1. Getting involved in a land war in Asia.
2. Going against a Sicilian when death is on the line.
3. Holding an important meeting the day after St. Patrick’s Day.

via meetingboy

:)

The new retweet feature has a lot of potential, but it’s being overshadowed by the fact that it isn’t the same as the organic retweeting that emerged from how we use twitter.  It seems the main problem is that people expect retweets to be more like forwarding, that is, with commentary.  What I’ve noticed is that the new RT seems to be more like what favouriting could be, if that was to be enhanced drastically.

Perhaps you should consider moving some of this exciting new functionality to be a part of fav’ing instead, turning *that* into another way of sharing tweets with others.  Make it possible for us to opt in to seeing other people’s favourites (perhaps on a sliding scale: none, a few, some, most, or all), and then *those* tweets could appear in our tweetstream with the original author’s avatar and name.  After all, this way is more like passing on of the original message—and, I wouldn’t have to see the original more than once, if this were to make use of that intriguing aspect you’ve incorporated into new retweets.

Then, you could change RT to be a little bit more like the way a reply is, especially the part where it links to the original post.  You could pre-populate the status field with

RT @whoever: “(insert entirety of the tweet content here)”

and use something like the “in_reply_to_status_id” part of the reply-to link to make a connection back to the original tweet.  This would overcome the false attribution issue with oldschool RT: if someone *really* retweets someone, it will be proven with an actual link.

Best of all, this proposed change would allow people the freedom to comment on tweets in a way that is different from replying.  It would also be different from “wishing others could see the original tweet” (which is what new retweet seems to want to do, but my proposed change to faves would do instead).  The downside of commenting, currently, is that tweets often have to be edited in order to fit.  However, if there was a link retained between the retweet (aka the forwarded quote) and the original, people wouldn’t feel like they need to try and retain most of the context, because the context would exist as a link to the original.  So, the character limit wouldn’t be as strained, because we could quote just the part we want to emphasize, like so:

RT @ev: “We may add commentary.”  Yes! Please do! For some of us, it’s the main reason we retweet!

[in_reply_to_status_id=5845730902&in_reply_to=ev]

Note that I cut out the part of ev’s tweet that didn’t apply to what I wanted to comment on, but I still am passing on the part of the quote from ev that I want to share with my followers, as well as adding my own comment to it.

This change I’m proposing would still allow for tracking the retweets made of the original, as seen on the “Retweets by others” page (which would pretty much be unchanged from what it is now).  However, on hovering over the images of the people who retweeted, one could easily review how each person had edited it, and whether there were additional comments added!  I’m also proposing that there be a way to review who has faved the things I’ve said, or what other tweets my followees have faved recently, so there could be a set of pages much like the new Retweets pages, but for Faves as well!

So, in summary, I think there are a lot of great ideas incorporated into this new feature, but that they aren’t all appropriate for the way that many of us use the retweeting ability.  An extension of favouriting would be able to make use of some of these great ideas, while freeing up retweets to be more attuned to the organic way that they originally emerged.

If you like my idea, please feel free to give feedback to twitter (using the link they give near where they say, “What do you think of the retweet feature?”) and refer to this link to my zendesk post: http://help.twitter.com/requests/710688. Thanks for the support, and for not just merely complaining like most other people are doing!

…a new [twitter] feature which will give folks far more control over what they see from the accounts they follow. This will be a per-user setting and it will take a bit longer to put together but not too long and we’re already working on it.

— From the Twitter Blog: “We Learned A Lot”.

Every complaint I had was appended by an exception: if there are going to be more per-user settings in the future, everything’s going to be okay.

I’m glad to know everything’s going to be okay! Crisis averted!

Also, some discussion of scalability at ReadWriteWeb very quickly convinced me that this would be a very real issue. If it helps twitter run better, that’s a great reason to crop it away! Consider me converted.

AND!!! I had already suggested to the nice folks at twitter that it would be great to have an option to set a short text note with each of our followees, so we can remember why we are following them. I got a personal-sounding thank you, saying it sounded like a great idea, so maybe this will be coming soon too! And if there is more flexibility in per-user settings, maybe that’s when GROUPS will come into play! Or maybe that will be the Pro version! (…*gulp!*…)

I love CJAM, and so I am writing to express my support for their application for protected status.

There aren’t enough good radio stations in the Windsor area, especially since (from my experience) CBC Radio 2 comes through so very poorly! But even where CBC Radio 2 is comparable to CJAM, it could never replace it. Student radio hosts tend to have a point of view completely different from all other radio hosts, formed both by the education they are receiving and the fact that they are younger and more aware of trends applicable to the new generations. This knowledge is evident in the music played, as well as the discussion made between songs, and also in talk radio shows.

CJAM showcases a phenomenal assortment of types of music, broadening what I would listen to normally. “Leave it to CJAM,” my friends and I say to each other when we hear something so completely unique, it could only be heard on CJAM. I love hearing music from different cultures, and even love that many of these shows are announced in the language associated with that culture. It helps me feel like a part of this great multicultural city (and world!) to be able to appreciate the cultures that make it up!

But even when the style of music isn’t unique or from another culture, it’s always interesting! Very often, CJAM showcases independent artists that don’t get played on other radio stations. Local bands know to bring their work to CJAM for a great chance at getting played. Sometimes the focus of a show is on a genre that isn’t well-known, or with an emphasis on women in music (I think this one is presented by students in Women’s Studies).

