Actually, FF isn't Buchheit's to kill anymore. It's Zuckerberg's, and Zuckerberg alone has the power to kill FF now that it's his. And kill it he will; the only question is when. Buchheit was merely saying (in code) that Facebook's getting some of FF's technology etc. - Dennis Jernberg

Sidekick Friendfeed So tell me again why aquisition is good? - WarLord

And why does DW care about what goes on here? - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

WarLord: it's good for humanity. Facebook is way behind FriendFeed's feature set in real time search, DMs, interactions, etc. This will bring the features we're used to to 300 million people instead of less than a million. - Robert Scoble

Eric: Dave Winer has just as much right to be interested in the future of FriendFeed or have an opinion on it as you or I do. - Robert Scoble

Why all the calls to kill a horse who didn't break its leg? I just don't get it, if you don't want to be here, don't be here. - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

+1 Eric - Amit Morson

I've been quietly watching all of this talking back and forth, but now I'm starting to get pissed off about it. We all are fully aware of how vulnerable FF is right now. All this blather from you people with some clout in the social networking world will only possibly kill it a few days sooner. Yes, I'm talking directly to you, Robert, and also indirectly to DW and DR and the rest of the people going on and on about this. - Kamilah Gill

Kamilah: hint: traffic is way down. Note. We are all still here. So what's killing FriendFeed is NOT us. Just because we're talking about the facts and you don't like the facts shoved in your face does NOT mean the messenger is responsible. - Robert Scoble

Robert, so what IS "killing" FriendFeed if it's not the users? - Amit Morson

Amit: we've been over this before. But it's the lack of future direction. That has NOT changed. Facebook is not willing, or able yet, to tell us there's a future here. So people leave. Most of those who leave do so without posting anything. They just have something better to do. - Robert Scoble

Keyword: SHOVED. What do you hope to accomplish with all of this shoving, Robert? I don't need hints, I know all of this, I've read it hundreds of times, I'm on here every day. So you're all still here... I don't get your point. - Kamilah Gill

Kamilah: there's a way to hide any item that bugs you. That's one of FriendFeed's killer features. - Robert Scoble

You are being really... It's not just about things bugging me!!! I'm not some idiot that you need to talk down to!! I have been on FF since about May 2008, so pretty darned close to being an early adopter. I frigging know how this thing works, and you don't need to tell me to hide anything. You did not answer my question. Maybe you don't have an answer. What do you hope to accomplish by repeating yourself over and over that Friendfeed is about to die?? - Kamilah Gill

We put our stuff here... They can't shut it down. Why can't a site just keep running as it is? Hotmail has been upgraded like two times in its entire existence. - Christopher Galtenberg

Well you know, if FF is dead it's one less place he has to spread his resources at. - Amit Morson

Christopher: Hotmail has 300 million people on it. - Robert Scoble

Kamilah: where in this item did I say FriendFeed is dying. I think you are projecting your anger that everyone is leaving and beating up the community here onto me. Unfairly. - Robert Scoble

Robert, you did imply in the OP that you agree with the sentiment that FF should be "put out of its misery." Not exactly a positive sentiment. At least, that's what I took from your posting of it without comment that indicates otherwise. - Katy S

Katy: what? How did you get that I agreed with it. I clicked "favorite" on it which brought it over here because I thought that Duncan's point was an interesting one and was worth discussing. - Robert Scoble

Robert: Ok, then nix my Hotmail comment. If Paul or Zuckerberg said they were shutting FF down, is that something you'd seriously get behind? Or would you think it incredibly unfair to tens/hundreds of thousands of people who thought they could put their stuff here? - Christopher Galtenberg

If Paul shut friendfeed down I bet you it would light up as a trending topic right away. This would be no surprise though; it is common for deaths to trend. - Garin Kilpatrick

Robert - I hit enter before I finished the last post - you can see the rest of it now. - Katy S

I didn't see Robert say anything of the kind. He simply posted what Winer said and responded pretty reasonably since. - Ken Camp

Guys I invested a lot in FriendFeed too. - Dave Winer

Christopher: no. Because there's not a replacement for it yet. But what about in 2012? After Facebook has a TON more features? They will shut it down just like Google shut down Geocities. - Robert Scoble

Garin, to Robert's point, FF isn't Pauls to shut down. It belongs to FB. - Ken Camp

Anyway, Robert, it was your lack of commentary that led me to believe that you advocated that position. I wouldn't be surprised if others read it the same way. It's a matter of effect being different than intent, something that can happen when we present material to an audience. - Katy S

I meant to say Mark instead of Paul, but the post specifies Paul. - Garin Kilpatrick

Dave, so the solution is to self host everything? We both know it's not the solution. - Amit Morson

Katy: lots of things I bring in here is to discuss what people's opinions are and to form my own. To tell you the truth I'm a lot more negative on the community today than I was a week ago. Why? Because of how people discuss things here and how they beat up the messenger. There is VERY GOOD REASONS why I'm bringing this up over and over again. http://siteanalytics.compete.com/friendf... should scare the freaking hell out of you if you think there's a long term future here. - Robert Scoble

