulous post Thomas!! WOW!!!!!!! Lovely, moving and very well documented. Robert is an amazingly passionate, intelligent, smart and uber-technical guy that really has an astounding work ethic that never fails to deliver value in everything he does!! - you captured that very well with this blog post. :) Personally, I -like you- think he should link up with Friendfeed. that would be a PERFECT fit and a complete win-win relationship; however, I'd be concerned that FF might be too small for him. - Susan Beebe

All the work security professionals do to secure data and networks and yet who needs further proof that users (even web savvy ones) will make poor and insecure decisions everytime. - Keith - @tsudo from Bookmarklet

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Honestly let's do away with Firewalls/AV/AS/IDS etc.. and just start shooting users :) j/k I know we are here for the users and try to protect them from themselves but you must laugh to keep from crying. - Keith - @tsudo

I'm watching the results climb yet again. And people wonder why they need to be protected from themselves. - Karoli

I'm angry at myself cuz I viewed teh source code with the iframe and everything but I didn't dig more thoroughly into it :-/ I fail! - Zulema ◕ ◡ ◕

i said it first but it's ok , i leave to you :) - Frédérick 2 Baro

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yep - Jason Salas from IM

Yup, it's down. - Dr. Apps from twhirl

Good thing we have FriendFeed to communicate on Twitter status - Conor Ogle

yep, viva FF! - Claudia aka kika13

Yupp, dead as a fish without water! - Anders Sporring

my Twhirl just hiccupped new tweets - Mister Groonk from twhirl

Amen to that! - Lee Stacey

pretty lame that TweetDeck describes the Twitter status as "Pretty much ok" yet cannot Tweet for me - Conor Ogle

At least we have ff:-) - Michael Fidler from twhirl

It's hardly productive to press F5 repeatedly. - Mark H

Has all life on Earth ended? What will humanity do without twitter? - Chaz Carlson from twhirl

27 minutes according to Twhirl - Michael Fidler from twhirl

Mark: Stop pressing F5! You'll kill it more! - Lee Stacey

it could use some more points of failure me thinks - Brian Hendrickson

not only productivity is up - so friendfeed too - Cem Dalgic

some more points of failure? ;) i think i know what you mean ;) - roger byrne

tweet.IM keeps pinging and returning Error 500s - Jason Salas from IM

At least they can't blame Blaine Cook this time... - Lee Stacey

maybe Twitter's offline because they're installing their XMPP support *crossing fingers* - Jason Salas from IM

Productivity is down. I was going to post a short update, and then I got distracted, and now I've forgotten what I was going to do afterwards :( - Larry Hudson

I am wondering if ev gets called in the middle of the night each time twitter goes down? - Edwin Khodabakchian

Was just thinking that! Although wait... here we are on FF. - Joanna Butler

http://istwitterdown.com/ isn't working. - Larry Hudson

http://isistwitterdowndown.com/ should say so. - Rémi

surprised that no-one from Twitter has updated http://status.twitter.com/ - main site now talking about database maintenance and should be back up in 30 mins - Conor Ogle

I wonder if this will finally motivate Twitter to change frameworks/backends. Blaine's original "Ruby on Rails" doesn't scale comments come rushing back. - Jason Salas from IM

Hehe, and for once I can't be blamed. As I haven't twittered since the 4th of this Month :-D - Richard A.

I've just failed over to the hot standby system known as friendfeed - Ewan

IT UP - Brian Hendrickson

Gave me a chance to learn FF. - Rick Cogley

Twitter is a complete disaster for me, since Jan 30. I can't see updates anymore, just one every 1-3 hours from new people I follow, and have other issues. Still no answer from help desk. What if I had to work with Twitter? - PaperDoll

I think for his next trick, David Blain should keep it up for 1 year strait... Twitter that is... - John Reynolds from Nambu

+1 Rémi ;) - Tyson Key

[∞][twitter isn't the problem, when we are talking about productivity [...] it's more to help them create a problem, how you act can be one!] [[db]] - dbalieiro

