stephen harlow - Comments

zaloom! - Kevin Johnson

If we are really cool we'll get on this list http://friendfeed.com/search... - Robert Scoble

Kevin is first, who will be last? I just want to be the penultimate commenter! - Robert Scoble

first and last words are all that matter on the FF. - rob friedman

Okay. Everyone stop NOW! - Kevin Sablan

great. now FF is going to be filled up with those annoying ass people that comment "FIRST!" on everything. - Enrique Gutierrez

ok - Shawn Snodgrass

Aw crap, I could sit here all night waiting to be last, so may as well comment now. - Sharon McPherson

8th! - rob friedman

Any worthy FF thread will engage interested parties enough to read most of the comments. - iTad

Do I get bonus points if I end up being the thread killer? - Kevin Johnson

Kevin you could always delete your 1st comment. :) - rob friedman

Kevin! Yes, and we're having a great time watching this. It will get old fast, but for now it's really fun! - Robert Scoble

Dang it I am 5 min too late. So I guess it is like posting on a blog post, you always want to be first. - Jeff

Hey Enrique.. that would suck. Oh... LAST! Oh Jeff... Last. - Ted Bradford II

That's why these threads just go on and on and on... people just want to have the last word. ;-P - Chris Heath

Chris: I don't want the last word. I want the penultimate word. :-) - Robert Scoble

Nope, I like the riffng of the conversation. Jump in anywhere. Enjoy the free flow of ideas and worry not about being seen by the scanners. Those who take the time to expand the thread have such a richer experience. - michael sean wright

if i wasn't so tired i'd play that out Chris (as my last post was truly in jest). Late here in East TN. Gonna go tip a few cows and call it a day. - Ted Bradford II

Ted: so was mine ... didn't you catch the winky tongue? (i'm on cape fear so i'm soon to bed as well) - Chris Heath

Good point, unless you're actually using the RT chat aspect of FriendFeed, I guess... - Andy Werner

I actually come back 5 days later to make comments so I can have the last word. Everyone has already forgotten what the conversation is about by then. - Jeff

Chris- I did, but needed a segue into a cow tipping joke... cause I've never done so before. I do know this, tomorrow I will use the word 'penultimate' and dazzle family and friends. Hope alls quiet on the Cape bro. These storms have been a biotch. Annnnnnd Jeff just trumped us all. Tell him what he's won Enrique... nite all. - Ted Bradford II

Second to last is always visible on my screen. :) - Bwana ☠

Clever way to get the most commented upon comment on FF ever.... - Barak B

Ted, if you haven't dozed off- i'll have you know that the coastal winds tend to keep a lot of the storm systems at bay- if you're close enough to the water - a mile or 5 inland can make a big difference some days - and spot t/storms can be localized around here big time - for instance yesterday it rained (for a short period) at my house while i was at work 5 miles away getting no rain - only knew cuz the ground was wet when i went home for lunch... ok - it's really time for sleep now - g'nite FriendFeed - Chris Heath

so in other words, last is not least? - Julie Bovee Hill

Barak: check out this idea for a long thread (still nowhere near the longest on friendfeed, but the idea.. ) http://friendfeed.com/ajbatac... - Chris Heath

Chris: Yes, that is a good one too. This is better though and I predict with end up with more comments. - Barak B

Yay! I am last as of now :) - Amit Nangare

lets see how long this lasts for! :) - Paul Kinlan

Another one of these? From Scoble this time? Wow. BTW, last post. - Chris Charabaruk

I will be the penultimate commenter! - Garin Kilpatrick

That way I can be the ultimate one. - Chris Charabaruk

Nope. - Barak B

friendfeed should allow for "liking" comments so top comments can be the ones shown, no matter the chronology. And allow the users to watch comments by likes, threaded or chronologically. - Charbax

A blatant attempt at gaming the FriendFeed statistics for no real useful purpose... Oooh, can I be last, Please Please!!! - Peter Kelley

No, Peter, you may not be last. That's my position. - Chris Charabaruk

Last Post!!! - Richard Hurt

well, the last comment is always changing, isn't this like having your 5 nanoseconds of glory? - Liviu Lica

