The Architecture Astronauts will say things like: “Can you imagine a program like Napster where you can download anything, not just songs?” Then they’ll build applications like Groove that they think are more general than Napster, but which seem to have neglected that wee little feature that lets you type the name of a song and then listen to it —... - http://socmoth.tumblr.com/post...
"At least several hundred mile-junkies discovered that a free shipping offer on presidential and Native American $1 coins, sold at face value by the U.S. Mint, amounted to printing free frequent-flier miles. Mileage lovers ordered more than $1 million in coins until the Mint started identifying them and cutting them off. Coin buyers charged the purchases, sold in boxes of 250 coins, to a credit card that offers frequent-flier mile awards, then took the shipments straight to the bank. They then used the coins they deposited to pay their credit-card bills. Their only cost: the car trip to make the deposit."
- Kevin Fox
from Bookmarklet
I was really close to doing this with my cash back card but the ROI wrt time and effort wasn't there.
- Joe Beda ()
from iPhone
I remember reading about it on flyertalk.com but was to lazy to participate. I'm surprised that the mint cut them off considering it was just a small amount of the total amount sold.
- Carl Haynes
I'm not surprised at all. The Mint was willing to absorb the shipping and credit card fees (1.5-3%) as a promotional cost to get the coins into advocates' hands. If the coins are being sold in a way that doesn't meet these goals, just to take those marketing dollars and give them to people with completely different agendas, I can totally see them halting that.
- Kevin Fox
I love coin dollars and didn't know these had been minted. I am one of those weirdoes who actually likes the Susan B. Anthony and Sacajawea coins (although I'd sure like to see a historical woman on a coin people actually *use*. Guess I'm going to have to wait for rampant inflation...)
- Spidra Webster
"How has consumer spending changed over the past 15 years? Do we spend more on some things and spend less on other than we did in the early 80s? In this interactive, based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, you can explore just that."
- Tom Stocky
from Bookmarklet
Hm.. looks like the insurance companies are getting rich. THe amount spent on personal insurance and healthcare has gone way up!
- Piaw Na
What's interesting is that personal insurance growth is non-linear. There was a huge 2% jump around 2000. What explains this? Besides the recession, was there some big legislative change that year? 9/11?
- Ray Cromwell
Nice. At least Peet's has normal sizing language, in addition to better coffee.
- Cristo
I was at Tully's in the Burbank airport last weekend and was surprised to see that they've taken up the 'Tall / Grande / Venti' nomenclature as well. Le Boulanger also has Grandes.
- Kevin Fox
Tully's has had that for as long as I remember. They took over Spinelli's in SF in 1998. It was my corner coffee shop and I've been subjected to it for years. It must be a Seattle thing.
- Cristo
A vertical tripod could be made with a spare plug, but I have yet to figure out how to have a simple horizontal tripod for the iPhone.
- Rachel Lea Fox
you just made my color blind self cry tears of joy - I can now click that to discover all of the links that some crazy color mad designer has "hidden" from me by their color choices
- bear (aka Mike Taylor)
I'm still on Chrome 3.0.195.27 but it says no update detected... this is in Win7. Pretty sure my OSX Chrome is 4.0.223.11 though.
- Jan Ole Peek
4.0.223.11 is the latest in the dev stream.
- Brian Sullivan
Works on Chrome Mac version here. I added the script as a new bookmark in the menu.
- Jesper Lind
Try this instead to avoid the %20 weirdness: javascript:void(document.body.contentEditable=(document.body.contentEditable!='true'))
- Matt Mastracci
Doesn't seem to work either -- maybe a bug in the dev version?
- Brian Sullivan
World's coolest bookmarklet, especially those who are creating demo apps.
- Mike Reynolds
Wow, this is awesome (works perfectly for me in Firefox 3.5). Simple Bookmarklet code that makes Web pages "editable". Now if only there were save + back buttons or something = Instant Wiki.
- Alex Schleber
I realized after playing for a while, some of the keyboard events stop working, like submitting form by hitting Enter .. (FF 3.5.3)
- Onur Gündüz
this is the fundamental line of every wysiwyg editor you use. for IE use allowEdit
- Tzury Bar Yochay
Clicking it a second time makes it un-editable (and therefore it should respond to events and such).
- Paul Buchheit
Cool, worked for me (the box is Windows Chrome 3.0.195.27)
- ǝuǝƃnǝ
I mean in all open tabs and windows, not just in editable mode. It stayed that way, still no keyboard events (not restarted ff yet) :)
- Onur Gündüz
Figured how to make it but what's it good for - pretending to rip other people's stuff to sh*t?
- Michael Slattery
Michael - I'm thinking about possible use as a minor webdesign tool. Of course other tools are more powerful, but this is a nice simple one.
- Deborah Fitchett
I wonder what the engineering decision was to not use a WSGI interface.
- mikepk
mikepk: it supports WSGI, but it is not WSGI by default because WSGI does not support non-blocking I/O for things like hanging connections. See http://www.tornadoweb.org/documen....
- Bret Taylor
This actually is a very good piece of code! Thanks folks!
- directeur
cool, Bret, thanks :) I was just heading through the docs now.
- mikepk
Thanks for doing this, Bret! That's some pretty cool stuff.
- Keith Bourgoin
I'm hacking my own python web framework at the moment, so now the choice on whether I want to switch gears to this or not. I'm liking what I see so far.
- mikepk
Nice new title Brett.."Facebook Director of Products".. a good sign of things to come!
- Chris Myles
very very glad to hear this bit: "Tornado is a core piece of infrastructure that powers FriendFeed's real-time functionality, which we plan to actively maintain."
- Chris Heath
A very good project!...you know if will be possibile to use Tornado with other technogies except Python (such as JEE, Ruby On Rails, etc.)?
- Nicola Junior Vitto
Cristo: we tried to use the official Python coding conventions, though we may have inadvertently strayed. Those conventions are: ClassNames, method_names, variable_names
- Bret Taylor
Brilliant! I hope you can provide very valuable input for the next round of #python WSGI, which desperately needs a next round ;)
- Uche Ogbuji
thx Mike, but this is a kind of eventmachine (that sounds good) for Ruby, not a Tornado client or wrapper...isn't it?
- Nicola Junior Vitto
Excellent! Thank you. Was eagerly waiting for the day to come after looking this just 1 month ago; "changeset: 5afb8a445cad / date: 2009-08-11 16:34:48 / description: Initial open source packages" http://changelog.friendfeed.com/2009...
- NaHi
from f2p
Chris, yes it is fixed.. I swear it was broken ..
- Onur Gündüz
Ohhh, ummm, btw, your underhanded behind the scenes sell out still rankles my human decency, & a lot of others too, as should yours...thumbs down/dislike x 47.5 million dollars, however not being bitter of course, keep ignorance & bliss
- sofarsoShawn
@bret just out of curiosity - what would necessitate usage of such an engine for a *personal* project? :)
- Michael Bravo
Michael: it is a nice framework to use for any project in my opinion (though I am clearly biased). If you are doing anything real-time like the chat demo, something like Tornado is certainly necessary/useful regardless of the size of the project.
- Bret Taylor
from email
@bret and for little-sized hardware? should have try it on Maemo based :)))
- A.T.
@silpol I kinda fail to see Maemo devices being used for servers (unless it's some kind of satellite-based or other covert server maybe :) )
- Michael Bravo
from IM
@mbravo you never know... there are some unusual (and cool) apps for web servers, granted you abstain (on purpose) from classical models, e.g.server farm somewhere there and herds of clients connecting to it...