@ChristianBurns This is why we will never, ever agree. If you believe this, you believe in authoritarian societies. We don't live in a vacuum. We can either have a voice, or not. Either way is a foundation, not a tool - Karoli

To say that democracy is not authoritarian would be a streach. We still have a voice but just watch out if you go against the majority authority. - Christian Burns

@ChristianBurns how well I know, having suffered greatly at the hands of the majority over the past 8 years. Yet, it is still a foundation, one I respected even when I was in the minority. - Karoli

The news gathered from the top 40 news aggregators are sort out by a rank algorithm as top stories, but users can also quickly scan the most popular tech news directly from the top aggregators encapsulated by the dashboard view on techfuga. - TechFuga

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We will make sure: - You will not miss any latest popular tech/geek news - You will save time by just visiting one single page with all latest tech buzz - TechFuga

We will be taking the next Fuga (escape) out of the recent comments and feedback and will soon arrive with the latest updates… - TechFuga

Very nice site! - Michael Krigsman

Thanks Michael! We are pleased you like it. We are tweaking a few things and a new search algorithm will be launched very soon, which soon give a far better results then what we can see now in TechFuga…stay tuned…Joao/TechFuga - TechFuga

Fascinating Mix. Will be watching - Charlie Anzman

Awesome site - like Google News on roids! Great work. You will surely become the main source for Tweeters wanting to send out that latest news tidbit. Let us know when you finish your API so we can distribute your solution across our sites. - David Gosse

Just found TechFuga via a mention at Scobleizer. http://scobleizer.com/2009... I'm impressed that you're using an FF room to kickstart your community. Give this room a proper avatar! Link to TechFuga.com in the room title! - Daniel J. Pritchett

Thanks Daniel: I will do so.. Joao-TechFuga - TechFuga

"In November, not two weeks after winning the election and still two months from becoming commander in chief, Barack Obama brought the government into the 21st century. Or at least that was what we were told when he released his first Web video address as president-elect. The clip, billed by some as a modern fireside chat, was embedded as a YouTube video on Change.gov, the incoming administration's Web site. Sitting in a leather chair, framed slightly off center from his chest up, Obama delivered a three-minute talk on the economic crisis, vlog style." - James Ketchell from Bookmarklet

"It wasn't long, however, before savvy observers noted what was missing from this and other Obama videos: the chance for ordinary citizens to talk back....Of course, Obama's transition team had good reasons for disabling responses. For starters, YouTube comments are typically the intellectual equivalent of truck-stop graffiti. (When the team belatedly allowed comments a couple of weeks later, the site was flooded with insights like 'USA susks.')" - Ontario Emperor

Personal observation: I find it interesting that one of the major media advances, implemented by Ronald Reagan, was the use of radio for a regular weekly address. Of course, that was an advance and a step back at the same time, since radio wasn't exactly new. Of course, Reagan was comfortable with radio, having started his career in radio 50 years previously. - Ontario Emperor

You think friendfeed and twitter take your attention away from the work you are supposed to be doing? They are only the beginning. Soon we will just stop doing work altogether. Sigh. - Robert Scoble

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Does it attempt to tell you the meaning of e-life but only gives you a 404? :-) - Dean Clark

I want in! Sounds like a good waste of time - patrick

patrick, include your email address here and @god might give you some of the attention stealing drug I'm using now. ;-) - Robert Scoble

Careful Scoble, "test" that too much and you'll go blind - Craig Eddy

Is it a machine that lets you rewind and fast forward time? That's what I could really use. - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

As long as I can still collect a pay check. - Dave "Freedom 35"

Brian: no, it is more like link cocaine. - Robert Scoble

I'd like more things to steal my attention - email is jordanpw at gmail.com :) - Patrick Jordan

Isn't it your job anyway to not get anything done? and help us all live vicariously through your conversations and travels?? - Troy Malone

Sounds like "Red Dwarf: Better Than Life" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - flee! - WorldofHiglet

i like time wasting alphas - dadads at mac.com - planetMitch

Has ff search been spotty for you? Not working for me :( - Dana Fosburgh

Oh boy. I'm already in rehab for my FF addiction. ;-) Can't wait to get me some new digital crack though ;-) - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