This thread is now closed. - Ruud van Wijngaarden

No, NOW it's closed. - Chris Charabaruk

Or is it? :) - Liviu Lica

Perhaps now... - Garin Kilpatrick

I would give it another 2 hrs or so. - Jeff

thats me! :) - Roshan Ramachandran

based on what you say, it easier to simply click like :-) - Orli Yakuel

:) - Michael Fidler

"Comment on a friendfeed item"? which one? ;) - Thierry R. Andriamirado

Are trying to go for the longest comment thread again? - Amit Morson

Amit: no, most times one post gets hidden. - Robert Scoble

In a different timezone you can have the advantage :) - Rene de Vries

Okay, people, nothing to see here. Just walk on. This is the last comment. It's all clear now. - Ruud van Wijngaarden

What if you write backwards? Does that help? - Kieran Daly

Okay, people, nothing to see here. Just walk on. This is the last comment. It's all clear now. says Ruud van Wijngaarden - Julian Edward

It would be nice if we could pick the number of comments shown at the top and bottom, I'd like to see the first 3 and last 3 for example. - Kol Tregaskes

I usually read all the comments of something I'm interested in. I don't just read the top and bottom ones so I don't care where I come in. I comment on what I want to because I want to say something. It's nice if the original poster reads/responds to it, but not absolutely necessary. Most of the time the most fun/interaction comes from other commenters. - Molly

:) says Michael Fidler - Julian Edward

Sounds like an online auction...Is there any deadline? Then I'll prepare my winning speech 17,3 sec beforehand. - Zack Brandit

I'm not falling for your postbait, Scoble! Oh wait...crap. - caj needs a haircut

Cow tipping - That's Funny - Brent - Yes I am

Good point. - Jack Boyle

I feel sorry for the cows. And the grass. I am weakhearted I guess. - Ruud van Wijngaarden

I guess I misunderstood. You were talking about that fat waittress in Crazy Mick's Breakaway Cafe, weren't you? - Ruud van Wijngaarden

Fine, I'm in - Don Bonaddio

am I last yet ? - Julian Edward

Nope - Jérôme

no - mjc

Yeah, you were last. Congrats. - Ruud van Wijngaarden

In ur timezone, stealin ur commentz, kthxbye :) - Peter Kelley

ok, I'll hold on to last place for visablity! - PaulJohnson

I was going to add something witty, but i got nothing. sorry.... - Mike Nencetti

No problem. Participating is more important than winning, we say in the Netherlands. - Ruud van Wijngaarden

It's the long-tail of real-time - zeroinfluencer

Excellent point David ;) - Don Bonaddio

Being last has one drawback. It makes you a thread-killer. I'm not sure some of us like being that. Sometimes I'd rather see the discussion keep going. - George Hall (Australia)

Do like the suggestion made earlier that there should be bonus points for being the thread-killer... - George Hall (Australia)

but who wants to be last? - mcvictor

Ok Robert, please close this thread now. ;) - Meryn Stol

I disagree, and I'll tell you why below... - FFing Enigma

We already did this thread, I'll post the link right after Tina's rebuttal - Rah-PM 2012

You don't really believe that Robert. Content is key! :-) - Mathew A. Koeneker

But if I post last, I'm first in the thread on Twhirl! Double win! ;-) - Julie Barrett from twhirl

amazing - David Gross from email

Always happy to be last .... but it probably won't last :) - Charlie Anzman

llllllaaaaasssssstttttt - mjc

You'd be right Charlie :P - Jay

And there is nothing I hate more than reading that first comment that childishly claims "First!" and nothing more. "Last!" (until the next comment comes along) - Jim Espinoza

By the way, I'm the last commenter in a very participated thread recently started by Robert Scoble, but that didn't gain me almost any new follower. I'm fine with this though, as I'd find silly being advantaged for being the last commenter ;-) - Opensource Obscure

Agreed :) - Fabian De Simone

How do I stick my comment to the bottom so that it will always be last? :) - Jeff Sayre

How long can this go on? - Tom Landini

Last! ...for now - Scott

So this if why Scoble goes nuts over realtime feeds - he can be the first to comment. - Tom Landini

Well, every comment gets to be last for at least a couple of seconds. Or fractions of a second with RT. - The original Kevin