Companies don't keep investing in things if everyone leaves. - Robert Scoble

Amit don't tell me what "we both know" -- that's a really weak and powerless thing to say. Then we start arguing about what I know. Feh. We both know I'm not going to bother. :-) - Dave Winer

I'm not leaving :) - Simon Hicks

Scoble, they've already said they're not investing in FF. And look at the graph on Duncan's piece. Everyone's leaving. The graph shows it. - Dave Winer

Hey, no need to lecture me. I was just relaying the way this reads to some people. I didn't think I was "beating up the messenger" so much as clarifying how the post could be read. Maybe it's the English teacher in me, but it's a tendency of mine to address how I, as an audience member, read the discourse. If that annoys you - and it seems that it did - I'm sorry. - Katy S

Katy: well, I don't agree with Duncan. So there. - Robert Scoble

Robert, I'll defend shot-at messengers, but the role you're playing (or widely perceived to be) is not just messenger, but harbinger. As Marshall McCluan would remind us: the medium is the message! - Micah Wittman

Here's what I mean by defend: http://friendfeed.com/micahwi... - Micah Wittman

Micah: well, that is ascribing to me more power than I have. If I had that much power all the Twitter users would have listened to me when I told them FriendFeed was the place to hang out. The fact that I couldn't make FriendFeed popular makes you wrong here. - Robert Scoble

Robert - ok - I like clarity. So, are you starting to feel as if you've become Cassandra? - Katy S

FriendFeed won't die until Facebook replicates most or all of its functionality (and very likely when that day comes, Facebook will provide some mode of transfer). - Acrylic Style Music Group

I always have my phone number on my blog. +1-425-205-1921 - Robert Scoble

Acrylic: that's actually not true. CompuServe had more features than other things but CompuServe is gone today because the users left for a whole lot of reasons (many of which we are seeing in THIS VERY THREAD). - Robert Scoble

What I'm saying is, it doesn't make sense to kill off a service in favor of another when the other doesn't provide for those that have used this service. - Acrylic Style Music Group

That's like saying Apple should kill off the iPod Touch in favor of the Nano because the Nano sells more (not real stats, just an example). I say wait till Facebook catches up, that's all. - Acrylic Style Music Group

Robert, you'll see in my link (right above your comment) I precisely don't ascribe it. What I'm also saying is there's all this panic and the perception that you're driving people away. There's a PR problem if you will. Who cares about blame - it's reverberating strongly, it's the negativity you mentioned feeling. You don't like it, nobody likes it. I don't know what the answer is, but a lot of people are venting the frustration and I'm writing this to acknowledge it. - Micah Wittman

Micah: thanks. That's what I wanted to have happen. The community needs to come at this the way you did. There is a MAJOR PR problem and not one that's solvable because, well, it's not solveable. But, at least it can be fun if everyone took the tactic you did. - Robert Scoble

Robert is reflecting peoples' already extant biases, like a mirror. He's providing confirmation for those who already wanted to give up on FF. For the rest of us, he's still here wanting to chat, stirring up activity :) - Christopher Galtenberg

Christopher: I'm trying to do my part to get that line to stop trending down and move up. - Robert Scoble

It's an odd kind of love :) - Christopher Galtenberg

Christopher: well, truth brings the best community. - Robert Scoble

I am, indeed, a technopeasant. I also play the bagpipes: a backwards, ancient, strange instrument that has a total hold on my heart. And a devoted minority of people keep this art alive. Is it conceivable that something like friendfeed, small (and smaller) though it is, could and should persist? - T. Brent, technopeasant

*attempts to stretch a comparison* - T. Brent, technopeasant

btw... Riley misspelled 'throes' in the first sentence of his post. - T. Brent, technopeasant

It's possible the Friendfeed usage dip on the chart Riley showed doesn't reflect a drop in community size at all. It may reflect developers who are moving their FF mashups to other services in anticipation of an uncertain future. I recently changed a widget that outputs topical Tweets from using an FF imaginary friends feed to a Y!Pipes feed. - Amyloo

I'm not going anywhere, moreover, I'm willing to pay a small amount to keep FF up. It's still my #2 starting tab after Gmail, I'm still enjoying using it and I just don't get it - who left? - Kirill Bolgarov

The reason why Friendfeed users aren't convinced by arguments that FB will acquire all of FF's capabilities is about brand: who owns the brand, and whether you can trust them. FF is a feed aggregator, FB is mostly a power aggregator -- for Zuckerberg. - Tim Ostler

Someone tell me what can replace FF now? The people that are leaving must not be using the FF enhanced feature set. I like what FF can do, I can't find it anywhere else. - Keith Rowland

Keith: who said that you need to replace your usage here 1:1? Maybe people just are gettting lives again and living offline? Or maybe they are, like me, living with the limitations of other systems and working within those constraints? Or maybe they are blogging again? :-) - Robert Scoble

Or, maybe, the real drop here is because most of the users here are just playing Farmville? - Robert Scoble