Troy: actually, my job is to do videos for http://www.fastcompany.tv -- this isn't helping that mission out. Dana, yes, ff search is bad. They are working on it (I asked yesterday, they said it would be up "soon.") - Robert Scoble

...but I didn't say I didn't want to look at it. And try it a bit. You know, just to see...worldofhiglet at gmail dot com - WorldofHiglet

somehow, this sounds more like hype than anything else. can I please see for myself? dossy@panoptic.com - Dossy Shiobara

I'll wait for @Scobleizer to descend from on high with what @god has wrought us. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

can i get some of that action? dimensionmedia at gmail.com :) - David Bisset (sn)

I am in for some link cocaine mbazzoni at gmail - Michael Bazzoni

If this is Gist I'm so mad :P. Seems like they only have like 50 people in their alpha. I would love to get in on it, bjtitus@gmail.com - Brandon Titus

Robert, you typed "I am alpha testing something" and it almost came out, Freudian as it may be: "alpha-tester male" or maybe "alpha-male tester". And it's working for you :) - Micah Wittman

Robert Scoble is the best spam bot ever: people give him their email addresses willingly! ;-) - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

Let me guess quake online? - Ryan Cummins

Brandon: Gist.com actually helps you be more productive. This is a total attention-stealing thing. Probably won't be public for a few more weeks. - Robert Scoble

Yeah, me too, jaykul at gmail :-D - Joel Bennett

Thanks for the warning. - Andrew Smith

Ah. I figured it would be weird for you to say that Gist was stealing attention away but it is the only unreleased project I had heard in relation to @god, I think. I'm eager to find out what it is anyway (even though I definitely don't need any help wasting time). - Brandon Titus

Attention stealing drug? More than ff? Put me back on the time stealing slide again. drug hook-up to humanavatar@gmail.com, please. (Edited so @god can find my email address) - Robert Miller

Robert - I love shiny, new things - 1webdeveloper@gmail.com if ya can send that along to @god, I'd be most grateful - Renee Hendricks

This is probably unintentionally turning into an invite request thread :P - Brandon Titus

Brandon: @god has been notified and will be here shortly. :-) - Robert Scoble

@god has left the building (a god has to eat), but he is watching from afar - Jesse Andrews

Finally, the rapture! :P - Brandon Titus

what happens after no work gets done? I'm not sure, but definitely want to know... goatlip@gmail.com - SolidSmack

I'm interested in this new product: profitbaron@gmail.com - Nicholas James

So am I : leo.lveb@gmail.com - Leo

Hey i don't want to be left out :) berna[dot]ipach[at]gmail[dot]com - Bernardo

Hmm sounds dangerous, but intriguing. kevin@klecu.com - Kevin L

Me too Robert monamail@gmail.com - Mona Nomura

sure why not...I'll test if still needed.... slayerboy AT gmail DOT com - Ⓐ ☠ slayerboy ☠ Ⓐ

I want in. nationh at gmail dot com - Nation Hahn

Early days yet :) - Mo Kargas

We are still working on the product - we've tried to keep it simple, but have many ideas of how to improve it once we get a more than a handful of users on the service (clikball dev) - Jesse Andrews

this all sounds very interesting... if I could get on the beta list that would be great... jmccartan AT hotmail DOT com - John

Robert I can't absorb anymore loss of productivity! Don't tease me!! You know I am a giant lollipop for this stuff :) - Susan Beebe

created a clikball room - come on in - Jesse Andrews

@god blessed me with an invite. You'll all love it. Way better than Twitter. Three invitations isn't nearly enough unless you've already sent invites to Fruchter and LouisGray and LizStrauss so I can share with DerekSemmler and Susan Beebe and who else am I forgetting? - Internet Strategist

Too late, already happened around here. - Martha

Tobert It's okay if soon we stop doing work altogether. Soon there will be no money to pay us for the work anyway. - Michael Markman

Looks like FF is the new simplest way to get testers to jump on you. I love how many are gmail users. Do you still want more users? jaemik at gmail dot com - Jaemi Kehoe

this *is* work, no? ;) - Anthony Citrano

I am hoping that @god sees my email address way up there in the list and sends an invite. :) - Robert Miller