If you want to understand the power of last you need to read this thread http://friendfeed.com/mikenay... - WoH: Minding her Steves

"There is no final solution. There is no last word.” ~ Carlos Fuentes - Sharon McPherson

First is way better, because the last post can always change :) - Tim McDougall

http://last.fm - Garin Kilpatrick

Easy to be first, harder to be last. Kind of like trying to win a silent auction, you always have to go back - Lorraine Ball

but what if it took me a while to find the discussion, and i still want to be last? ;-) - Courtney Engle

Firs...Last. - Rob

@Rob - in yo' face! - JoEllen

The one who will comment after me is so stupid I would'nt like to be him :P - stanjourdan

Yoink! - Zach Lytwyn

112 comments - but there can never be last comment, can there? Unless there is a FF limit on the number of comments - Paul, is there a limit? - WoH: Minding her Steves

The current last comment is the next penultimate comment. - Brian Sullivan

Not everyone is on here to market themselves to infinity. Why people, other than people who actually make money off of exposure, insist on wanting the most friends on ff/fb/ms/tt is beyond me. Not everyone is a Scobilite! Yes I did just make that word up... where do I copyright it? lol - Jason Williams

Didn't someone blog about tinyurl's dominance a while back - about how they have too much power. Might have been Gillmor or Winer - Bwana ☠

Winer. I don't think they have too much power - Steve Gillmor

I'm going for last. - Derek Markham

I've got last:-) - Francine Hardaway

I'm the ultimate thread killer, so I win. - JCunwired

instahide - Edward Zwart

How can we compete against Robert - Peter Meng

Peter: why compete? Just come in last! :-) - Robert Scoble

ok - Kevin Johnson

Just checking. I heard this thread was closed, so I wondered if commenting still works. - Ruud van Wijngaarden

For the love; Robert please kill this tread so I will stop getting email. ;) - Jeff

wow that's pretty rad :-) - Patphelan

@Jeff, it's not spam if you opt in ;-) - Kevin Johnson

wonder what the value of posting on page length increments are... as people page down your comment is visible ;) - offbeatmammal

Jeff: do you still get email if you hide a thread? I bet you do. That sucks. Now I know why I don't turn on email notifications. - Robert Scoble

There is no last. - Mobius Loop - Robert Couture

to infinity and beyond - Jonathan Grimes

Kevin: i did not say it was spam. I put the smiley face indicating my partial joking nature. but only partial. - Jeff

Robert: I could not figure out how to disable comments for particular post. It is really not a big issue since I have gmail, but I do think this post may never die. - Jeff

@Jeff - same here - noworries - Kevin Johnson

- Rob

This. Will. Never. End. - Michael Forian

Pay me $10 and I'll delete this thread. (Future friendfeed monetization technique). Sigh. - Robert Scoble

Your comment is always the last! look at mine :) - Luis Benavides

Welcome to the neverending thread :) - Garin Kilpatrick

Garin: I'll delete it before it ends. :-) - Robert Scoble

Robert: That would be a shame. You'd be up $10 at least though :) - Garin Kilpatrick

The last shall be last - Peter Meng

There can be only one. - Kevin Johnson

I seem to be last on many of Steve Gillmor's posts @techcrunchit, the kiss of death to many a conversation. I should be so lucky here. - Aron Michalski from fftogo

A good way to stop? - Scoble puts in his penultimate comment Kevin Johnson says zaloom! - Julian Edward

Yes, you should be so lucky :p - Jesse Newhart

I'm going to change my FriendFeed ID to "145 more comments" - Mark Traphagen

Getting a piece of the pie... :) - Jan Ole Peek

I've often found myself to have the last comment. It hasn't benefited me yet that I've noticed...let's try that again. - Mike Lewis

first is forever....last is a very transient honor indeed. - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

and being both is probably meaningless, but I'm still going to claim it - Kevin Johnson

Do others ever get more than 2 comments on their posts? :) - Cameron

I'm lucky to get 2. - JCunwired

Doing it!! www.radarla.com - Drew Lucas

So, if you are last and then someone comes behind you, should you re-comment to be last again? - T.S. Elliott

Probably so T.S. but it won't last long ;) - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