- A.T.
Bret: Cool, thanks. Just out of curiosity, which flavour of Linux is preferred by FriendFeed?
- Diego Barros
I think this is the best answer for the ultimate question: "Does python needs yet another web framework?" While most of us would say why, when one come across this, a real world proven technology, serving zillions of pages a day, one would say, well, why not. actually, why not even take it an try to integrate out next web app with it? great job! seems like joining FB won't do you any harm ;-)
- Tzury Bar Yochay
Bret - You'll have to swing by when you are in town.
- Jason Shellen
how cool is that!! dont try to approach them because those deer can kick some butt with their hooves if they feel threatened. they sure are cool to wacth from afar though.
- charlie larson
I really love following Joe Hewitt (http://friendfeed.com/joehewi...) discuss developing the Facebook iPhone app so openly on Facebook, Twitter, and FriendFeed (and open sourcing most of it at the same time). Sets a really high standard for transparency in product development. I hope more companies follow his example.
Bret, the gang at FriendFeed do a good job as well. After consistently banging my head against Google's "Wall of Silence" the content here is incredibly refreshing. Thanks!!
- Chris Myles
This is what I exactly want to do. But, usually the next release is a top secret for many of the companies and it's very stressful to write even the concepts you are working on.
- Burcu Dogan
I think most people would prefer to work this way, but it is worth noting how difficult that can be at a large, well-known company: individuals, the press and Wall St are trying to read something into every little thing you say or do, there are SEC rules to worry about, and so forth. I feel lucky that I work mostly on open source stuff at Google, so this doesn't affect me most of the time.
- Joel Webber
Joel, I do understand the bigger issues at Google, I'm referring more to the product and support side. I've been getting some VERY bad vibes from other users and developers in the forums for Blogger, GFC, Picasa, Maps etc and their APIs. I've actually had people tell me to stop asking questions about GFC because no one from Google responds. Here I get the exact opposite feeling, from...
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- Chris Myles
chrismyles: some of the issues are cultural and others are technical. google support discussions used to be mailing lists, and wading through so many messages is time consuming. since moving to their forum system, the level of responses have improved somewhat and it seems the staff is better able to pick out topics to reply. the friendfeed platform is even better, and allows topics the community thinks are important to receive a higher priority.
- Mike Chelen
from IM
Mike, I guess we'll have to see.. What I love about FF is it makes it easier for ME to keep track of all my discussions in a single spot. Google's new support discussions require me to visit each group independently; there is no central location where I can monitor all my questions. It might be easier for Google but it's harder for me.. If only they all used friendfeed!!
- Chris Myles
So Bret, what do you think of the resulting app? Now you've got even more reasons to be interested!!
- Chris Myles
Chris: indeed those are the sort of technical or design capabilities that can restrict or enhance the effectiveness for users of a platform. both google and friendfeed have dedicated and skilled staff, yet here they are more able to communicate efficiently with relatively greater numbers of people.
- Mike Chelen
"But to Washington State University neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, this supposed pleasure center didn't look very much like it was producing pleasure. Those self-stimulating rats, and later those humans, did not exhibit the euphoric satisfaction of creatures eating Double Stuf Oreos or repeatedly having orgasms. The animals, he writes in Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions, were "excessively excited, even crazed." The rats were in a constant state of sniffing and foraging. Some of the human subjects described feeling sexually aroused but didn't experience climax. Mammals stimulating the lateral hypothalamus seem to be caught in a loop, Panksepp writes, "where each stimulation evoked a reinvigorated search strategy". It is an emotional state Panksepp tried many names for: curiosity, interest, foraging, anticipation, craving, expectancy. He finally settled on seeking. ... In order to have the maximum effect, the cues should be small, discrete,...
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- Paul Buchheit
from Bookmarklet
"It is the liking system that Berridge believes is the brain's reward center." So that's why everyone's adding a "like" feature to their sites these days.
- Ben Darnell
Haven't read it yet, but I bet it has something to do with dopamine (heard about it on the Stochasticity episode of Radiolab). +Bruce
- Kamilah Gill
This. "It is an emotional state Panksepp tried many names for: curiosity, interest, foraging, anticipation, craving, expectancy. He finally settled on seeking. Panksepp has spent decades mapping the emotional systems of the brain he believes are shared by all mammals, and he says, "Seeking is the granddaddy of the systems." It is the mammalian motivational engine that each day gets us...
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- Kamilah Gill
Crap. This is me. I bet it's a lot of you guys, too. I did hold still long enough to read both pages of this article. But I've neglected to get the cleaning done that I need to do and now it's late. I'm about to finally get up and do it now, but, still... my bigger problem is tearing myself away long enough to do anything important. How is anyone focusing long enough to make any complex artwork anymore?
- Kamilah Gill
All these friendfeed posts activates our dopamine pumping system but not enough to activate the liking system. No wonder if I work on something interesting time seems to go fast but very slow if i find it boring. Blame the dopamine.
- ashish
from iPhone
"Mindless Chasing".. this post just activated my dopamine to seek for the information in the link :)
- siva s
FriendFeed as two drugs in one. "wanting and liking" -- yes I want more articles like that and I "liked" this one.
- ǝuǝƃnǝ
Hmm, is it just me or this painting an ugly picture for the addictive quality of social media? I don't want to be in a "excessively excited, even crazed" state any longer than I have to (unless I'm waiting online in a bookstore, then it's just funny).
- Mark Essel
the image! :)) bearing like thing could have been more appropriate...
- testbeta
This is something casinos have known for a long time - think about slots, etc. All hitting that same 'seeking' button.
- Ken Gidley
Kamilah- I make time to focus on great artwork, and most people don't understand what makes artwork great post "The Urinal" anyway. Most people reading this also don't realize the difference of reading this versus posting from Pubmed, and how very little we know about the brain and illness of insantiy and of the brain. Saying it is the opoid system tells me very little, since right now...
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- Shana
Too many people complaining, I guess. Indeed, trust is something rare in the cynical times we live in.
- Jordi Soler
I believe people who are questioning will trust more when they get more clarity. In the absence of answers, speculation fills the gap.
- Louis Gray
hey man I trust loads more people online than off and I certainly trust the FFolk. These guys are no fools to build what they built and sell what they sold.
- Thomas Power
Unfortunately clarity takes time. Life is inherently unpredictable.
- Paul Buchheit
PB I am happy to wait take your time and yes I trust you all the whole team.
- Thomas Power
It's precisely because I viewed FF as a collection of people that I invested trust with them - so yes I'm waiting for the clarity that I trust will come and hope your allowed to share it by the new boss.
- bear (aka Mike Taylor)
I couldn't agree with you more Paul. (congrats BTW) I just hope bigger companies also realize the same thing, we will treat them the same way they treat us. With FF I think we all felt like part of the team, communication was open and two-way..it brought the passion out of all of us.
- Chris Myles
I ain't no naysayer I am a true FFsupporter. Go PB Bear x
- Thomas Power
i don't think ppl always like what they see...perhaps why they choice to treat others badly : reflecting their own ugly.
- :}(o|O){:
Oh, I could tell you stories about how I trusted people and was let down, betrayed, and backstabbed. Cynicism is not without precedent.
- Morton Fox
I don't think it's naive, you definitely live better when you are not constantly thinking if people are trying to scam you.