Ok Martha and Jesse - a room with no messages in it? What's up with that? :-) - Internet Strategist

Who do you want to invite? I'll invite someone if they promise to invite Fruchter and LouisGray. - Internet Strategist

Worth a try! ron.delrosario@gmail.com - Ron

@god bless you all, burak at burak dot com - Burak "cyrus" Bayburtlu

well &^*# i didnt realize there was the possibility of getting in on free web crack - assuming you all havent bogarted all of it mees too please: marco dot nunez at gmail dot com (why do i feel like if i do get an invite i am going to log in and see a picture of all of you pointing and laughing at me?) - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

I'll take some of what you're dealing, @god :) lindsay at donaghe dot com Thanks much. - Fa La La La Lindsay

Oh, GAH! I hate the peer pressure! sure, include me in... mark at latviangoatporn dot com. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Hey, if I don't waste at least half my day, I'm lost. jcunwired at gmail, should you and/or god deem me worthy enough. - jcunwired

that's quite an email you have there mark - Jesse Andrews

Long story behind that. i own the url. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Please send an invite to chacha102@gmail.com - Tyler (Chacha)

"latviangoatporn dot com" Proof there's a domain for everything and everyone. So which is cooler, this @god thing Scoble is on about or getting an latviangoatporn dot com email address? - Jack (a.k.a. Jeber)

Mark, that's a story that you MUST someday tell. - jcunwired

Internet Strategist - send me one. I'll get it to Mike and Louis. jesse@staynalive.com - Jesse Stay

@Jack, since I own the URL, setting up the email address is easy. Many of my friends have one, even my cat... I have several aliases as well, including "god@..." - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Ok, I'm in. rah@geekpi.mp - Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah

I like Rasheen's email address better! - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

I see you DID get in Marco. Has everyone else gotten in that desperately wants an invite? - Internet Strategist

Not I. And I want in. nationh at gmail dot com. I am about to go to bed so I'll ask @God... :) - Nation Hahn

I still want in, please! lindsay at donaghe dot com - Fa La La La Lindsay

ok how can you deny something from @god chrisloft @ chrisloft dot com - Chris Loft

Robert: Look at this http://friendfeed.com/e... - Tyler (Chacha)

"just one more look at ff and then i'm going to b-- d'oh!" me too please! metalerik+gmail - metalerik

sounds like a true gift from god. :) - Karoli

Are there Easter eggs??? - jcunwired

Sent you one Jesse and I already invited Louis and Mike. Nation, Lindsay, Chris - you should have invites too. Metalerik it doesn't like your email address; I wonder if someone else sent you one? Yes - I see you're already in. Smart system knew you didn't need one. Lindsay REALLY wanted in - she was there instants after I sent it! - Internet Strategist

:( - Robert Miller

Jesse, did you get it or did your email bounce? Did you want one Robert? I figure you do so already sent it - but I may need you to invite someone for me because I just used my last invite this round. - Internet Strategist

I am in -- Thank You! - Robert Miller

Ok, I'm intrigued! Can I get in? kevin [at] whalen [dot] otherinbox [dot] com. - Kevin Whalen

++++++++++++++++Wow+++++++++++++++I just got home and see a ton of new people got added. I have some invites too. Thanks @god! I will try to keep up, but have a ton of things to do. - Robert Scoble

Oh, and I told you all it was addictive. Sorry at the loss of productivity that's coming soon. DID EVERYONE ABOVE THIS LINE GET AN INVITE? - Robert Scoble

I'm still waiting for my invite, Robert! monamail@gmail.com ;) - Mona Nomura

Count me in! graham at grahamenglish dot com - Graham English

not unless it went into spam - who would it have been from? - WorldofHiglet

WorldofHiglet: what's your email, I'll get you one. - Robert Scoble

I'm interested: greg at gannicott dot co dot uk - cheers Robert! - Greg Gannicott

thanx in advance ilkerugur at gmail dot com - Ilker - ilkerugur.com

I would like an invite Robert: kevin [at] whalen [dot] otherinbox [dot] com. Thanks! - Kevin Whalen