Sorry Rob:-) - Michael Fidler

1 - Robert Kenney

2 - Robert Kenney

This is the Seinfeld of FF....the post and comments about nothing. I wonder what the record is for the most comments on FF? - Jeff

As a fine-art platform, as a painting, do you think anyone would be interested in a full-screen image feed animated by Judith Supine? http://www.flickr.com/photos... - stephen harlow

He who comments last... - Abbas Haider Ali

comments as: - Kevin Johnson

Tag- Im it - Ryan Gerritsen

not anymore you're not ;) - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

zaloom! - Kevin Johnson

for one moment I could imagine that every comment was Kevin Johnson and his "zaloom!" - WoH: Minding her Steves

ANd so I do and then another and another :) Fun huh. - Raymond Marr aka Knatchwa

not really... but hey... whatever - Chris Heath

So to comment or to like a FriendFeed item is to promote it.. and to promote the promoter. Great great great! - Thierry R. Andriamirado

173rd!! - Mark Traphagen

Controlled noise... - Joe Dawson

Indeed it is official :) But not for long let me bask in it's glory for a moment hahaha. - Raymond Marr aka Knatchwa

It was fun while it lasted. - Ruud van Wijngaarden

It's over now - no need to post any more comments - Julian Edward

Okay, Thanks. It was taking too much of my time anyway. - Ruud van Wijngaarden

Nicholas: Except this thread is far more epic :) - Garin Kilpatrick

back again...to claim last place! - Zach Lytwyn

Good for you Zach! - Ruud van Wijngaarden

Cannot. Let. This. End. - Robert Couture

Have. To. - Ruud van Wijngaarden

hit hit hit - Hans Mestrum

Kol: Cool idea, it would be neat to be able to choose how many of the first and last comments were visible. - Garin Kilpatrick

Last - Michael Fidler

I like most anything distilled...information, bait...(distilled bait...is that like the worm at the bottom of the mezcal?) - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

The difference would be that in this case the worm will stay on the bottom. No matter what. - Ruud van Wijngaarden

I reckon it'll be Ruud van Wijngaarden - Julian Edward

I am not quite sure about that. But willing to accept it. (Wait! You just called me a worm? The most underrated but valuable animal on the planet, that brings us fertile ground and eats dead stuff? It is a nice compliment, but might be a bit much). - Ruud van Wijngaarden

No, No! - I didn't mean you worm. Although as you say they are useful beings. I do hope you'lll be in heroic position of last commenter! This is a case of the last shall be second. (Kevin Johnson being first of course). Scoble is penultimate we would hope. I'm aiming for 5th to last! - Julian Edward

Yesterday somebody asked: 'if you pass the number two in a race, which place are you in?' and I answered wrong. Passing the last one in this race will be hard... - Ruud van Wijngaarden

The last comment shall be mine! :) - Garin Kilpatrick

Woot, last comment. ;) - Jimminy, CoG of FF

mine - Michael Fidler

NOPE - Jimminy, CoG of FF

Mmmm. I always hoped I would be last. - Ruud van Wijngaarden from email

I think it is hard to be first and even harder to be last.. just look at this thread.. http://ff.im/1hqgl - David Gross

Last comment? - Jeff P. Henderson

you mean Twitter Gar1n? You were talking on TWITTER WEREN'T YOU! LIAR "friendfeeed Garin" pfttttt still the same bi-polar - The Real sofarsoShawn

Interesting comment, SFSS, very interesting indeed. So interesting, in fact, that I think that nothing further needs to be added to this thread. Ever. - WoH: Minding her Steves

אתם כל כך מלא חרא, אבל זו בעיה שלך, לא שלי :-) - David Gross from email

actually i don't know how not to be the last commenter :) - İ. Emre Kutlu

Me too.. - David Gross from email

If only I could puncture the depths of Scoble's scratch-the-surface brain fart, techno-vangelizing, then I'd actually care WHOLE HEARTEDLY about this meaningfully retarded thread. - The Real sofarsoShawn

The only way this thread can be made even more ridiculous and anachronistic is to move it to identi.ca.. Myspace would work, too. - Tal Shafik

Interesting ;) - Alex

And since you can't guarantee being last unless you are the originator of the thread or can convince the originator to end comments (but since Robert is AWOL that is unlikely) -- you better be first. ;-) - Brian Sullivan

