Luckily we aren't obligated to only read those things that Techmeme deems important. - Ontario Emperor
And for the record, I don't want the discussion on Techmeme for personal traffic. I want it on Techmeme for exposure and expanding visibility. - Louis Gray
maybe, just maybe because it's not really newsworthy? racism is alive and well, so nobody should be as surprised as you seem to be when it rears its ugly head on the internet? - Andy Green
There's some 'X' factor Gabe has. Some sort of engine that's tracking memes based on terms. Big blog links can make it happen. Smaller blogs probably have to fall into that 'X' factor world. - Hutch Carpenter
Except, Andy, that TechMeme's goal is to track "memes" and discussion or news on the Web. This is clearly one of those "memes" that is engaging conversation. I've been on there a number of times for discussion that's not necessarily "news". - Louis Gray
The perennial problem of race and class issues, is that throughout history, it's a zero sum game. It's a given. - Kevin Lim
can you remember a story that has generated so many comments? techmeme's failure here will be something we will remember when we're looking for news that has the community buzzing. - Nice Fish Films
@louisgray actually, it appears that techmeme is simply following the "tech" part of its name. if you look at the front page, it's all about technology, not social issues such as racism. To me, techmeme is simply keeping its eye on the ball by not participating. - Andy Green
Personally I'm happy it's not on Techmeme...the news today is iPhone and iTunes. And besides, it's TECHmeme. - Mack D. Male
I'm torn as to whether this story should receive more coverage. Do we want to give these people more attention? @Louis what value do you see in continuing the discussion? - Carla Thompson
ah well, we tried. we could talk about this at elite tech news podcast. - Jason Kaneshiro
Carla, the commentary from SAI, SheGeeks, Profy, Shey, Bwana, Hutch all added to the conversation as to their views and experience. I want to increase the visibility of how real and rampant this problem is, rather than turn away from it in a fit of Apple/iPhone/MobileMe mania. Those of us in this sphere have seen multiple opinions, but I bet 80-90% of those who read Techmeme and other sites haven't yet been made aware. - Louis Gray
@louis - please continue to highlight this issue. I'm totally shocked you seem to be the only one saying this is unexceptable. - Toby Graham
I think if you're reading TechMeme, chances are pretty good you're on FriendFeed or subscribed to one of the bloggers you mention. While I disagree with those who say the story doesn't belong on TechMeme - it's about racism within tech communities - I think these assholes attacked Wayne and Corvida to get attention. And that's exactly what we're giving them. No, they won't go away if we ignore them but I don't think their behavior is going to change because more people are aware of it. - Carla Thompson
@Toby I don't think it's the case at all that Louis is the only one saying it's unacceptable. I think there are differing opinions on how to respond to it. - Carla Thompson
These blog posts are getting dozens of comments and there are multiple blogs linking to each other on this topic. I can't think of any reason why this shouldn't be on TechMeme today. - Mike Doeff
@Carla, zero tolerance is the way to deal with it. "The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein (thanks to AJ Batac for sharing the quote) - Toby Graham
How can the topic *not* be on Techmeme? I'd assumed the algorithm was automatic. Just how much of what gets on there is subject to human editing??? - Sprague D
What's pathetic to me are the people who dismissively say, "Why are you so shocked, it's always like this," as if it's a non-issue. Those are the people who just "ignore" it, therefore giving tacit endorsement of the homophobia/racism prevalent in online discussions. You want to stick your head in the sand and pretend it's a non-issue, fine, but the rest of with a spine/ethics/balls/morals are going to keep talking about it. - faboo mama
Faboo mama: I think it's because of how much information and culture people appear to consume and yet when a tiny slice of reality shows up it's like OMG BAD PEOPLE. That's not necessarily the same as an endorsement, it's more of a critique of how isolated people are, in a world much bigger than them. - Eric Rice