Your alpha testing his only son? - Johnny Worthington

*edit* thanks Robert, but I found mine in the spam folder :) - WorldofHiglet

I have 3 invites left. - Robert Miller

anyone who wants an invite that doesn't want to add their email to this list can enter it on clikball.com and we will send one out soonish ;) - Jesse Andrews

Gah... I hate being lonely... *gets down on knees* john.worthington.aac [at ] gmail.com *slinks into corner* - Johnny Worthington

Me too! mail at nicolaquinn dot com - Nicola Quinn

Internet Strategist, Robert, I still haven't gotten mine. Try jessestay@gmail.com - the other should work though. - Jesse Stay

But then again, God knows my e-mail address. :-) - Jesse Stay

Hah! While you're down there say a prayer for me. - jcunwired

@Jesse I entered it on the site, thank you, but when you say soonish, what ballparkish are you thinking? - Ed Shahzade /NextInstinct

+++++++++++++++I've caught up to here, gotta go to sleep. +++++++++++++ - Robert Scoble

Should I ask for an invite? Will it help me get work? - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

I don't know what we're talking about but I want an invite. mark@marktrapp.com - Mark Trapp

Well, why not... nath@nhowell.net - Nathan Howell

Screw the waffling. If I don't care for it, it's not like I'll be forced to use it. Regret nothing except what you never did! chris@coldacid.net - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

The first one I sent you went through but I got an email bounce message. Double-checked your email address. I'm out of invites. Anyone else needing one should hit up those I sent them to as each of them will have three invitations. Catch them quick. - Internet Strategist

I got Robert's. So am I under embargo by accepting the invite? ;-) - Jesse Stay

As I understand it, during a depression/recession when you see a line, you don't ask questions... you just get in it: godinvite@kshep.net - Ken Sheppardson

I got three invites out and I am now empty. Perhaps a silly question, but is there a FF room for this? I have questions. :) - Robert Miller

anyone still has an invite? freaking cporiosity! :) please send it to blog AT markingegno DOT biz -- thanks - Markingegno - Donato from fftogo

Ok, me too please -- puneet.thapliyal@gmail.com - Puneet Thapliyal

I'm interested in link-cocaine. Please email me at tchiseen@gmail.com - Will Higgins™

I've got a few invites, email me if you want them. - Will Higgins™

I would appreciate an invite if any are still available @ rfiling at gmail - thanks - Richard Filing

Sent ya one Rich - Will Higgins™

So, uh, hm, intrigued. Here it is 3:40 am going through links from my twitter contacts, reading Friendfeed, and other various things... sure, I could use another time-suck! erewhon@flatland.org - Steven Byrnes

Wow...send me to daboslab AT gmail DOT com :P - Dario Salvelli

Robert, I am now convinced that you meant the end of January, not the end of 2009. :) - Robert Miller

I still haven't received the invitation, anybody has one left? Email me: blog AT markingegno DOT biz - Markingegno - Donato

mattb4rd@alltel.net - Mattb4rd

sandro(dot)caf(at)gmail(dot)com - tnx! - cyb

I would like to participate @god, my email address is yeah_mate_joe_is_available@hotmail.com - Joe Dawson

I signed up at 2:30am on iPhone and now I'm at work. Haven't been able to test out the FF plugin. - Kevin Whalen from BuddyFeed

atularora(at)gmail(dot)com - thx. - Atul Arora

@ Robert - I was above the first line, but have not received an invite yet. If it's still possible, email is: jordanpw at gmail.com - Patrick Jordan

If you have a clikball account, i'm "dimensionmedia". feel free to follow me and i'm looking for interesting ones to follow as well. wondering how this is better than twitter + delicious. - David Bisset (sn)

So, any more invites? Or are ppl already too distracted? :) erewhon@flatland.org - Steven Byrnes

I'm 5th after Robert's last "+++" line and haven't seen one, so I think we missed the boat :-( - Ken Sheppardson

me too, if anyone's got one -- nathanrein at googlemail -- thank you! - Nathan Rein