Stuff - Jonathan Hardesty

Okay, admittedly being the last IS visible...but who REALLY wants to be the thread-killer? - George Hall (Australia)

apparently, some people http://friendfeed.com/ajbatac... http://friendfeed.com/silas21... http://friendfeed.com/mikenay... (notice 2000+ comments!) - Chris Heath

I think I remember commenting on one of those threads...and it's STILL going???? - George Hall (Australia)

Hey, this one's from May... it's about to hit its own anniversary! - Chris Heath

I'm surprised this only has a little over 200 comments. - Jason Williams

201 - David Gross

213 ? Original Zlaloom! + 212 more comments including this one. The last one. - Julian Edward

don't be so sure about that... there's lots of people who like to be thread killers or last... just wait and watch - Chris Heath

yes - that's very true - Julian Edward

Sage words Robert - Sage words indeed! - PaulJohnson

See??? I told you! - Chris Heath

yep - you were right - Julian Edward

It doesn't seem to work in the long term. - Ruud van Wijngaarden

I post ev ererything from FriendFeed to Twitter to FB. Keeps the followers to those who are interested - Steve Gillmor

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Oddly, no one has ever acknowledged the massive number of entries that Friendfeed pumps into my Facebook stream. - Vezquex

Agree! Especially if u use @peoplebrowsr like me ;) really need to clean up the autopost mess. Wish somebody could invent some smart cross posting strategies and share their wisdom :) - Jan Friman from Nambu

I do it selectively, see http://www.jeffsandquist.com/synchro... - Jeff Sandquist

I don't feed any of the SM stuff to facebook, waste of time, both for others and myself. - Richard A.

Yeah, I'm with Gillmor, using FF as the primary tap into the SM hose. Figure it will eventually build brand and traffic back to FF. - Thom Kennon

I agree with Loic and disagree with S.Gillmor, as much as I admire him, crossposting is broadcasting. Each of these services have their own flavor, a different set of friends. A different interaction is appropriate in each. It works best when we respect the differences and create unique exchanges on the various services we use. - stephen harlow

Steve, problem is that you don't get the replies and FB comments so you don't really interact except on FF comments right? - Loic Le Meur

Here's how I do it, Loic: http://www.slideshare.net/louisgr... - Louis Gray

loic, I do get the replies via Twitterspy and FB comments via email. When track returns I'm all set - Steve Gillmor

i don't mind getting stuff twice, makes it less likely i miss something - Christopher Harris

What's Facebook? - Richard Carter, FCD

@Richard Carter, FCD - I think it's something like this:- http://www.georgegroves.org.uk/photoal... - Graham Steel

I found something very interesting. I posted almost nothing on Facebook for the past year, so I didn't lose any of my high quality followers (which include CEOs and big name press from across the tech industry). But then I tried putting friendfeed/Twitter in there and I started getting complaints, so I stopped it. I now post things specifically for my Facebook friends on Facebook and try to let everyone know that my main place of posting is friendfeed now. - Robert Scoble

I'm still trying to find the optimal ratio of posting. The problem is there simply isn't enough technology to do what I want. I may write something if no one accomplishes what I need for this. - Jesse Stay

I never used facebook extensively and like to keep my accounts separate. I think friendfeed is the most intelligent of all social web apps. - Ashish

Agreed. I've been more mindful of cross posting and never did it with my FB status. - Mark Gehrke

I agree with Loic in cases where people use Twitter primarily as a tool for one to one or fragmented communications and the fact that he used "some people" and "most cases" leads me to believe some people don't fit the mold. I find myself being one of those. I currently cross-post >90% of my stuff to FF/FB/Twitter. That said, I consciously make an effort to put context in every one of my outbound messages & if something doesn't warrant cross-posting I don't do it. - Mark Krynsky

A discreet compromise would be to use something like the Social RSS application in FB to show your routine Twitter traffic on a tab separate from your main page. - Paul Robertson