- Amit Morson
It's not good to call a bluff on people/anything before you understand the situation. On trusting people a little more....that's fine. However, it's a very thin line because people are different and unique in many aspects.We can do much more if we remove the slyness that have destroyed capitalism.
- Symon Muchina Thuo
BTW, I like the little "Add comment" thingy. Good going.
- Amit Morson
If I went with optimism, I would prefer cautious optimism over blind optimism.
- Morton Fox
culturally it seems cynicism is a means for people to cope with irony
- :}(o|O){:
I trust the FF team. As I said before I doubt they'll let FB take over and do messy things. They worked too hard to let them do that.
- Molly, "sorry"
I always give people a bit of trust, and it works out. There have been very few people that have lost the trust I gave them. I expect the best from everyone, and most return the favor. As for thinks like FF, well I don't have a lot of experience and I'm not super attached to the current workings, so I'm just waiting patiently to see what happens. I didn't join for the system, I joined for the people and the content. ^_^
- Heather
ana, that is why trust is required :)
- Paul Buchheit
It sounds like you've gained some confidence in yourself. That's always a plus.
- Wallace
I love FF. You guys have done a great job, and I have no doubt you will continue to do so. Some may have acted more on emotions than needed. However, when you end up being too trustworthy for too long, you tend to get burned. It's cheesy, it's a cliche, but it happens. I know I'm not one of the big ones here, but earlier today, in my completely zombified state, I decided to just roll...
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- Matthew Horton
I don't like how some people are thinking you "sold out" because you were bought by FB, because you needed the money and if you didn't get it what would happen? I think people are pissed off mainly because FB was the service that bought it. What if Myspace or Micorsoft bought FF? I bet there would be more people (including myself) who would totally lose trust in you guys.
- Molly, "sorry"
Some people are going to take this cryptic post as "Friendfeed will remain a separate entity and will continue to be developed, but I just can't reveal that yet." If that's not what ends up happening -- as seems almost certainly to be the case -- many FFers will hold it against you. I don't believe that's what you're saying, but many will. I imagine the fact that the reaction is mostly...
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- Christopher A Carr
Christopher - I think Paul should start writing even more cryptic posts to /really/ mess with people.
- Andrew C
He seems busting at the seems to talk about *something* he knows, I just doubt that something will really be all that reassuring.
- Christopher A Carr
Christopher, you're reading too much into this (as are most people here). I really do mean it as a general point about life. The truth is that I don't know exactly what the future holds, and neither does anyone else.
- Paul Buchheit
I have been through a few recent experiences where my apprehensions and concerns about the honesty and the intent of people have been proven wrong. I guess some of us need to go through this phase of realization before we can start trusting people a bit easier than before.
- Jassim
Paul: I was saying that I'm not reading that into your post, but many people will. In light of circumstances, posting something like that is going to be heavily interpreted, right?
- Christopher A Carr
I guess I'm in what some people might think of "denial". I want to think positively instead of being cynical. Being cynical to me is negative and doesn't solve a damn thing. Being positive about anything this day and age is a bad thing, I guess. People view positive feelings as being "in denial" which IMHO is a bunch of bullcrap.
- Molly, "sorry"
Depressing country music comes to mind... the dog ran away and the truck died, sad tune... *Sigh*
- Jannifer @wordsforliving
Perhaps more to the point: Most here may trust the former FF team, but many don't trust Facebook.
- Christopher A Carr
Christopher, I think that is the main point. It was interesting to see Matt Cutts post his congrats via a FF post, but also mention that he hopes the FF team brings some openness to the FB. That is part of the trust thing. Even Microsoft is more trustworthy than FB right now and everyone knows that a team of talented devs getting swallowed up by an untrustworthy corp typically makes no difference to the corp's culture.
- Travis Koger
I had to admit, even though I like FB a lot, they have done some things I'm not happy with. I'm hoping they don't mess with FF too much or I won't go there anymore.
- Molly, "sorry"
@Paul, I will stretch my trust a bit further to see how this washes out for the FF team, but in my view trust is always based on the actions and the way this has been handled, given that you are well aware of your rabid fan base, is not good for maintaining trust. I would have actually preferred that FF be bought my Microsoft (I know MS haters, perish the thought), but at the moment I...
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- Travis Koger
Thing is, every single FF user with a FB account could go delete their Facebook account, and Facebook would barely notice. So it's hard to believe that that they care -- why should they?
- Christopher A Carr
Totally agree Christopher. The FF crowd are such a small bag that they do not care. The reason why I would prefer MS is that they would care because they are clawing marketshare with any means, each little grab of users for them means a lot more then it does to FB, who as we all know don't even care about their existing 250-300mill.
- Travis Koger
Travis: You do know that MS is FB's single largest investor by far, right? For all practical purposes, MS bought FF as much as FB did
- LANjackal
LANjackal, yeah, but I am not sure about single largest? Particularly since the valuation that they bought in at was a lot higher than the current valuation from the recent buy in, so I think their shareholding is a tiny bit smaller now. There is still competition between the two for users, as there is from Google and twitter etc.
- Travis Koger
Lanjackal, I told like you to one of my friends feed yesterday, you are right!
- muratt
Travis: FB isn't publicly traded, and MS has given them more funding than anyone else, period. No one else has come close to the $240M MS poured into FB
- LANjackal
Travis: You don't think the Bing search results integrated with FB search results are accidental, do you? That said, I'm not one of those people who believes everything MS is bad. So far they've done well allowing FB to grow as they have. I've been with FB since 2004 so I have more faith in them than the average person. I'm giving them time to see how this all shakes out, and putting a lil trust in the FF devs too
- LANjackal
LANjackal, absolutely not, I know that was part of the investment and obviously worth a shed load more than the original 240M. I did think though that they had just received 200M from a russian company and have received other similar size investments from other companies. Don't get me wrong, I am not a total FB hater, if they do right by FF then I will absolutely stick around. What I...
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- Travis Koger
This is a smart approach. Trust...but verify. As much as many of us chuckled at Reagan in the 80s (OK, as much as some of us old guys chuckled) that's not a bad philosophy; it's what we do in day-to-day life, anyway. If we didn't implicitly trust most of the people we interacted with daily life would be chaos. Oh, and "naive" is the way we act on a daily basis.
- Tom Guarriello
Oh, and one more thing. I think the difference between the public reaction to FB buying FF and Amazon buying Zappos is fascinating.
- Tom Guarriello
I have actually more trust in FB than I have in Amazon - FB has not yet had the kind of anti competitive practices that Amazon has had in the last few years. If it had an easier way to ignore most apps, and reined their lawyers when revising T&Cs, FB would be positively peachy :)
- Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)
Reality is a mirror. We will manifest in life what we continue to see and be. If we find that we continually cannot or do not trust people, it is often because we ourselves are not trustworthy. Give situations time to sort out before you automatically assume that the worst will come about.
- guruvan (Rob Nelson)
Paul, I take your point. This is how I've gone through my entire life, with varying degrees of success. But I should tell you because of this I've been burned many, many times and have the emotional scars to prove it. It is not a statement to be made lightly (not that I think this is what you were doing).
- Jim Is Not Smart
I think most people would like to trust but most people have been disappointed before so when one cares about something or someone might tend to create negative mental scenarios as a mechanism to protect oneself from another disappointment and not to appear a fool once again.
- M F
Cautious optimism is how I proceed. However, I've been involved in and project managed through many acquisitions, and usually the acquiree gets fed a bunch of bs about how they'll be able to control their destiny and keep their baby running. But I don't think I've ever seen that actually happen. I hope it might, in this case, but I feel like so much cannon fodder at this point.