I have 2 invites left to Clikball, if you want one dm ur email 2 @alexbrehm - Alex Brehm

If I haven't already missed the boat, I've got some time on my hands: dont.talk at me com (yes, that's really my address!) - Grey Drane from BuddyFeed

ok got one. thx a.brehm! btw, you know what's weird... it's showing an avatar for me. i didn't set one up. w0rd. where did that come from? magick? :) (EDIT: ah, I know where it's coming from now...) - Steven Byrnes

If there are any invites are left, Robert, rpa4email at gmail.com please. - Robert Couture

Could I get one at godinvite@kshep.net? Thanks! - Ken Sheppardson

Me too! Me too! :-) hunterj@gmail.com - Jason R. Hunter

Good Lord. I've been trying to be patient and not jump on the bandwagon with this, but it keeps popping onto my front page every couple of hours! My curiosity is starting to get the better of me. - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

I've got two invites left - email rfiling@gmail.com - Richard Filing

Installed FF plugin on Macbook, but the notification window won't launch. Thinks I'm not logged in. - Kevin Whalen

@Richard, if those invites haven't been claimed yet, I'd love one nathan dot rein at gmail. Thanks. - Nathan Rein

Thanks, Richard! I have three now if anyone needs. - Nathan Rein

Just sent you an invite Nathan - Richard Filing

heh, our comments seem to have crossed. Thanks again. - Nathan Rein

Could I get one at invite@kshep.net, Nathan? Thanks! (If sobody sent one already... maybe it got caught as spam or something :-() - Ken Sheppardson

@Ken - sent. - Nathan Rein

Thanks Nathan! - Ken Sheppardson

I've got 5 invites available - rfiling at gmail - Richard Filing

count me in - Mark Schulz

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party night on the web. LOL...listening to Dylan's Someday Baby and waiting for the chardonnay to breathe. TGIF. - Karoli

Excellent! - Scott Kingery

a party deferred for a couple of minutes...gotta take care of an email that just dropped in. - Karoli

shut down the mailbox, took care of the question. party officially begins now. or whatever it is. - Karoli

I want some more that micro-poetry you published earlier today! :D - Helen Sventitsky

you might get some if I get loose enough. :) - Karoli

Which reminds me. I've had no alcohol in gawd knows how long - Dennis Howlett

@dahowlett me either...which could make tonight that much more interesting. LOL. - Karoli

yikes, I just realized how that "you might get some" post could read on Twitter with no context. Poetry, people. Poetry. - Karoli

Surprise visit from folks ... Drinking plans on hold for a bit... dang - Mark Schulz

'S okay. Gotta grab Miss Dancer and some food anyway...we'll be here when you get back. :) - Karoli

On the contrary. Darwin pushed things in the other direction. The power, elegance & simplicity of the theory of evolution is impressive. - Tanath

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I disagree, Tanath, not with you on the fact that Darwin did come up with something of apparent elegance and simplicity, which of course he did, but with the supposition that it ended questions. For the course of biology in the time since has essentially been one of questions that arose from his beginnings. More, I think he missed the significance of the phenomenon of emergence and this is the area that will capture our imagination going forward and will lead to innumerable questions to come. - David HC Soul

I'm not claiming it ends all questions. The basic concepts of evolution can be applied to more than biology. It can explain much more than the questions it raises. Darwin may have missed how significant emergence is, but others haven't. My point about evolution is that, while some explanations/theories raise more questions than answers, evolution is a prime example that does the opposite. With evolution, complexity arises from simplicity. - Tanath

The orange metaphor is interesting, but hinting at there being much more does nothing to explain anything. Say what needs to be explained, and why current theories are insufficient. As for the rest, most scientists have already considered or learned about such things. Not every scientist knows how to think logically, but they should; and that would address your concerns. - Tanath

"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it." -- Max Planck. Very true: current fashion of thought (and basic peer pressure) seems to have a large impact on the acceptance of groundbreaking work. - DGentry

We must not generalize by either "science answers more than it asks" or "science asks more than it answers." Niether statement is true. It is dependent on myriad of factors and conditions, many perhaps unknown or unquantifiable. In what concerns Darwin, I wrote a blog post some time ago, check it before getting too much fond of Darwin's theory http://fail92fail.wordpress.com/2008... - Hayk H.