When you get multiple duplicates of the same message on friendfeed because it's also posted to tumblr, thats the worst. - Matt Robson

thank you all for your feedback. Looks like there are very different styles and the comments here are mostly from friendfeed lovers (which I understand why they like it), very different pattern from what I see from non friendfeed users though - Loic Le Meur

and your point? - Steve Gillmor

Have you seen Jimmy Fallon's dupes, he needs to get his PA on it ASAP it's the social media equivalent of stuttering - The Real sofarsoShawn

I had some problems with duplicate posting at first, but once I figured it out, it's been fine. FF is my principal gazinta, and it aggregatges all my gazoutas, but it doesn't multipost. That said, I try to keep the signal to bullshit ratio high.... - Alan Chamberlain

I like to be able to select (from FF0 what goes to FB like we can with Twitter. - Kol Tregaskes

Loic 1 Gillmor 0 Let's keep them channels separate, they will find you if they love you. I love your Gillmor Gang however Steve! That's a sweet channel everyone should check out. - Chad Harris

I have my Tweets going to FF and Facebook. Minus the @'s on Facebook. But I reply to comments on all three as I have notifications for Twitter and Facebook coming into FF. - Araceli from Nambu

Araceli: How did you set that up? - Garin Kilpatrick

Twitter should not be fed directly into Facebook in most cases, FB and Twitter are two completely different animals. Despite this bringing Facebook to Twitter is okay. The @replies are what pollutes the Twitter/FB Integration. - Garin Kilpatrick

I agree with Loic and Scoble. Facebook is more real life friends and I share more personal and less techy stuff. Twitter is sort of like my id. Although now I'm giving friendfeed a go for a week so I may be making the switch full time. But, for the most part, I consider friendfeed and twitter to be the same result by different means. For me though, it remains to be seen which means I like better. - James Poling

Garin: I use http://apps.facebook.com/twitter... to publish Twitter to Facebook. It doesn't post @s. For notifications I bring in this RSS as an imaginary friend for Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/notific... and for Twitter this one: http://twitter.com/replies - Araceli

I'm with Gillmor - post here, almost exclusively, feed all to FB and Twitter. - Thom Kennon

Opera (less than 10Mb on Windows) must be installed to power the applications, but it no longer must be running to download or use them. The applications now have the ability to be standalone programs with their own installers, shortcuts, and file system access. They even run as their own processes — separate from the browser itself. In other words, Opera Widgets are now much more like regular applications that users are familiar with. - Pete Gilbert from Bookmarklet

Pete, which Opera Widgets are you using or plan to use? - stephen harlow

At the moment only the Opera Twitter widget, so that's not very useful! - Pete Gilbert

"I first started appreciating decorative (non-functional) guns while enjoying Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. I think it's a great art-form, one I've not yet created in myself, but, I've often thought about making a Salt Rifle." - stephen harlow

I'm not talking about duplicates but different posts from the same service and user, for instances, when you import lots of Google Reader shared items they get bunched together, only showing the first 2. I finding it a bit annoying now and would like the option to turn it off and have all the posts appear. I find that I open them all anyway. - Kol Tregaskes

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definitely grouping would be better - Bahiyyih

I agree with Kol and find it a little annoying, though I wouldn't necessarily want them to get rid of it. An option to turn the feature on or off would be ideal. - Jeffrey Marsh

I'd like to speak about duplicates -- how to prevent them -- like I want to FF to collect tweets and I'd like FF to publish to twitter if I originate the post on FF -- I don't want FF to show a tweet and then tweet it, if you get my drift. I don't know who, how this is happening, I want better control over what FF pushes to other sites. Is there a conversation or tutorial about this? - stephen harlow

I don't mind. In the absence of service icons, it makes it easier to browse by service that way, eh ? - Ahsan Ali

Wallace, if you used WordPress there is a plugin that allows you to import from FF, so good luck with that, looks interesting. - Kol Tregaskes

My tabs: iGoogle, Google Reader, Gmail, FriendFeed, twitter, Flickr, tumblr, Facebook - then several misc... - stephen harlow

on a pc - chrome w/ gmail open. chrome knows i like greader, facebook, amazon. twitter's on tweetdeck. - Brandy Karl

