From June of 2008: "The adopter will, at this point, start heaping lavish praise upon the new product, in a quest to assert their dominance, and prove that they can, again, make a service successful, and to prove that all their belly-aching in the preceding months was valid. The adopter will use their blog and both the new and old service to call followers to migrate as a group, both helping the new shiny toy, and in turn, damaging the old one, out of spite and frustration." - Louis Gray from Bookmarklet

Just because we understand doesn't mean we have to appreciate the tactics. Robert, I like you a lot as a person, and you have brought a lot of benefit to the tech community through your discoveries and your evangelism. But this is the role of yours that I like less. I think much of my activity and visibility was gained through watching you and learning some things you do well. But also through watching you, there are aspects of what you do that I have chosen to avoid. - Louis Gray

Despite your apologies to the people you mentioned in your post, upon their leaving, you suggested that those who made noise on the way out the door should have instead stayed quiet. This would be a good time to take a deep breath and remember the reason you were so positive on this place. I am not personally offended, but I am disappointed. - Louis Gray

What is interesting to me (and I think one of the reasons why this has me so irritable tonight) is that this human trait and these stages aren't limited to technology adoption. I've seen it in music and other art communities, projects in non-profits, etc. and it always grates on me. I want sustainable communities, but I suppose when finding the next big thing or being top of the food chain is someone's job or goal, it's hard to cultivate those. Where is the balance? - joey

Fair enough. I've said my last word about it. I'm sorry I'm being a jerk but I did put in thousands of hours here and participated more than most people over two years. So, a few posts of disappointment are earned by me, even if they are disappointing. - Robert Scoble

Thanks. Hey - you know I like you. I'm in the same boat you are, much of the time, but I'm being more measured. And piling on at this point validates the naysayers who were never productive, and who can gain from cutting down your enthusiasm in the future. - Louis Gray

P.S. I intentionally didn't send this to Twitter. - Louis Gray

Louis: here's the thing. There's a hide button on all my posts for a reason. Or you can even block me. If I really am migrating somewhere else then it won't matter if you block me, will it? That said, it was good times and FriendFeed still has some uses, like what we're doing here and live chats and such. Although I notice Leo Laporte's fans have largely moved back to IRC or Google Wave for his Twit shows. - Robert Scoble

I won't ever hide you or block you. That's silly. Besides, I read all your stuff in Google Reader. I see the same things you do. We've talked about it a lot 1-1 even before the FB acquisition. It's all over but the shouting. But I say let's skip the shouting. :) - Louis Gray

Great nail-head post, Louis. I like Drew's comment. ;) Being on the educator side of things, Robert, and always having to push students into the "latest and greatest" software and current upgrade, it does get old real fast, having to crank out new curriculum for the latest toy on the market. The basics of computer science are going by the way side in many programs at universities as a result. It's not a healthy tension. It's a contributor: we've lost students adding to the mix of enrollments going down. - Melanie Reed

Robert, I hope if you remove your imports from here you'll add them over on Facebook. These are my Twitter clients - Twitter still doesn't cut it as a client for me. I also enjoy the threaded conversation, personally. Conversation in the same stream as your posts IMO clutters the conversation. I like to respond where I'm not cluttering up my stream. - Jesse Stay

Leo picked up a story today that i brought to his attention via a for:twit delicious tag... when it hit http://friendfeed.com/twit-st... i added in some quotes from the article and he read them out while bringing up the topic... these tools are still useful if only a handful of people use them... - Chris Heath

Louis: sorry, you don't see the same stuff I do. But I WOULD love to debate you on Google Reader. You can even see my tech news feeds here: http://twitter.com/Scoblei... works fast. My Google Reader takes more than a minute to start up. Useless. - Robert Scoble

Jesse: unlike Technosailor I would NEVER delete content, especially yours. That's why I thought he was such a jerk. By deleting his account on his way out he deleted MY content too. Grrrr. - Robert Scoble

Robert, another reason I like Facebook :-) When your account is deleted your stuff stays on your friends' pages. - Jesse Stay

Why would Google reader take more than a minute to start up? Mine took 12 seconds and that includes times to login. - Rah-PM 2012

Jesse: I know you and I like conversation. The stark reality that I've come to face is most people DON'T like having conversation, or, more accurately, they don't like having conversation with people they didn't invite to have a conversation with. I hope Twitter, if they ever add comments under tweets, will let us limit to ONLY those people we've personally added. - Robert Scoble