Greg: There's a big difference between the unexplained and the unexplainable. I think the things you think are unexplained/unexplainable in fact, are. - Tanath

Hayk, I'm disappointed--you sound like a creationist. You have much to learn. See http://www.talkorigins.org/origins... - Tanath

Tanath, I am not creationist and I don't think the post gives such an impression. I merely tried to expose the weaknesses of a theory which otherwise is considered infallible and all-encompassing. Think of that post as an educational critique of what many consider as status-quo. My aim was to dispel dogma, attribution and plain ignorance from the science. - Hayk H.

Hayk, it does give that impression. Evolution violates the laws of thermodynamics!? That's pure creationist nonsense! The Cambrian explosion as a problem for evolution? This is not science... You may not be a creationist, but you've probably been listening to them. - Tanath

Tanath, I agree that law of biogenesis is widely "deployed" by creationists. But that must not be a reason to completely invalidate it. I wanted to include all sides of critique based on any past and present scientific frameworks. What do you think about the other 4 arguments against the theory? - Hayk H.

To that I say, read this: http://www.sciam.com/podcast... That evolution occurred is a fact. To attempt to refute it is ignorant. - Tanath

Tanath, the Cambrian argument is as solid as any pertinent incumbent scientific argument is. Don't be misled by the fact that creationists use such arguments to give credibility to their theories. That is their joker. Many a creationists would use all kinds of scientific explanations and base their faulty and baseless conclusions on them. Science is science and no twisted usage will make it otherwise. - Hayk H.

Do you realize that "Darwinian evolution" is outdated? Also, fossilization is rare. This is to be expected. I'm sorry, but your blog post really shows your ignorance in this area. - Tanath

Tanath, you are missing the point. I never claim or question evolution. IMV it happened - there is overwhelming evidence for it. I ONLY question the extent and credibility of the theory of Darwin. Theory has many faults and most of them are rubbed under carpet or just plainly ignored because there is no other more credible (scientific) framework, which would explain evolution. - Hayk H.

Hayk, well, as I said, Darwinian evolution is outdated. "No other more credible scientific framework"? *Rolleyes* Look at modern evolutionary synthesis. Science doesn't "sweep things under the carpet" & ignore them. Things that don't make sense are intensely studied. That's where scientific careers are made. Gregory, life forms easily enough in the right conditions, which were abundant on earth. See previous sciam.com article. Oh, and metaphors aren't always helpful. ;) - Tanath

Tanath, it seems you are bent on proving that I am ignorant about evolution. My aim was to show weaknesses of the theory of Darwin. That was all. I put up few arguments based on what was or is still considered science - and yes, laws of thermodynamics are part of that science. I still have to see you provide credible and well reasoned counter arguments about the points in the post w/o moving along lines of "this is pure creationism" just because one or another scientific aspect was used by creationists. - Hayk H.

Tanath, you won't communicate any of your points by insulting commenters. Debating 'fact' and theory isn't ignorance, it's encouraged in science no less. Just like when linear evolution used to be considered canon - certainly isn't anymore. - Mo Kargas

Sorry, I wasn't trying to be insulting. Everyone is ignorant about something. Hayk, what's the point of poking holes in Darwinian evolution? Those holes were recognized a long long time ago, and have long since been solved, as I somewhat rudely pointed out. :-/ I don't see how it contributes anything. I could provide reasoned counterarguments, but you still need to educate yourself on this subject. I suggest you do that first. But since you asked, the answer to your thermodynamics puzzle is the sun. - Tanath

Tanath, I never claimed to create new science by my blogpost or advance a hitherto unknown scientific point. I wanted to write about weaknesses of what is considered a mainstream evolution theory (not everyone has heard or knows about it; on contrary everyone has at least heard of Darwin). Modern version of evolutionary synthesis was inspired by and built on considering Darwin's theory, Mendel's results and recent advances in genetics with an emphasis on population. - Hayk H.