"of course the fact that I use an iPhone for these is completely incidental, it's just the camera I carry with me. The collages are made in Photoshop. Many people are making "patch pano" similar to this and I'm enjoying their work. Here are a few of the ones I'm in touch with: 6161810 http://flickr.com/photos... ... cam β. http://flickr.com/photos... ... DailyM http://flickr.com/photos... ... goldsmithexile http://flickr.com/photos... ... John Melskens http://flickr.com/photos... ... Tato http://flickr.com/photos... ..." - stephen harlow

I wouldn't fave it or share it....therefore I wouldn't (need to) attribute it either - Mike Sansone

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Hate them. Definitely less likely to fave a photo if the watermark is badly done. - Tom Quinn

I find them ugly as well (even small "inobtrusive" ones bug me). I will never favourite them and am much less likely to ever visit the photo stream again. I think some people are being just to "precious". In most cases the pictures are really not that good anyway. - Brian Sullivan

Why not add a watermark that can't be seen with the eye? If not to track for rights, to track for popularity. - Andrew Baron

There are some photographers whom I really admire and I'll fave their stuff with watermarks anyways, but in general if I find one from someone I don't know I'm very unlikely to fave it. I think these marks detract from the aesthetic beauty of the art. Just a preference of mine probably. - Thomas Hawk

If I save a photo on my computer because I like it then I want to know where it came from when I view it later. This makes me return to the original website. It also helps you to stop theives from displaying your content and calling it theirs. - Keith Green from twhirl

I don't know Keith. It's pretty easy to crop most of them out if a thief really wants to and the ones that run across the face of the photograph ruin it even more for me usually. - Thomas Hawk

I really don't have much sympathy for the "I don't want my pictures stolen crowd". Don't post them, post only smaller images. or find a non immediately visible watermarking approach, if you are that concerned - Brian Sullivan

Watermark, copyright or name are used for two purposes mainly: 1. promotion 2. intellectual property. If the mark or a sign or a name is not very conspicuous and doesn't render the entire photo somehow less valuable, I have no problem to fave it and by doing so give the author his/her due recognition and sign of awareness of his IP. If the copyright or a watermark interferes with the photo in a conspicuous way, I would think twice before faving it because of the impression it leaves on me. - Hayk

A small signature as an overlay is classy, and brands the photo. you can achieve your business goals and look snazzy while you're at it - Jeremiah Owyang

Watermarks and signatures detract. I have friends and contacts whose work overpowers that distraction, but even still, why brand your work, so that it becomes less? An internet posted photo represents the original, which you keep. You can always prove your ownership and "prior art" status by the creation date of the file. If someone is so weak as to need to steal your internet posted photograph, let them - it will not help them at all, will only bring more exposure to your creation. - stephen harlow

i post a cc-licensed, hi-res (>1 megapixel) flickr photo every day on my blog. it can take a long time to find something that fits my mood and that criteria on a specific day. even then, i still add take the extra step of filtering out images with watermarks/text on them. it sucks the magic out of a photo. it keeps you outside of an image instead of letting you in. of course, in my work at blip.tv, i'm constantly trying to convince people to be more explicit in the branding of their work. - eric mortensen

I figure if its online someone has already jacked it anyways, or is going to jack it (not necessarily I know). A lot of people don't realize that the photographers have copyrights whether posted to the internet or not so they just take them. So in my opinion watermarks and stuff like that are just eye sores that the picture jackers can just get around anyways. - Sierra Koch

It's a taught behavior and many photographers spend more energy "protecting" their images than promoting or producing them. As useless as disabling right-click. - Andrew Smith

If it's tasteful enough, I don't care. I draw the line, though, when they slap the label right over the middle of the photograph. Even if it's faded into the photo, it's distracting and ruinous. - Akiva

It can be done really badly, but can be done well. If you think it looks tacky on the photo, you can always add a 11px stroke on the bottom of the photo and but in small font your name and website. Kinda a win win. - Andrew Hyde

i don't usually make photos with watermarks favs. i love to sit and watch my favs in a slideshow and seeing one with a watermark on sort of messes up the flow. if it's a photo that is just too beautiful to pass up and has a watermark, i will make it a favorite though. - carlotta fancypants

Agree with TH. Using any marking that takes away from the image is a distraction that lessens the value of the image itself, imo. Some data displayed in the lower right of the image would seem the best option if one must mark their image. Will not fave an image that is made ugly by marking. - Dave Martin