- Rick Cogley
@PaulToo / Paul Buchheit you say "Unfortunately clarity takes time." This is really where I think many people take issue, why did you sell the company without getting a more firm road-map for how things were going to go (which you could have then announced)? Unless you basically said: "OK, just give us the money and we'll let things sort themselves out later." Which is of course your...
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- Alex Schleber
Are people forgetting that Paul sunk millions of his own money into FF? Unless FF was a 503c Foundation, he can't be faulted for seeking to recoup that, and with big players copying FF features every day, there was a risk to FF's future. I'm somewhat saddened by what happened, but happy for Paul, but either way, FF introduced a bunch of concepts that will now be copied by other...
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- Ray Cromwell
I like the sentiment to stay open and trusting. Life is too short to do otherwise. And since there is a lot of talk about the facebook deal on this thread guess I'll throw in my 2c there too -- which is, congratulations on another successful venture Paul. Very impressive and facebook will be better as a result. If FF gets lost in the shuffle that just means someone has to go out there and start another venture ;)
- Thomas Mader
@cromwellian, that's why I used the words "which is of course your prerogative"..business is business, fine. I congratulate the FF team on their business win. But then don't mix categories and try to bring social issues like "trust" back in through the backdoor. After Beacon et al. FB PR disasters, do you trust Zuckerberg/FB with a darn thing? You yourself seem to think similarly by saying you're "kinda resigned that it's long term fate is not in the cards." My point exactly..
- Alex Schleber
@Guruvan BTW I disagree with you that this has anything to with LOA/Projection type stuff..the point is we all trusted FB in the beginning..a long time ago. Did we attract their multiple mis-behaviors into our shared reality somehow?!?
- Alex Schleber
More accurately, life is better when people are trustworthy.
- Tanath
Alex: I have spent about 10 hours of my life with Mark Zuckerberg. I think he is a lot more trustworthy than most business leaders I have met.
- Robert Scoble
from iPhone
@Scobleizer, which isn't saying that much, would you agree? :) It is after all the same Mark Zuckerberg that handed out business cards reading "I'm CEO, Bitch" not all that long ago..
- Alex Schleber
How does facebook reconcile talking about openness but trying to prevent other services from gaining traction by blocking the flow of information out of facebook that would enable smaller networks to compete? It looks like facebook is trying to become the entire web experience for users.
- Ru Viljoen
I've been through too many mergers and acquisitions to trust anything the buying corporation says.
- Alex Scoble
yeah u need to trust now because you gave away control. i think it was a silly move. i still think that friendfeed could have turned the tide by itself,...with proper profiles and people search. now all you can do is hoping you didn't got fooled
- Chris Hofmann
Schleber: damn, I didn't get one of those cards from him and had to drag him into a Time Magazine party. He didn't want to go because he didn't have an invite. I think that's the last time that I'll have an invite to something he doesn't have. But, seriously, I love how we blow out of proportion people like him.
- Robert Scoble
Alex Scoble: I assume the worst and when the best happens, I'm surprised. That said, Zuckerberg and Facebook has never stabbed me in the back or been jerks the way some other companies have been.
- Robert Scoble
If facebook succeeds it will lead to a period where innovation stagnates, and finally the largest task for facebook is to wrest power from google, and I personally do not want that to happen.
- Ru Viljoen
Ru: if you think Facebook is stagnating, I think you are smoking some good dope. Remember, FriendFeed couldn't take off because Facebook was too fast a follower. Many of my favorite friends from across the industry are now working there. Don't underestimate this company.
- Robert Scoble
Plus they stole Google's sushi chef and he's freaking awesome.
- Robert Scoble
Any company in Silicon Valley who is powered by sushi is unstoppable. ;-)
- Robert Scoble
I don't think that, I think facebook is brilliant and incredibly innovative, I mean it will go that way if they become too dominant in the comprehensive web experiance.
- Ru Viljoen
I have never heard of any company continuing to drive innovation as google has after acquiring a monopolistic majority, that is why I do not want it to be replaced.
- Ru Viljoen
I think he is right, social search is better than legions of anonymous results. Facebook leads social so when they master search they will undermine google.
- Ru Viljoen
yeah but the content that is dragged into FB is still much more limited to what google can crawl.
- Chris Hofmann
What exactly are you referring to by "social search," Ru?
- Christopher A Carr
If I'm trying to figure out who *among my FB friends* has the cutest new baby, or the highest ranking on Farmtown, then FB is certainly superb.
- Christopher A Carr
Search results relative to people you know. So far facebook has focused on features and usability to grow its userbase, but it looks really obvious that they will then try to use that social network to create a search engine that uses your acquaintances to serve you recommendations or search results and people will love that.
- Ru Viljoen
thats what friendfeed has been doing already
- Chris Hofmann
Ru: I could see that were FF as large as FB. My aunties and uncles on FB don't really know much about my interests or preferences. Won't FB have to radically restructure the network -- FoaF, and such?
- Christopher A Carr
i think that is the point of getting the friendfeed guys in the firstplace
- Chris Hofmann
In that case, there's so much legacy cruft in FB, why not build from FF's foundation if they're going to have to tear things down anyway?
- Christopher A Carr
Actually Paul, there is a famous wise American Caver named Donald Davis. Cavers find cave. Caves are a kind of form of Shrodingers Cat, we never know where more cave is until we find it. Davis postulated in the 60's that the cavers create the cave in their minds.
- Robert Higgins
FF is interests/information-centric. FB is people you happen to have encountered physically-centric.
- Christopher A Carr
It might be a hell of a lot of work but still that is where they will go. Bear in mind they have just released facebook lite and their explanation of it being for low brandwidth areas and mobiles smells like BS, but that is too speculative, fact is they can create that infrastructure with enough money, talent and users.
- Ru Viljoen
But they have 1/3 of a billion users with old expectations to placate. How radical can they be?
- Christopher A Carr
Well until it is done who knows how much behaviour will be shaken up, but they can be quite radical and people will not leave because how do you communicate with school friends and grandma if you leave?
- Ru Viljoen
It would seem extremely difficult to me to build a new house by ripping out a piece of the old house and replacing it, one piece at a time -- and starting from the roof. At best, for much of the process you'll have an ugly-ass Franken-house -- which is a good description of the state of affairs at FB.
- Christopher A Carr
Paul we trust you not to stab Friendfeed in the back, but to infiltrate and take over Facebook
- Robert Higgins
hahaha well I hope facebook remains a secure place to chat to our real friends and some form of friendfeed lives on and grows for our edgy web friends. Sleepytime 01:49 here
- Ru Viljoen
I imagine you and the rest of the FF gang are stinging a bit (perhaps you didn't expect the backlash to be as... well, passionate as it was?) but, in my experience, trust is something that has to be earned and it's usually something I only give to people I know personally. Generous trust has almost always repaid me negatively so I'm loathe to just hand it out. I'm a cynical, old, cranky...
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- Akiva Moskovitz
I have a long held belief that trust is something meant to be earned, not something you are entitled to from the start, and once shattered it is difficult, but not impossible, to regain. And Trust travels with a companion called Respect. They are 2 sides of the same coin.
- April Russo (app103)
Wow Akiva!! 'monster off the leash'. I feel your hurt emotions, really deep!
- Myrna
Eh, I've entered into the acceptance stage. Things are as they are.