But it's not mainstream science. Mainstream is modern evolutionary synthesis. If you're talking about "mainstream" as in, what the general public knows/thinks, the general public is SORELY lacking in their understanding of evolution, so it would be more helpful to rectify that situation instead of making it worse (by not explaining the context you explained here). - Tanath

Tanath, that is what I meant by mainstream. Evolutionary synthesis is still not widely known. - Hayk H.

Tanath, you are right. In criticizing the theory of Darwin and in order not to stray from the main topic, I did not mention anything about the synthesis. However, as you also perhaps noticed, I abstained from any final conclusions preferring instead to inform the reader that there will be continuation, and it was my original intent to mention what Darwin's theory was replaced/complemented by in the modern world.. - Hayk H.

The amount of new technical information alone is 'guesstimated' to be doubling every two years. If that doesn't come ,in large part, from more and more new questions then we must have an awful lot of divine inspiration taking hold of the technical aspects of our existence. - David HC Soul

Tanath, you might be interested in this quote: "Today, 200 years after his birth and 150 years after Origin of Species, Darwin’s legacy is a larger, richer, more diverse set of theories than he could have imagined." - (from "Dynamic Darwinism: Evolution Theory Thrives Today" subtitled: The naturalist would approve of how evolutionary science continues to improve By John Rennie in Scientific American, Dec 2008. http://www.sciam.com/article... ) - David HC Soul

http://cshprotocols.cshlp.org/emo... - "the variety of organisms studied is currently undergoing a massive expansion .... as more and more biologists expand their interests from the purely mechanistic to include evolutionary considerations." - David HC Soul

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"— Albert Einstein - David HC Soul

Super-funny!! - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)

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That would suggest reasonable proof re: my earlier point here: http://twitter.com/dahowle... - Dennis Howlett

Have your blog pageviews increased as your followers increased? I would think those would correlate - Andrew

...unless of course Twitter etc wasn't part of the pitch - Dennis Howlett

Andrew they have gone down. Why? 60% of TechCrunch's traffic comes from Google. - Robert Scoble

@Andrew - Robert said his pageviews on his personal blog have declined in the last year. Check in Compete.com - Dennis Howlett

Robert - You are making me think that Techcrunch was right for having an intervention for you. - Andrew

Dennis: I try, but so far haven't found companies who care. - Robert Scoble

Andrew: pageviews suck. Are you here for pageviews? I am not and if it costs me money I would rather be poor. - Robert Scoble

Robert - I'm really surprised that Twitter hasn't tried to offer you a job as Chief Product Evangelist or something. - Andrew

Robert - I don't blog for a living. I'm here because people are funny and smart. :) - Andrew

Geez - Your sponsors ALL want access to your reach, followers, readers, etc.. What kind of nonsense arguments are you making here? - Michael Krigsman

Andrew: me too! - Robert Scoble

Michael: seagate wants me to be clear they sponsor my video show and they sponsored me back before I had a Twitter follower. The other advertisers haven't asked for me to do anything with twitter. No call has come in due to this stuff. - Robert Scoble

Robert: No companies sponsor you? I thought you would have been contacted by services like magpie to earn money spreading word about their company. - Ramkarthik

Magpie didn't contact me. - Robert Scoble

Having multiple houses or multiple cars doesn't mean success, just money or good credit. Even the potential reach itself isn't usually enough for a sponsor. In vertical geek markets, it would be though. - randulo

According to Magpie.com, Scoble could earn €22,333.62. What's that converted in US? Probably 20,000 thousand a month or so!! That's not bad!! - Paul

@Paul Does that factor in the immediate loss of mindshare Robert would be faced with were he crazy enough to sign up with that service? Probably not. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Apparently I could make €180/month (CA$311, US$254) if I signed up with Magpie. I could use that kind of money. Know why I won't sign up? Because people don't follow me to get advertisements. They follow me because they want to know what I think about various issues. Magpie or other advertising systems like it would detract from my message(s) and decrease the value I provide to my followers. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

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