I know they have a purpose but if you half-decent at Photoshop you'll be able to remove it. I don't really like them over photos, the bigger the worst too. If they are small or in a corner or cleverly added somewhere on the photo then fine but I'd much rather see the photo unwatermarked. Photos that have large watermarks that go right across the pic don't normally get faved by me, sorry - Kol Tregaskes from twhirl

I can see watermarks on a site like photrade or a stock photography agency where the primary purpose is to sell photos, but I personally dislike seeing them on Flickr or photoblogs or sites where I go more to consume photos. - Thomas Hawk

agree with @kol, If you don't want them to look ugly and big, you can remove them easily with any image manipulation tool. I personaly do not care about watermaks when I fave them. I was just wandering, is there a steganography tool to mark an image without damaging the image itself (using very few pixels) ? - Olivier

Less likely to fave if watermark or copyright message. Also less likely to fave if only in low resolution. - Stig Nygaard

Most watermarks are ugly, some don't impede the image much. I'll still fave the less obnoxious ones. - Shey

Agree with Stig. Low res tends to suck. Low res + giant watermark = totally sucks. - Dave Martin

I'm definitely less likely to fave such a photo. - Sean Savage

I never fave watermarked photos. Never will. Not interested in snagging anyone's photos, either. Just like to look at nice one without obliterations. - Frank Roche

I don't like big watermarks either. It just seems cheesy to me and distracting. Maybe people could use something like steganography (http://digitalphotography.weblogsinc.com/2005...) to embed copyright/contact information in the photos. That's an idea. - Lindsay

I don't like them, I do think they're ugly if done wrong, but I do it anyway on some sites like Flickr because they make it too easy to rip off my photos. Photo selling sites at least try to protect my images so I don't watermark those. - No FB

I don't like them either. It is the current trend on Atlanta Photographers Guild. They are far more talented then I am though so I see their point. - Russellreno

I'm not a big fan of a watermark across the center of the image. I do think adding a URL, name, or e-mail address to the corner in small letters can be useful if you want people that find your photos to find you. Some photo sharing sites strip off your EXIF data, thus removing your copyright and contact info from the file, leaving no other way to track a photo back to it's owner. - Jeff P. Henderson

A watermark makes me less likely to share a photo, though it doesn't completely turn me off. - Brent Newhall

If it's small and in a corner, I don't have a problem with it and will still share or fave. If it's big and across the full picture, it's just irritating and ruins the picture. -

I don't think I would be less likely to fave it just for having the watermark, but having it would probably ruin the composition and I woudn't look at it twice so the result is the same - João Almeida from twhirl

and Picasso said folks only buy his "signature" (note: not his "autograph") ... respectfully, any tool that enables commerce (getting paid) should be decided by the creator of the work ... in an era where there is an increasing difficulty for proper attribution & notions of the "value" & "definition" of information (photos too) there are far too many who are dismissive in how to balance privacy with piracy ... if we could equitably define these terms it will likely be to the benefit of the real creators ! - Scott Moskowitz

For disclosure & transparency ... I have been involved in this debate for quite a while :: http://www.bluespike.com/ & http://www.digital-watermark.com/ & fwiw, if you believe you have value file a copyright registration - 30-40 bucks for government protection should not be dismissed wo consideration of your rights (this is not legal advice) - Scott Moskowitz

not familar with writing directly into friendfeed, I see that I was trying to put a whole post into the title above. What I wanted to say, is that this artist speaks to the issue of community parenting. He thinks he should be able to say something to young boys window-shopping for hand guns, or "...more importantly, speak to their fathers." The issue is, if it takes a village to raise a child, what responsibility should a villager take? When should we speak from our experience to young people making bad decisions, when should we help their parents, when should we keep quiet. - stephen harlow

My patch pano of the construction site with wheelbarrow was one of the Photos chosen for Brian Lehrer slide show of change in the city. I was interviewed briefly about my photo work & method & attitude towards change. "Change is constant". - stephen harlow

the suggestion of vrml display for aggregated lifestream media is intriguIng. Also relating the circles of blogged narratives to ancient Indian oral narrative tradition may prove to be helpful. - stephen harlow

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