- Akiva Moskovitz
I don't get it because I am not sure what to post - Posting links seems to be pretty boring, Posting some minute detail about my life is not particularly relevant to my internet friends. I like conversations but I am not sure how to start it
- Bindu Reddy
Find interesting people to follow, and try replying to them.
- Tanath
Twitter is being spammed so much lately (not to mention the 'attacks'), it's becoming a lot of work. Still a great real-time vehicle but the pollution level is increasing (and a serious pain)
- Charlie Anzman
Start by saying what do you think is interesting. You wil get it, soon.
- Florin Grozea
Paul - yes, I am thinking that is the whole problem. I need to stop wasting my time on these social media sites and go figure out how to become famous. Maybe I can get you to teach me how to become famous so that one day I can get Twitter :)
- Bindu Reddy
Go to http://onWave.com and ride a wave... or make your own. It might help you understand Twitter better when you see it within the context of different topics.
- Gus
There's nothing to understand. Just write what you want and reply to others. You couldn't do worse than all those social media experts out there.
- Morton Fox
Your not alone sister but that's life. Has to continue :)
- Nia
Adding appropriate hash tags seems to get your post noticed by many people who don't necessarily follow you. I find this similar to posting to groups in FF.
- Bill Rodman
Bindu, keep running a search of your interests on your twitter client. I run a search for anime and when someone posts an update anywhere, anytime it pops up on my search and that starts my interaction with them. You will not believe the variety of people I run into this way: from meth heads to the smartest people I've seen online.
- vijay
Much like FF your Twitter experience depends on what you want out of it.
- Soup
you're over thinking it, the journey not the destination
- WarLord
you've got over 1000 followers and you've tweeted nearly 1000 times! I think you're doing ok.. :-)
- Andrew Terry
Bindy, I'm following you now, but looks like you're already a Pro!
- Mahendra (SkepticGeek)
use TweetDeck, and set up some "saved search" columns. Try "Likaholix" for instance to see anything that's being posted about it on Twitter... or "FriendFeed" or whatever... find the conversations, reply, and enjoy.
- Nathan Chase
I don't get Twitter either. The return on time invested seems very low.
- Thaths
Don't get Twitter either.For starters, why the 140 character limit? Why?! I follow some twitterer-pros in the hope of finding something good. Most of the time i find myself reading tweets that are only part of a conversation and i just wonder what the conversation is really about.
- Nik
I'm with you Bindu. I started on Twitter and now can't remember what the draw was.
- BEX
Andrew, I don't think most of followers are really "legit" followers.... Also most of tweets are updates from Likaholix. So very few real tweets. Anyways am going to give it another spin and now I have my twitter account linked to Friendfeed. Maybe I will do better this time
- Bindu Reddy
Mahendra and Ha3rvey thanks for following me... Followed you guys right back. Maybe we can get a conversation going :)
- Bindu Reddy
You're not alone. Twitter is just my dumping ground. Everything here automatically goes there. (Everything also goes to FB.) That is somewhat useful, though. Through a series of "tubes", I can create an hour-by-hour journal of my FF activities thanks to Twitter.
- Kamilah Gill
Search for your interests, or follow bloggers that you like, check out who they're conversing with, and then try to join the conversations. I think Kol posted a thread here where people could give links to their Twitter accounts. You could try following some of those, too.
- John (a.k.a. dendroica)
Not in the software sense of having threaded conversations, but I regularly converse with contacts over Twitter.
- John (a.k.a. dendroica)
Bindu, this is a very funny thread. You could be a stand-up. If you are in a clique on twitter then you can have some good conversations but quite disjointed imo. I go to twitter to read the latest news or journalist's in and around the WH. It's all who you follow. Don't expect a FF experience there.
- Myrna
Btw, just visited your twitter site. Do you really have an apple allergy or more 'stand-up'? I like sense of humor. Oh, good tonic for allergies.
- Myrna
I wish that were a joke... No, I really do have a apple allergy
- Bindu Reddy
I have been on Twitter for over a year and have over 2000 followers. I still don't really get it, and mostly just crosspost to it from Friendfeed. I see it as a "poor man's chatroom"... lighter weight than a forum, but it's been hijacked to manage conversations with the elegance of a ferret attempting ballet. I hate replying to @s, but feel obligated to do so. And I hate that I feel...
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- Adam Lasnik
Doesn't have the conversational depth of some of the other social we hangouts. Makes it somewhat trickier to navigate, I think.
- Martha
Just lower your expectations. Then lower them some more. Then you're a quarter of the way there. Keep going.
- Akiva Moskovitz
OK, I'll help you get the hang of twitter. Just think of it as one great big IRC channel where everyone is on ignore by default (and for good reason). Now go find the ones worthy of unignoring and follow them. If it helps to put things into perspective and allow you to wrap your head around this method of communication, do it old school, with tircd and xchat (xchat aqua on Mac)....
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- April Russo (app103)
I love that Bret, Paul, and Kevin checked in. They probably are looking at their screens and asking "what do we do now?" how about ship some new features before Facebook overlords take you off to do bigger things?
- Robert Scoble
from iPhone
I feel sorry for all you addicts. My use of it is purely social.
- Bruce Lewis
I do like FF and use it almost every day. Wouldn't it be great if FB either left it alone so we can continue to use it as "professionals," or somehow incorporate it into a more "mature" version of FB that didn't have all the annoying, time-wasting apps, games, etc. I'd much prefer a totally customizable FF "wall."
- Cathryn Hrudicka
I think FFundercats HO!!!!! would have worked but I'm here anyways.
- Jimminy Fuller
Actively fighting addiction to anything on a daily basis, but I'm still a FriendFeed fan! (I'd have been here sooner but I've been staring at Phoebe Cates pics for longer than I realized.)
- Mark "DerBingle" J
Thank you Robert Scoble to be here. :) BTW is this looks interesting for FF replacement? : http://streamy.com/ ? May be... I'll try it to see. :)
- Claude LaFrenière
Why should I? Whats in it for me? You doing some sort of survey of people to send out the police to do a "Safety Check" on when the site is shutdown?
- Santa CW™
here. anecdote: a friend of mine just signed up for FF this evening. apparently the FriendFeed hype of the last 24 hours pushed him over the top. leaves me wondering whether FF has actually gained users today?it would be a crafty way of marketing the service. I'll wake up tomorrow to discover that there was a problem with the paperwork and the FriendFeed team have had a change of heart.
- JSLeFanu
from BuddyFeed
Count me in even though I was just starting to get hooked. I guess it's time to find a rehab and get all sobered up until the next relapse with some other new addiction. Isn't life grand?
- Usman Bashir
oh hey, look, the added an "add comment" link to the end of the comment list. Huzzah!
- Brett Kelly
from iPhone
++Jay. I was going to do the same thing yesterday but I didn't want to pay the money.
- David Cook
David -- this was a $9.95 session but you can get them for $7.95 and there are also 25% off coupons if you do online check-in prior to your Delta flight. That's an incentive for folks to use that service and offload kiosk use at the terminals. Very savvy marketing by the folks at GoGo and Delta combined.
- Jay Cuthrell
well, it's 12:12 a.m. and I'm perusing FF from my iPhone via BuddyFeed before turning in. so yeah, I guess I count. "Here!" (raises hand)
- Don Faulkner
from BuddyFeed
I recommend FF to some of my clients, and there are some companies and nonprofits with presences here—not like Twitter, but I'll be curious how that will be affected when FB takes over more. Most have FB fan pages, groups and/or causes, too.
