"In 1940, the British military formed an organization as a part of the Special Operations Executive, or SOE, called the “Underground Propaganda Committee” or UPC whose mission was to create and disseminate rumors as defensive weapons against the expected Nazi invasion of the the English mainland. They code-named the rumor weapons “sibs,” short for siblare, latin word “to hiss.” During the war they developed the craft and science of designing rumors and developed international networks of agents to spread the sibs. (Psywar.org has a great history of the UPC.)" - Igor The Troll
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1. They automatically resize my browser 2. Takes FOREVER to load 3. SO unintuitive. When I see the "loading 24%" bar? I hit the little "x" on the tab. UGH - Mona N.
Mona N, symptoms of bad flash sites, sans maybe the loading bar. Plenty of those on non flash sites too. - Mo "Killer Bee" Kargas
That resizes my browser and there're tons of graphics are flying around? Link please. - Mona N.
Oh, miscommunication. I was listing the instances, which immediately make me go DO NOT WANT :) - Mona N.
4. They often don't support standard functions like copy, paste, print and back. They almost always have terrible usability. I don't mind flash, but not for whole sites. Usually you can create the same functionality with CSS / DHTML and / or Javascript which are much lighter and let the browser do its thing. - David Sim
Ugh, that is THE worst. When you hit back, while browsing through a pages of items and it kicks you back to the homepage. WHY is taht ok? Seriously. - Mona N.
Yep....flash still sucks. I run a Flash blocker. If I go to your site and all I see is a bigass square with a nifty little play button in teh center for me to activate flash...well...I'm hitting C-w - Rahsheen™
Deep linking doesn't work (applies for frames and some ajax-pages, too) - Jemm
Move to Europe and Asia. They tend to favor Flash out there ;) - Mona N.
funny thing...i was talking to a photographer who need a website. she kept asking about flash and i kept telling her i don't know flash. Eventually she decided to go a different direction (without me) because she wanted a full flash site. I just didn't get it. - Justin Korn
Heh. I've been a Flash BITCHR since it came out. Waaaaaay back in the day, they were changing the code every 3 days. As soon as you got something built, you had to convince the client to download the updated plugin. "Didn't I just do that? Does it do that every time? Why would people visiting my site want to have to install a plugin just to see my site?" - Chris Kim A
And while I'm at it, waaaay back in those days, QuickTime was a monster at the things Flash was struggling to do. Again, the plugin requirement issue, even harder to convince the 99.999999% PC user base to install an Apple plugin. Man, I had all these cool QTVR navigation buttons, all slick and such, but alas, QTVR, we hardly knew ye. - Chris Kim A
Justin, I think a lot of artist types think flash looks nice, so that must mean the site is gonna be awesome. Chris, I have been a flash hater for quite a while. It has gotten better than back in the day, but it's still guilty until proven innocent in my book. - Rahsheen™
AGREED re: plug-in!!!!! Imagine, if the client has no idea how to install the plug-in, are average consumer going to know how? I'm with David who stated, CSS / DHTML suffices. Loads SO much quicker! RE: QT, we've come a LONG way. wow. - Mona N.
Flash = FAIL, If you provide alternate regular site = Semi-FAIL. - Mitchell Tsai
I can not see how the software is a deceiding factor in the usability. When deeplinking is not needed (and navigation is clear enough to prevent the browser button to do bad things (it's a browser problem, not flash's)) you can make great stuff with Flash. There are just as much bad sites in html, xml, ajax, ruby on rails and what have you then there are in Flash. Okay. I admit. I am from Europe. I like the experience vs just information :) - Ruud van Wijngaarden
Some sites need a good experience for the widest possible audience while other sites need a specific experience for a very select audience. When the second is true then Flash / Silverlight is completely appropriate. - Soulhuntre
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@Mo Kargas: that's simply because there are more sites made with HTML, it's like saying there's more coffee drinkers in the US vs the UK. It's not the number that counts, it's the percentage. - Stupid Blogger (aka Tina)
I just want to keep hitting like on this one. Most Flash sites break the stuff I use all the time; tabbing to controls, the scroll wheel, keyboard shortcuts like ' to jump to links, etc etc. - Michael C. Harris
so can I assume that most of the flash haters don't mind it if it's used sparingly for small aspects of the site that are non-essential but also hard to implement using other technologies like javascript? Like Flickr's slideshow, for instance? - Ben Reierson
Websites made entirely out of Flash do suck. The major reason is that even though they may be visually appealing but the usability is poor (e.g., cannot navigate without a mouse), accessibility is also poor, and are generally not parse-able by search engine (is changing). - imabonehead
Flash usage is often a triumph of "design" over function but because its ubiquity and relative stability in many cases it is the only way to guarantee near universality and longevity of media content delivery over the web. It is a failure of browser and media delivery standards that force many content providers into this. - Brian Sullivan
I hate full Flash sites as well. I can understand people wanting things to look pretty, but not everyone has a computer fast enough to navigate the site without causing freezing and crashing. - Aden
Freaking Ditto on that. My computer ain't that fantastic running on Mozilla firefox(which takes a ton of memory on my computer) if a page is flash everywhere! - Shawn aka ringking
@briansullivan - a good point. While many folks will say use HTML / Ajax / CSS to do something the reality is that there are often many more hacks, special cases and workarounds required to do it... and blaming it all on IE isn't accurate. The specifications of these technologies are often ambiguous and incomplete while the feature set is inadequate. Using Flash / Silverlight can alleviate almost all of that issue. Again... not when your goal is the largest audience but when you know your users it is ok. - Soulhuntre