The talk radio shows on CJAM are really fascinating as well! I regularly listen to one where the hosts discuss politics in a very thought-provoking way, arguing intelligently over the ways of analysing a situation. Another show I enjoy discusses vegetarian living, and being conscious of what you eat.

I want to extend my support to other campus radio stations as well. When travelling, I always seek out the campus radio station in the Kitchener area (can’t remember what it is right now, but that’s besides the point). Why do I do this? It’s for all the same reasons I love CJAM. And if something negative happens to CJAM, it will negatively affect the future of all campus radio stations, and I really REALLY don’t want that to happen. If you know what’s good for radio, you won’t let this happen either!

So please, I implore you, on behalf of the hundreds or thousands of people who aren’t taking the time to write about their reasons for loving CJAM (and other campus radio stations), please take these words to heart. Please don’t make it difficult to find this kind of great broadcasting on the radio!

Sincerely,

Crystal McKenzie

Even in the most trying times, amid the most difficult circumstances, there is a generosity, a resilience, a decency, and a determination that perseveres; a willingness to take responsibility for our future and for posterity.

This is a quote from President Obama’s Address to Congress, one I found particularly inspirational. Doesn’t he make you want to be the best person you can be?

You Americans did good, in electing him. I’m no longer embarrassed to have you guys as neighbours. Friends? *extending a Canadian beer*

Fullscreen this, or else you’ll miss the small print.

By the power of Greyskull… teehee~! :)

I (and many others) have been concerned about a user by the name of @haikutwaiku who has been retweeting anything we post with the word “haiku” in it, without giving credit to the authors.

I had submitted a prior request for something to be done about the account, but that was back when I thought the main problem was that it was retweeting itself repeatedly, and I was worrying that such a thing was causing strain on [twitter’s] servers. Now it seems that haiku is becoming so popular that there is more than enough content coming in, and @haikutwaiku doesn’t resort to retweeting its own retweets anymore.

The problem has evolved, and it’s affecting more people in a more personal way. Some people simply aren’t tweeting haiku anymore:

ever since @haikutwaiku started aggregating twaiku without giving credit to the authors, i’ve been turned off posting twaiku here
— @moritherapy

while others are replying to or retweeting @haikutwaiku’s posts thinking that they belong to that account: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=@haikutwaiku

It is important to note that posts made by @haikutwaiku come from twitterfeed, which means no actual person is contributing anything original to the twitterverse (or replying to any replies to that account). I suspect that the account was set up as a service to help share the haiku, but without attribution, this is plagiarism! This really isn’t fair to those of us who take so much care in crafting beautiful works of poetry.

Here is a twitter search containing excerpts from conversations about @haikutwaiku, highlighting terms such as plagiarism, steal/stole, bot, attribution, and credit:
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=plagiarism+OR+steal+OR+stole+OR+bot+OR+credit+OR+attribution+@haikutwaiku

Although it pains me to think that @haikutwaiku’s 700+ followers will miss the constant feed of haiku, the lack of attribution violates twitter’s terms of service…

… unauthorized “re-tweets” (poaching and posting other users’ updates) passed off as original content* (Does the asterisk mean there was something more to this rule? There is no clarification on the page!)…

…and it also offends many people whose words are being redistributed without attribution.

Thanks in advance for whatever you can do about this situation!

I will post updates to this post as they come in.

UPDATE: they acknowledged the request for support, but have deemed it solved after saying that they will “keep an eye on the account”. Maybe that’s just a way for them to stop the support ticket from re-prompting us to comment… or maybe that’s a way to sweep the notion under the rug. Maybe they’re just waiting for more people to complain. PLEASE ADD YOUR SUPPORT TO THIS SUPPORT! I implore you! and thank you.

“All your base” – Cowbirds in Love

My thoughts on reading a handul of posts in this comic series: “YAY! A new comic to add to my Amusement category in Google Reader! And a new geeky source of giggling to add to my life. I [Heart] the Internet!”

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address – NYTimes.com

Is it any wonder that so many people worldwide absolutely love what Obama represents? Even if someone else wrote this for him, the fact that he approved it and actually said it means A LOT for what he stands for.

Never before have I watched an inauguration speech, and never before have I had so much hope for those poor schmucks south of Canada. You done good, dudes. Now: let’s change the world! ALL OF US!

Twitter, as it turns out, is a bar. It’s a bar. It’s the local neighborhood bar/cafe thing where you hang out.

…

Why do you hang out in your neighborhood bar/cafe thing? Because it’s your local. It’s your place. It’s where your friends are. It’s where you make new friends. It’s where you go because sometimes being smart and funny in your head just doesn’t cut it.

…

You know that inner voice … that narrates a steady commentary of funny, meaningful, goofy and profound things that you usually just say to yourself and no one ever gets to appreciate? Twitter is that voice’s new home. It is where that voice goes to hang out. Because that voice … needs a bar.

Finally, someone explains it exactly right, and at the same time, shoots down all those other people who keep doing it wrong. Twitter demystified and debunked is a great article by an inspiring person who really seems to know what she’s talking about — and not just when she’s talking about twitter. But I digress — I am just pointing at this twitter article for now, while I am still giggling about some of the great analogies Havi uses. Please, do check it out! :)