- Cathryn Hrudicka
Yeah, me too. I just saw the request to have a comment link at the bottom of the comments from one of your friends just yesterday and here it is. I'd say they are listening. Thanks FF.
- Keith Rowland
И так чятег, пока Скобл не поговорит с нами представителями СовиетФрендфидика, все мои записи теперь можно читать в этом тредике. Пользуясь случае передаю Парню Бухайту и его команде большой привет, в связи с тем что [He can has sleep naw].
- ideali
превед кетаец! давай сегодня сделаем тебя счастливым!
- Махатма Бугоганди
точно! поэт, пародист, переводчик. известный блоггер.
- Махатма Бугоганди
я вчера был в издательстве, с меня сведения об авторе просят. давайте, говорят, напишем, где учился, что генеральный директор. и что известный блоггер.
- Махатма Бугоганди
а можно получить профессию известного блоггера? какие экзамены сдавать надо? какую специализацию лучше выбрать - микроблоггинг или аудиоподкастинг?
- Махатма Бугоганди
Один чувак пришол в чятег и говорит я известный блоггер кто тут тру на первый второй рассчитайсь. А ему говорят чувак у тебя сертификат есть что ты известный блоггер? Вот иди Зайке экзамен сдай потом приходи. А Зайка стоит такой с топором и улыбается. Щас думает счастливым его сделаю.
- Махатма Бугоганди
Я потерял интерес в данный момент. Я буду скрывать, как и любой другой. Это хромой, что вы захватили этот. Пивные правила. Спокойной ночи. :-)
- Matthew Horton
More than a friend of FriendFeed, was starting to use it as a full lifestreaming platform and loved it. It's made a whole lot of other sites make sense.
- achean
Hi, I'm Bette... I don't know if I'm an addict, but I can't stay away... I keep checking, just to see if something's new... and I cry if I get no responses to a post. Is that addictive behavior? :D
- Bette Cooper
Yup, I have blocked all the impersonators now. You will still see them, but I don't see them and they no longer can comment on any of my items.
- Robert Scoble
@scobleizer As far as I can see you have blocked not only the impersonators (who renamed themselves back the moment they found out you have a problem with this) but most of the folks who chatted there.
- Махатма Бугоганди
@meatreach yes, see next thread. Scobble becomes anti-Russian.
- Never Impersonate You
Maxatma: well, that's just too bad. I speak English. Sorry. People who don't speak English really don't have any business commenting on one of my items, except in rare cases.
- Robert Scoble
Why you, Robert Scoble, don't block users from Spain or Italy? China or arabic countries? Those users that comments on non-English languages?
- Never Impersonate You
@Robert, in fact they do speak English. But they also do make fun of Friendfeed and everything that's going on there. You can block them or take part in this fun. ;)
- Махатма Бугоганди
I prefer FF over twitter and facebook, but all my friends are on twitter and/or facebook. Maybe facebook will get it right this time now that it has acquired FF. If they simplify it a bit more without removing functionality. Then I would spend a bit more time on FB. Lets hope all goes well with the merger. If not I'm jumping ship and going over to Google Wave. oh wait, I'm going to go with Google Wave regardless! ;-)
- Captain Jack
Bu arada Russian friends Turkiye'ye selamlar gonderiyor.
- ideali
@scobleizer i can speak english and i beg you to remove bann from all russian friendfeeders, because we are all from it-community, working in internet companies and we came with peace, you asked for feedback from friendfeed addicts — we show you how really it is being frf addicts, we change names, we chat, we making things that are not serious. Why so serious? Unlock people, they are not bots, they just playing the game of real addicts and have fun. Common.
- ideali
shaun: I started this post to demonstrate that a lot of us are still here and aren't likely to leave. At least not quickly. So, life goes on after FriendFeed gets acquired by Facebook. Point proved.
- Robert Scoble
Robert He says ; Our Russian friends say to hello to Turkey
- Osman Üngür
ideali: have them send email to scobleizer@gmail.com and I'll unblock anyone who says they weren't impersonating me.
- Robert Scoble
Hector: good morning! I need coffee.
- Robert Scoble
@robert yes they (we will) stay here, I think tat the migration process will take time and after reading @Paul Bucheit, I think that what we all are trying to get even if we don't say it explicitly is to preserve a kind of intimacy (beeing a part of the Huge faceBook community) don't mean that FF community will preserve their intimacy, why should a community be a plan one, (let imagine a community as a set of sub-community) that all.
- abdellah
Wow!! So many likes and comments; is it a record Rob?
- میر «عرفان» موسوی
@scobleizer thank you, for understanding. be cool, guys we just want have fun here a little. Take care.
- ideali
@Robert RE "I have enough noise in my life. I don't need to have more" - isn't it a lot of noise having 26K subscriptions and 46K subscribers on your frf account? I'm kind of surprised - you create a community that large around yourself, yet when you see a new and unusual activity you just block it right away.
- Махатма Бугоганди
@Robert, patience? Who's talking about patience? It's about curiosity, not patience. When something strange and unusual happens around you, you can either try to stop it or try to see what it can develop into. You choose to stop - and it stopped. Well, not stopped - just moved to some other place. And do you really know what it was and what it was about to bring you?
- Махатма Бугоганди
I'm here all the way from South Africa! I dig this service and I'm not quite ready to give it up. Regardless of the news about the acquisition, this remains an awesome service.
- Paul Jacobson
I'm new to ff but find more valuable information here than anywhere else!
- Janet Crance
I don't know how I rate my addiction relative to others, but I shared Hitler's reaction upon hearing the acquisition news (despite happiness for Paul and Bret)
- Chris Duffy
I'm sure this is part of Scoble's plot to poll all the people who really read his posts, and unfollow the rest. So I raise my hand.
- Shivanand Velmurugan
Just a wannabe. Not an addict (yet).
- Carole Hicks
It might also be a way for me to filter down my "following" count (diff (my followers, scoble)) are the only people I really need to follow. Those that scoble follows, I can safely unfollow and use Scoble as my social media filter :)
- Shivanand Velmurugan
pardon the arrogance but it really sucks this great forum of sharing will turn into a myspace humdrum. Now I have to find another SM where first adopters and well informed techies won't haft to compete with general "noise"
- earl wallace
Well, here's a comment I can later delete and rob the owner of 1500!
- Matthew DeVries
I just mention the 1500 mark since it was such an iconic query to see... that and the 500 Likes club of FF posts. It's pretty exclusive stuff... but it's also sobering to note that the subject matter required to get to these levels isn't always a uniform mix of cares/concerns.
- Jay Cuthrell
When I heard the FaceBook news, I tried to quit FriendFeed and I couldn't... I'M HOOKED
- The Web's Wendell Wittler
i clicked the "1488 more comments" and my computer nearly exploded. and yes, i am using an amiga 500.
- jack
Now that I have instructions (thanks LouisGray) and figured out my Bookmarklet! I am LOVING the ease of use! addict - not quite...
- Robyn Hawk
Actually, I lied. I am not a die-hard friendfeed fan. I desperately want to be but have just not been able to get into a good "feeding" rhythm. Maybe I need to add some more friends
- Anant Gairola
I don't need to be addict. I'm just here, everyday, absorbing so many geeky info :D There's no place like FF
- Lysender
I'm still with ya, Robert. Whatever FB paid for FF, it wasn't enough!
- Donald C. Lindsay
New here, but learning. Tips for best use?