@Carla I don't see why the puppets can make Techmeme and this issue shouldn't. I've seen so many comments to the effect of "Wow I didn't know this still happened in 2008". People need to hear about this. - Shey
Too busy tracking real issues in the space, you know.. like the iPhone - sean percival
Does anyone know how TechMeme works? Was it manually curated out by TechMeme or did this whole conversation stay on FF and not really on Twitter via TinyURLs? - Elliott Ng
I don't even read TechMeme, who cares. Aren't we all going to run into these stories at one point or another anyway? - Shawn Farner
I don't read techmeme either, to be honest. I have come across these stories solely because I either already subscribe to those bloggers, or I saw it here on friendfeed - Rahsheen(isSoAwesome)
We should digg, bookmark, et al a single post on the subject to gain visibility. Need a focused effort. Any suggestions for the single post we can all digg? Of course, one post on the subject by the very cool Dave Winer would be an excellent solution ;) - Dave Martin
I am the same as others...I dont really follow techmeme. I can get all the stories via twitter or friendfeed. - (jeff)isageek
Interesting - for some reason so many blogs have been omitted, including Louis who started the discussion here (and I think his post on the subject was the first one, correct me if I'm wrong). What I don't get today is where Gabe Rivera with his reply - he usually jumps in pretty quickly with his explanation that we all have no idea how exactly Techmeme works. Gabe? - Svetlana Gladkova
It says in the name: Techmeme. Tech. This is - as is hunger in the world, bombing of terrorist, war, American Idol and other stuff etc not a topic related to tech just because people in tech blog about it. As for Gabe not replying here - this is what you get when you put tons of comments in a scattered service and expect somebody else to know about it. Or for example do you read all services available on the net about yours Svetlana? - Nicole Simon
Perhaps I'm overparticipating in FriendFeed, even at just a few comments a week, if people sense something is amiss if I don't reply to everything involving Techmeme. Anyway...Andy Green mostly covered the obvious points. So, what's the story here? Some anonymous losers said nasty racist things in some chat area (which happens all the time), and then Louis Gray noted how bad that is? Hmm...if you're going to suggest that an omission on Techmeme is wrong, you're gonna need to find something more uncontestably newsworthy than that. - Gabe Rivera
The tech piece is the anonymous nature of the communications. This is the Internet form of wearing a white sheet and covering your head. There is absolutely a tech angle-- the tech enables this behavior. I'm not saying anonymous shouldn't be allowed, but burying your head and ignoring it is not the answer either. - Kevin
@Nicole: Actually yes, I have all the alerts enabled for Profy everywhere I can in order not to miss something related to Profy. And as far as I know, Gabe must have some similar system for Techmeme since he really constantly appears on FF with his explanation of why our guesses about Techmeme are wrong moments after the comments are submitted. - Svetlana Gladkova via twhirl
Typical response there Gabe --- treating it as an isolated incident -- that's one of the reasons why it took a year for the TechNigga thing to blow up. I definitely see a link between the Feldman news and this incident. Feldman got continued coverage through his puppet crap yet this doesn't. - Shey
Oh jesus, then get ARRINGTON to post about it, THEN it will matter. Feldmen's his pal apparently. Besides, this DID hit the news last time because He talked about it. This year later thing is because something went from social media's wild west space to the real world which bitchslapped Feldman's ass back into struggling comedian-dom. There. You got it. Have a great day. - Eric Rice
And don't give me this shit about 'newsworthy', the PUPPPETS made it on there. As have 12 million Twitter/Friendfeed/Facebook Twitter/Friendfeed/Facebook Twitter/Friendfeed/Facebook Twitter/Friendfeed/Facebook posts. Try polling some grownup shit like Bloomberg. - Eric Rice
And it doesn't matter if you personally don't read techmeme or not. Others do. Others do in order to catch crap like this. That's all from me, I'm gonna go eat the head of a baby harp seal now. - Eric Rice
lol I'm not even sure you know what it is we're talking about. Yelling is ok; just do a little reading first before making yourself look silly. - Shey