Flash is almost always the wrong choice for an interface, unless you have a captive, locked-down audience, or you're doing something so complicated that other approaches will be super-slow and fragile. I install extensions in my browser to improve my experience, and if your site renders them useless, I just hit the back button. - Roger Benningfield
Hear, hear! I have been ignoring all-Flash sites more and more. I installed a Flash-blocking extension in Forefox and it's made for a much more peaceful browsing experience. - Stephen Shores
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I detest full flash web pages with all of my heart and soul. I say we boycott them! - Geoff Schultz
That is COOL! Being relatively coordinated, I figured, PSSHHAW! but I'll be damned. I am totally going to bleed bet money out of people on this one. - Josh Haley
forcing it NOT to do it kinda makes me convulse - Eric Rice
@Yuvi yeah drawing an 8 is definitely wacky. Can't wait to use this with friends next week. - Annie Boccio
Once "someone" returns my monitor cables, I'll be able to set-up FFSpy on the second monitor and just stare at it all day... - Carlos Granier-Phelps
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Spying, Stalking, Trolling! Who is your target and why? - Igor The Troll
Been staring for ten minutes. Mesmerised. And yet, haven't actually seen one item to which I want to click through! - Bob Kingsley
Sure it's noise if you leave it default. Sigh. I got the Google Reader shares going and I've found quite a few interesting stories. And *gasp*, it's not all tech! - Bwana McCall
@Bwana - point taken. But hey - I've only just discovered it and I can be a bit slow on the uptake sometimes :) will play with it over the weekend. - Bob Kingsley
Delicious 2.0 is finally here! First socialmedian’s open beta, now this… Too many social bookmarking sites to try in one day! - David Young
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THIS post is EXACTLY why I love social media so much.
An idea begins and then others, each with their own experience and expertise begin molding, adding and strengthening. - Marco (aureliusmaximus)
via Mento
Trying to create a global brand... yet making it an inferior brand in most of the planet. It makes no sense. - David Sim
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Witness the Canadian DMCA kerfuffle, and you start to get the idea that the only way these global intellectual property issues are going to go away is if the remainder of the world's governments to adopt U.S. copyright law--which I'd almost swear must have 'Max Korn' scrawled at the bottom--as their own. - Derrick Burns
It seems to me this (frankly laughable) 'regionalization' of digital content is just a convenient way of simultaneously pushing a pro-global-copyright political agenda on the momentum of loyal-but-deprived MTV viewers while simultaneously passing the buck for their own piss-poor marketing and brand control. Boring. Much like MTV. - Derrick Burns
Hmmm... I'd add "filling up site with tons of lurid ads" to that. ;) - Cyndy
Putting aside the rest of the article, I'd guess the Sprint launch will be later than the T-Mobile launch not because of Google "catering to T-Mobile", but simply because developing for CDMA is notoriously harder than for GSM. Also, had any major platform ever been launched without similar stories? - Didi Chanoch
Is it me or is every single blog turning into Valleywag? - Cyndy
An interesting post. Many organisations would find it difficult to give up control of communications to a third party like Facebook, but the opportunities for the extended enterprise (clients, partners, suppliers, fans!) are greatly enhanced by using a public platform. - David Sim
BT folk often blog externally, and there's an internal blog platform working. Major use of wikis for project and development space. The intranet is huge and there's a fair range of external material about it. - Steve Ellwood
Thanks - useful post. I've been doing some work with a company in Inverness who have developed methodologies for analysing social media content and noise. It's interesting that BT are viewing their internal blogs not just for the "now", but as a longer term information resource. It's good to have another case study to hand. - David Sim
i find intranet-associated wikis most useful as wiki farms, where people can set them up as-needed for project- or topic-related purposes -- as opposed to general reference, knowledge management tools - Ruth Kaufman
How are people in your organisation reacting to the implementation of the Intranet? - David Sim
We've had the intranet locally a while, its an essential tool. Its going international soon though so we're busy thinking the best ways to use it - HollowMarkeD
Keep us updated with progress... could be a case study. - David Sim
Good call - the intranet goes online in a couple of weeks, will be linking a couple of offices in the UK, Sweden and Denmark (so language issues) - should be around 250 people with access - HollowMarkeD
Sharing knowledge and skills across the language barriers - gets even more interesting! - David Sim
"I’ll outline my motivation to sell our beloved Summize, talk about our experience soup to nuts, and recognize the players who made this deal possible." - Mack D. Male
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this was a good move -- once I found out about Summize, it added a whole new level of collaboration on Twitter by finding ongoing conversations - Shawn Dahlen
Great to see Twitter realise the value in the archives... it's more than just communication. - David Sim
It's been a long time coming. I do hope Summize knows about scaling, and/or that it can lend some of its server juice to Twitter. - Brendan Cooper
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"Yep, thanks to recent, incredible developments in PageTurn(tm) technology, there's now an exciting new way to browse the Internet on the move. By book! So dump that PDA grandpa. Drown your mouse. Dropkick your iPhone into a nearby pond.