- Barbara Langham
@bdlangam From my perspective the #1 tip in this category is: Explore and define "best use" for yourself. Despite potential "finishing" impression of some productive consolidations in this collective-collaborative cognition space, the emergent #cognosphere is still WAY too nascent to assert anything other than initial impressions. March to the beat of your own drum; build your own...
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- michael silverton
yeah sorry, late. was at Shambhala Music Festival, I know tardy, sorry...
- sofarsoShawn
I'm getting hooked, still figuring it all out
- Michele McGraw
I think I do. Not enough contacts to make a impression.
- Michael Schlag
Exxxcellent, sir. We've been asking for this for awhile now. With this taken care of, how close are we to being able to collapse comments that we've expanded?
- Akiva Moskovitz
Let's call that a $50 million feature ;-)
- Laurent
+1 Akiva, was thinking the same thing - Also, thank you much! Been hoping for this. :-)
- Matthew Horton
Good to see development on FF hasn't stopped, Paul. I thought the FF API v2 post was the last FF update we'd ever see. This warms my heart :)
- LANjackal
it's not too late, personally alot my post-FB fears will be allayed if dev continues on FF.
- Joe Silence is not Santa
Very cool! Keep bringing the cool features!
- Dakota O'Neill
can you please add one at the bottom of the page, too? i keep having to hit About then the friendfeed logo, and finally back at the beginning/top :)
- mike
Let me guess, the 500+ message thread about FB buying FF brought this on. Like!
- Evan Parker
Matthew, Laurent, Akiva Roflol. This is like the bouquet you get when you're the girl and he messed up. Louis, you were right. ;)
- Melanie Reed
It does not appear until certain number of comments are made. This is really nice because if it appeared twice in proximity it would not look nice.
- ashish
Now, can you add a collapse comments feature? I hate having to scroll up or down for what seems like miles and miles of comments just to get to another post.
- April Buchheit
We really wanted this when we were conference blogging--will be great for next time.
- Ruchira S. Datta
+1000 April - yes, i've wanted that for a while, too ... please :)
- Susan Beebe
Nice start. That means I can almost uninstall the Greasemonkey script that had been doing this for me for the past month or so. Now could we also get a link to collapse the comments again. Pretty please? Oh, and why no "Like" link at the bottom as well?
- Alex Schleber
ooh yes, a link at the bottom to re-collapse comments would be great. or maybe even every 30 comments or so there could be a re-collapse link. sometimes i expand and regret it in short order.
- Felicia Yue
Happy to see this :-) and happy for Myrna too
- Majento
now that I Like'd this post to show it to my friends, I keep receiving comments to it in my IM, most of them rather predictable. Is there a plan to add a @mute command that would stop the streaming of comments to a certain post to IM?
- 9000
from IM
Obviously I can't provide a lot of detailed plans and guarantees, but I can tell you that I'll do my personal best to ensure that the FriendFeed users and community are treated right. I love this product too, and don't want to see it disappear.
We love you guys and FriendFeed.. we are just a little hurt and worried.. just please give us details as soon as possible.
- Tim Hoeck
FriendFeed lets me use people as filters to turn data into information. Facebook doesn't. Until it does, please, Please, PLEASE keep FriendFeed as a destination alive.
- AJ Kohn
congrats guys! facebook needs what you got!
- Lorna Herf
I'm sorry that I haven't said more about this. As you can imagine, it has been an extraordinarily busy day (and I've barely slept in the past week).
- Paul Buchheit
I'll add my plea to the chorus: Please don't take FriendFeed away from us. And don't make us go to Facebook (because we won't). FriendFeed means a lot to a lot of people and the thought that it will dry up and blow away shortly is very disturbing.
- Fa La La La Lindsay
It's still great to hear from you Paul. Congrats on that new swimming pool full of cash. :D
- Chrimmus Tad
Simply glad you're here now. You've always been a very responsive and transparent team. As much as I cringe at the thought of FF going away, I *am* happy for you and the team.
- AJ Kohn
I request you make it to the next scheduled FFundercats podcast to talk to the community. This announcement deserves a live appearance to the community.
- Eric @ CSTechcast.com
Have been dealing unsucessfully with Twitter for two days, trying to get logged in...Their password reset page says"Snap we can't find you." I keep writing to Tech Support at Twitter and get their helpful auto-generated Twitter Trouble shooting email. My problem is not there. =( Hope FriendFeed does not get that blaise about helping users. @EV
- SashaKane
If FB can't keep the service running, would you consider open-sourcing the thing, so we can?
- Christopher Galtenberg
from iPhone
Hi Paul, thanks for the assurances. In the future, I would highly suggest that you make this sort of statement shortly after the initial merger release. Thanks again.
- Alex Scoble
I would like to give you a hug right now Paul. However, that would be awkward and April might beat me up so I will just say thank you and press the like button.
- EricaJoy
Thank you for affirming that. Much appreciated.
- Karoli
A few more points that would be nice to have addressed soon. Ability to export data, tool to import friends to Facebook, and will ff.im urls continue to function?
- Mark Krynsky
Those that like friendfeed as is should be most pleased with this statement, as it probably means maintenance to keep the current system as is, without as much attention to new features. It's also good news for all those who like both friendfeed and facebook, as facebook will likely adopt the better features from friendfeed
- Ivan Kirigin
Thanks for making FriendFeed what it is, and lets hope it stays that way, though there's slim chance of that
- Aaman (Clone of FF)
Now that I think about it: are you kidding me? They've already stated that FriendFeed's going to be absorbed into Facebook. What kind of sleight-of-hand are you trying to pull now, Paul?
- Akiva Moskovitz
@EricaJoy: I have nothing against hugs. :)
- April Buchheit
Thanks, Paul. I've been getting more and more depressed thinking about the bad ways this could go. The reassurances help a bit, at least. In fact, just hearing you speak on the point is encouraging - the open lines of communication between the FriendFeed team and its users has always been one of the great things about FriendFeed that I'm afraid will be lost with the Facebook buyout. And yes, a FFundercats appearance would be a great idea.
- Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF
I don't want to read too much into this reassurance but the "personal best" remark made me think like there is not a united FF anymore and that it's up to your personal efforts to prevent it from being eaten by FB :)
- Turker Keskinpala
you can sell the tech but the community can not be bought sold transferred or merged
- Robert Higgins
from f2p
Turker, I do believe that this deal was the right decision -- I'll write a bit more about that when I get a chance. I say that I'll do my "personal best" because I will -- it would be misleading to make promises on other's behalf :)
- Paul Buchheit
Paul: I'm hopeful that this will be the best for both Facebook and Friendfeed. What you and the staff at FF have done is amazing, with only 12 people! I love the service here. I also enjoy Facebook (one I ignore all quizzes and stupid apps), but in a different way. Hoping some coolness can be brought to both. Good luck to you and your team!
- Travis B. Hartwell
this echoes star wars galaxies, incredible unique community. but they upgraded it to be like world of warcraft. this is a replay of the devs soothing messages. the forums were livid the community evaporated.
- Robert Higgins
from f2p
When socialmedian was acquired by Xing they left it alone. I hope the same happens here. I'm sure you will do your best though!
- Michael Fidler
On behalf of the Dutch citizens our Queen wants to let you know: Thx Paul.
- Ton Zijp
Don't know what to say, so lets start with big congrats! from one hand, as an early member of Friendfeed I think we've created here a very cool, collaborative and tech-savvy/passionate community of great people that all probably wish to stick around as much as possible. From the other hand, I know how corporates work and it takes one small decision of share holders to close Friendfeed...