Robert I'll expect that from Facebook before I expect it from Twitter. Imagine if you can limit a comment thread to just a specific friend list. Facebook is *so* close! Right now I can do that, but it also includes the other networks I'm in. I'm betting on them getting there very, very soon. - Jesse Stay

I think what you are doing with your Twitter lists is great, and you are doing them better than anybody else. But I still prefer Google Reader. There's little to debate, because there is no need for a "one right answer" response. I would prefer to not read headlines and links all day on Twitter amidst the noise. - Louis Gray

Louis: that's cool. I predict you'll change your view there within a year or two. I'm just ahead of you and am reading more inbound (more people, more things, more brands). Google Reader doesn't scale to the level I needed it to. Can't even handle more than 1,000 people. Grrr. - Robert Scoble

Personally, whatever allows me to consolidate my workflow the best wins. Whether it's bringing all my services to e-mail or another client, or bringing all my activity into one service, that would be ideal. Right now what I'm doing is the best workflow I can come up with. I admit for me FriendFeed is getting to be less and less of that as Facebook gets more and more real-time. As for Google Reader, there are only a couple things keeping me from switching there. - Jesse Stay

"Ahead of you" implies there's a contest. There's not. Twitter is infrastructure, and you're using it well. But you still can't have the conversations there like we are here. You still can't type in full sentences. Blah blah. You know this stuff cold. :) Lists are filters or window dressing on a weak foundation. - Louis Gray

If you assume this place fades away or gets messy, I'll show you some interesting alternatives where I am already engaging. But that's for another day. - Louis Gray

Lous, you, me, and Robert should all get in a room some day and show our alternatives. I have time tomorrow :-) - Jesse Stay

Louis: yes. I'm waiting for you to find the way through the forest so we can follow you all again! That said, again, most people don't want conversations. They just want to learn. Remember libraries? They didn't have conversations either. As to 140 character problems that's why we have blogs, no? :-) - Robert Scoble

I have time too! - Robert Scoble

I'm in downtown SF though without a car so I'd need a ride (or you could meet at my hotel) :-) - Jesse Stay

You're in SF? Hmmm. Let's talk first thing in the morning (9ish). - Robert Scoble

Well, I will be at 9am - my flight leaves Utah at 7am MST - Jesse Stay

Call me any time though - 801-853-8339 - Jesse Stay

Robert, I disagree with most people just want to learn. To learn what? Is this the corporatization again of how society is supposed to interact with one another....not based on relationship but on outdoing someone with more information? FriendFeed does (or is attempting) to do both as it should be. - Melanie Reed

Jesse: call me when you're in SF. Melanie: most people just want to sit on the couch and be entertained. This is why Twitter pushes celebrities so hard! No work necessary, just scan through your favorite celebrities talking about their pimples. - Robert Scoble

Robert, Don't you think that is a rather shallow and corporatized assessment of your fellowman? I agree there is a market behavior. But who manipulated them to it? Let me use a metaphor: I can stop using any patience or long term goal thinking and just put a jar of sugar out on the table for dinner. It will give every body quick results. I can add to that some bacon rinds.... anything that's fast and easy. But, and here's the catch: I have a responsibility to do better than that for my family. Because I know what the long term outcome will be if I don't: no stability in their health. Leaders in any field have a responsibility to help create stability and real growth. Constant upheaval and change may look like growth...but it isn't. It isn't healthy for a family and its not healthy for a business model. - Melanie Reed

Robert said: "Most people...don't like having conversation with people they didn't invite to have a conversation with." But that's what's so cool about Friendfeed - no filter blocking the uninvited. - Michael Slattery

Yes, Michael, FriendFeed is democracy in action. Every voice has a chance to be heard as if he or she was as good as the next man or woman no matter how insignificant their ratings or standing in the world of technology. We can be citizens of Whoville and FriendFeed welcomes all whos. :) - Melanie Reed

If people don't want to have conversations how come so many people on Twitter are attempting to have conversations? People are clearly not just looking for information on Twitter or any of the other social networks. - Eoghann Irving

I blogged about this here: http://scobleizer.com/2009... - Robert Scoble

Wow, just catching up on this.... I too have invested THOUSANDS of hours here on FF - evidenced by over 18+K comments and 26+K likes. Very sad to see this platform die a slow death. The "forum" problem is real. I was horrified by how Mike and later Aaron were treated here on FF (crowd feeding frenzy at it's worse). I would LOVE to know what you all think is the next platform to "Discover" :) - Susan Beebe