Get The Internet Now In Handy Book Form! TODAY!" - HollowMarkeD
“Finally, I am starting to love the web interface of friendfeed. I found very useful the ME tab:If you click the lonk to comments you see how conversations in which you participated are evolving”
..and yet I think FF offers more potential for an offline app. Maybe they're harder to build and genuinely add something over an above what is offered in the web interface? - David Sim
Anthony - I'm not sure that's what Dave meant... You can disagree and not be nasty... - Emotion Tad
Of course this note attracted all of FF's resident trolls. Big surprise there. :-) - Dave "Maverick" Winer
@Robert - nice finish! I suppose you can also finish it with "..say it on the internet under a fake name." - Candace Holly
I chose this battle. You advocate censorship and I disagree. That wasnt nasty. That was downright logical. - Anthony
What's with everyone getting so sensitive? First Scoble's filtering negative comments on FastCompany.tv, then Calacanis's departure, now Dave Winer's version of Rodney Kings famous "Can't we all just get along?". What's really going on? - Jim McCusker
Dave is showing what I have learned is the wisdom of age/survival at least that is how I see it. I felt like some geeky Don Quixote last night. Civility and common courtesy belongs everywhere. - Mathew A. Koeneker
via fftogo
Along those lines is the old adage, don't put anything in email that you wouldn't be comfortable seeing on a 5' x 5' poster in front of a jury. - David Thomas
While the source (Jimbo Wales) makes it sadly ironic, I still love the quote: "be honest with me, but don't be mean to me." Sums up what I strive for in life communication. - Anthony Citrano
That is perfect Anthony. I hadn't heard that before. - Mathew A. Koeneker
Now that I am back inside. I agree with both of those adages if you will. - Mathew A. Koeneker
I would qualify Dave's adage: Go ahead and say it out loud, At home, in front of your computer, where no one else can hear it but you. Get it out. Then if you have a real argument to make about whatever or whomever pissed you off, do so. I guess my cliche is: Count to ten. - Rick Powell
Ya its really not classy. Now excuse me i have to poo - sean percival
troll bait tweet! ha, ha! ... also laughing at Sean's post above. - Susan Beebe
There is a time and a place for everything. One should choose one's recipients on the internet for anything that may upset carefully - i.e send any risque stuff to only those that find it funny and not offensive, just as you would (or should) in person - Ian May
with lack of power comes great lack of responsibility. - Derek Tutschulte
Mother always taught me "pick your battles..." and I tend to agree. - David
Saw a calendar hanging on a mechanic's wall, two guys shaking hands. The caption: "Courtesy is the lubricant of good business." - Jay Tannenbaum
Freedom of Speech doesn't mean that it's mandatory that you let every little thought fall out of your brain and into the world via your mouth (or keyboard.) Just because you can do something doesn't always mean you should. - Lucretia Pruitt
Lucretia! Awesome. You should run for President. Freedom of speech also includes freedom to STFU. - Dave "Maverick" Winer
You say something stupid, it will come back and bite your ass! Maybe you are upset with someone today for something, why not let it go! But if you willing to say it, be ready for the consequences, right or wrong is irrelevant! - Igor The Troll
I can't believe how great the quality of our trolling is here on FriendFeed! - Dave "Maverick" Winer
Dave we here to please! I am just going to add a "Jew" to my nic! Igor The Jew Troll. ;-) - Igor The Troll
Dave: i don't see any trolls here. Oh, yeah, I block the jerks, which probably explains why I don't see them. - Robert Scoble
Oh Robert the Jerk here! Hey Robert why did you cut the iPhone line? You are too good to wait with other people? - Igor The Troll
Robert just for curiosity, are you Trolling me? I get to see a lot of you lately! It is like a a Whale Shadow is following me. ;-) - Igor The Troll
Robert: Thanks. :) As I have only blocked 1, I think that means that I can see every comment. They have all been quality. But I wonder if the message got to the recipients that Dave intended or if they ever saw the great responses. (I know that you said no one in particular.) - Mathew A. Koeneker
Mathew A. Koeneker when you block people based on over people opinions not your experiences with that person what does that make you? - Igor The Troll
I saw nice things to those that deserve them, I say mean things to those that deserve those and I say really, really mean things to the people who beg pretty for me too... that stuffs a privilege :) - Soulhuntre
Quote: "Companies with international geeky products should really think about having a steady search on their product related keywords on Twitter to directly reply to people who tweet about their products, if they have questions or problems." - Sebastian Küpers
Customer support on social networking = fantastic marketing. Great! - David Sim