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- Nir Ben Yona
My first reaction is disappointment. I don't believe big corporations do better than small ones. Facebook is inferior to FriendFeed, although it's user base is much larger. Clearly FriendFeed won't survive in the long term, unless it is open sourced. Why not open up and embrace the wonders of the GPL instead of joining forces with the Walled Garden no #1? Facebook don't even operate with permalinks,.
- Morten Blaabjerg
Thanks for the explanation Paul. Of course, I congratulate you guys. I think anyone would do the same thing if they were in your shoes :)
- Turker Keskinpala
Ryo: if you delete your account everything goes away. I totally disagree with you about Facebook, but that's OK.
- Robert Scoble
Good to hear. Unfortunately I think Facebook are going to download the brains of all FriendFeed staff then kill FF.
- Michael McGimpsey
but Paul it is going to disappear - Facebook bought FF not for the site but for you guys. So obviously once its integrated into Facebook, development on FF will stop
- Anthony Feint
If FriendFeed and all of it's functionality get integrated into Facebook I'm all for it.
- Hugh Isaacs II
Paul - that's great news. It surely can't cost a lot to keep this place running and it's a good place to try out ideas before they move to FB.
- Martin Bryant
what about improving the product and making sure it gets more users, not only supports those who stay?
- Ihar Mahaniok
Ihar - unlikely. Facebook bought FF for the developer talent, not for FriendFeed itself.
- Martin Bryant
from iPhone
Martin - I also think so, and it is most likely. But I could still have a hope
- Ihar Mahaniok
Paul, please - underpromise & overdeliver...they say it works.
- A.T.
Nice to hear. Too bad you don't call the shots anymore.
- jcunwired
FriendFeed is Dead! Long Live FriendFeed! (nice name for Facebook skunkworks) I'm sure everyone would love to see FriendFeed itself stay around, even if the innovations that happen are geared towards implementation at Facebook. Thanks for this note Paul! :)
- guruvan (Rob Nelson)
There are a few promises and guarantees that you SHOULD be able to provide. Like, that our network of friends will remain intact and that the features that make this site great will remain. If you can't make those promises, then you shouldn't have done the deal. I sure do hope that the real-time search engine wasn't the centerpiece of this deal (it probably was), because that certainly...
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- Brad Williamson
Paul you did such a nice job with friendfeed, and I so want to believe you, but I'm not sure I can. Not because of you, but because of your new employer. Because your new employer is no longer you, and while I have kind of come to trust you, I do not trust your new boss. Not at all. Please prove me wrong, if they'll let you.
- Jim Is Not Smart
Paul - thanks for that reassurance. PLEASE stick to that! I was in the middle of reading and participating in a lengthy discussion off of a Robert Scoble post yesterday ... then I came up for air and saw your news. Congratulations - I have no idea what that feels like or how pumped you must be. There are so many things FF does that I LOVE...I know you know that. Please Please PLease dont' go away! Thanks!
- Tobin Truog
Thank you, I think everyone here loves Friendfeed. :)
- Hunt
from BuddyFeed
This is nice to hear, and I really hope that FriendFeed will keep on living. I still have some pain in my stomach because of this :/
- Patrik Johansson
First zombie/mafia request and we're all outta here....
- Fossil Huntress
+1 Fossil Huntress The partitioning of the networks between friendfeed and facebook was a major feature that many people made use of, lacking appropriate controls for who sees what. Merging the two groups of friends isn't going to work, at all.
- Mr. Gunn
we all know what needs to happen. the question is, where? ... FB needs, - apart from being/it is, a large, general, open application platform, - 1. Smart keyboard shortkatze - and Im a kbsCzar to go to, 2. Aggregating facilities, smart /RSS/ .. 3. Full blogging facilities, capabilities, not 140 chars. 4. Full real time comments facilities, capabilities. 5. Real time, live, but ALSO...
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- Petr Buben
I hope you're being open and honest with us. This time. :(
- Kamilah Gill
Thank you! I am sure you will do great things at FB. I just hope that the great app you built here isn't destroyed. I don't know of any other aggregation app that I can embed into my site like this one!
- beersage
Congratulations on your successes, best wishes for more. And thanks for continuing to look out for us loyal, addicted FFanatics!
- Rob Schieber
I hope it continues, i'm a new user and absolutely love it (wish i knew the value of it before)! Congrats!
- Luis D. Santos
As nice as it sounds I'm sorry to say that as a, now, Facebook's employee I'm afraid you'll have to comply to whatever your new boss tells you. Didn't MZ make it clear?
- lelapin
and let me add second, obvious, "Facebook needs" - Friendfeed bookmarklet, and Friendfeed tools - widgets, embedding - real time and not - of posts, and groups ...to embedd, to inject oneself into this thing called Internet ..... so, if FB listens to FF engineering long enough, they are going to get it .. right
- Petr Buben
Paul, what I am worried is not that you're brainwashed, but that there's simply no business need for Facebook to improve FriendFeed from now on, period.
- Ihar Mahaniok
I have confidence Paul. While some of the comments were probably uncalled for, covering an investment (of time and money) in these times to move on and hopefully provide even 'better stuff' makes sense to me. It's pretty obvious there are a LOT of people that don't want to 'lose' Friendfeed. (I wouldn't hold a town hall for a few weeks though :)
- Charlie Anzman
Congrats, Paul. It's sad that people have to make these uncalled for hatred comments about Facebook though. Why can't both sites work together. I think Facebook will do better with FF and vise versa. Take the good features of both services. Don't boycott FB, enjoy it. I'm sick of the negative comments going on, that's all. :(
- Molly, "sorry"
Molly: What makes you think there's going to be a "vise versa?"
- Christopher A Carr
Because I don't think Paul and the other FF developers would allow FB to do anything. I'm sorry, I am not going to think negative here like some here are. I guess I'm a fangirl for FB.
- Molly, "sorry"
Finally something about the changes on the horizon that isn't all d0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0om and whining. Thank you, Paul! :D
- Christian (Simply X)
The time to think about how you could do your 'personal best' to ensure FriendFeed continues to exist was prior to the discussions with Facebook. Not after.
- Andy C
Paul, what about the content scam that FB T&C is, does it apply to Friendfeed now? Should we all start writing scripts to retroactively delete all content ever uploaded to Friendfeed? Elaborated a bit here - http://friendfeed.com/mbravo...
- Michael Bravo
We know you'll try your best, Paul. But sometimes, you just can't win the dark side...
- Winston Teo
Thanks Paul for all your efforts. Founders often want the best, but acquiring companies often have people with political/power issues or different/limited visions.
- Mitchell Tsai
*throws a sheep at Paul* is that a good thing?
- Joe
from iPod
yes, thank you, Sergeant Paul ... well, good to hear we go on ... because if not, how about starting www.anotherFeed.com ... or, www.Letsgofeed.com ...... anyway, lets boost blogging capabilities, post more than current amount of chars, lets have TOP POSTS / clicks count list at the head of each group, some stats, lets index group headers, lets have MORE keyboard shortcuts .. - now ......
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- Petr Buben
Jim, no, not unless you ran chsh python sometime in the past. :-) But it does shrink the distance between code and service. Many startups when they start have a codebase similar to a shell script.
- Daniel Dulitz
Ok, so it's just a shell script, but when is it going to buy exon?
- j1m