Do you think this was just linkbait? Just a way to generate some controversy? - Sean Scott

Worked for FFundercats... ; ) - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)

well I did not start an argument, I just requested a feature! - Loic Le Meur

Never commented on TC but was tempted to on this. It really is bullshit. What's the problem here? People are passionate and that bugs him? - Justin Stayshyn

Sean: you think? Of course it was. - Robert Scoble

Robert, you should have a proper discussion forum, like a real debate about it. To me all of you guys have made the whole issue a lot of mess, it needs to be cleared out. - Cesar Arevalo

I am sorry Robert but when I wrote the post I was not looking for a fight with anyone, I genuinely want that feature! And I know many people do too. - Loic Le Meur

the idea is BS. that's why plurk is terrible - karma. people posting shit instead of something interesting and trying to get more and more followers. - Terry O'Fee

Sounds like everyone is standing their ground on this one. Perhaps an open debate? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Robert, agreed that the follow up posts on TC smack of fueling the fire to get traffic in. And that's a shame. I've loved TC for a while now, but there's been a few incidents (posts and public appearances) where i think there is some over-reaching being done by MA. I say stick/go back to providing great analysis on the merit or lack thereof of digital startups. Leave the gossip and link-baiting to valleywag. - Sean Scott

I'd discuss it with Arrington but he has me blocked on twitter and on friend feed. so you know, screw that. HOWEVER... this is just another example of people here trying to connect and people here trying to exploit. Where's the $$? Where's the measurements? Where's the way I can figure out the biggest bang for my buck? That's all they want. And they'll get it, I'm sure. The rest of us will be investing in the relationships... time will tell. - Erin @queenofspain

This argument is important; in the abstract anyway. What is at question here is: What political structure should obtain in communications? Loic, wittingly or no, is making the case for something aristocratic, which, I would hope he would defend vigorously. Scoble, wittingly or no, is responding with egalitarianism. I don't think those are the only two options, but the debate, I think, is at the very heart of the paradigm shift we are witnessing. - Eliot Frick

Loic: I will write a blog about this. See you later. This is not a fight. It is a debate over a poorly-thought out feature. - Robert Scoble

Agree with you, Sean. Someone suggested a day or two ago that Mike needs to take that stuff off the TC site and maybe start his own personal blog. I really think that's a great idea. TC is becoming less about news and more about stirring people up and I don't think that's a great direction to go. - Shawn Farner

@scoble looking forward to it, interesting discussion - sofarsoShawn

Wow what an epic mess that needs leadership, vision, planning and strategic execution! Enough already with the short sided and selfish gaming of the system. Robert I look forward to your blog post... Good move, and thanks for stepping up to add wisdom and remove confusion - Susan Beebe

Eliot: I want some of what Loic wants too: to be able to find authoritative tweets. Using # of followers is the worst way to solve this problem. Even though it would help me more than Mike or Loic. - Robert Scoble

Robert, I submit it is not "poorly-thought out" at all. I'm all for egalitarianism, but the "social contract" is only possible if there's something with which to contract. That there are voices which naturally rise to the top is meaningful. To eschew that meaning simply because, y'know, it feels like too elitist or something is kinda procrustean methinks. - Eliot Frick

Robert: I agree generally that tweets which confer value are important and finding them is equally important. I further agree that the value of a tweet does not necessarily correlate with # of followers. But that said, # of followers definitely means _something_. - Eliot Frick

Eliot: you are right and wrong. There are better ways to get what you want than by using # of followers. Remember, I have the most so am very authoritative when I say it is a meaningless metric. :-) - Robert Scoble

Key quote, "Arrington has taken us all off the rails into stupid land." Always remember that because it is always true. - Eric @ CS Techcast

Robert, your argument is abnegating. So I am to infer that you are authoritative to speak on the merits of having a large number of followers by merit of the fact that you have a large number of followers? - Eliot Frick

I don't see mike in gf or twitter arguing for it. Link anyone? - Tyler (Chacha)

I think Loic has a great idea that is incredibly tricky to implement correctly, if not impossible. It is near impossible to quantify "authority" in a way that can not be gamed. Studies have been done on this in the past in the offline world, but were met with the same controversy. The one who can give an agreeable equation for "authority" and "merit" and "correctness" and "soundness" will be rich person. - xero

And for the record, I don't wish to appear to be a pedantic prick. You seem like an incredibly kind person with a mountain of integrity. I'm only arguing with you because I think the argument has merit and you seem willing and able to debate. - Eliot Frick

Arrington misstates the issue. The original request was for a determination of "Twitter authority" based upon number of followers. I have been followed by lots of people with lots of followers who have no more authority in their stated topic than I do. It's a silly metric. As you have said many times Robert, the more interesting metric is who YOU follow. "authority" measured by follower #'s is nothing more than smoke. - Karoli

A more interesting and deeper metric for real 'authority' might be a 'retweet' metric, but even that will be gamed. - Karoli

Let's think of what the feature really does - determines celebrity not authority. Maybe that could be helpful - to see what the influencers are saying - Andrew Mueller

Both sides are right... and wrong. Go to Google and search for "Diabetes" and see the "Refine results for diabetes." Now do the same search on Twitter. It is not about "authority" (and authority has nothing to do with # of followers). The engine needs to understand user intent. Something that Google has been working on for a few years ~ but still has long way to go. - Julio F ~ @SocialJulio

The only real issue with this whole thing was the equation used for "authority". The equation was actually "celebrity" not "authority" but the argument has centered around a proper equation for "authority" and the idea that one can not exist. - xero

the day "ability to game the system" equals "actual authority" when it comes to the quality of someone's speech is the day we might as well give up using the Internet... The best advice anyone ever gave me about Twitter was you Robert, when you said "who you follow and what you learn is way more important than how many people follow you." Hasn't steered me wrong so far. Love ya even more for this post. Don't particularly care if 2 or 42k people follow you - it has authority *because it makes sense*... - Lucretia Pruitt

Well, the only data we have to turn into information, is followers, following, and updates. It seems like any search for info on Twitter is doomed to failure, simply because the information being searched, May not be available. No amount of this mythical 'authority' metric is going to change that. - Mike Shields

Mike: that's not correct. You also have retweets. Thanks to peoplebrowsr.com you also have tags. Thanks to friendfeed you have likes. On Twitter you have favorites. Twitter also has click data. Using Blog Search you could find inbound links from blogs. On friendfeed you have comments. TONS of metadata to study! - Robert Scoble

Robert - This thread is a great example of how a lot of 'us' have been living in a very small world. I for one, plan to break out a bit and discover new sources in 2009 rather than get caught up in this type of meme. - Charlie Anzman

Loic Le Meur is no idiot. Up until a couple of days ago I didn't know who he was. Now the whole geek-blogosphere is talking about him. - Gabby

I seriously do not see what the big deal is. It's a feature request. Get over it. Implement the feature, have the ability to sort based on popularity or not (by turning it off)...popularity is not authority...but who's cares. I call linkbait. - Ryan

Ryan, linkbait indeed - these guys are all geniuses. :-) - Jesse Stay