Disqus - Latest Comments for MikeQW

Re: Shocker! Nine Inch Nails’ Free Album Was Also Amazon’s 2008 Bestseller

MikeQW — Sat, 09 May 2009 16:05:17 -0000

The slip was also free. However, NIN released a number of free downloads last year.

Re: Twitter fallout after the Oprah Effect

MikeQW — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:19:28 -0000

I totally agree. I don't follow Oprah, CNN or any other celebrities or companies so their presence does not affect me in the least. I do get followed by more clueless people. But that doesn't really bother me. If anything, in the long run, it'll be a more valuable communication tool because a larger number of interesting people will figure out how to use it.

Re: Would You Get On The Atheist Bus?

MikeQW — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 15:47:20 -0000

Oh Camus. he was my philosophical kurt cobain when i was 16. also smeasles, why no disqus account? it's pretty fun. you get your picture to show when you leave comments.

Re: Does Obama have a chance?

MikeQW — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:06:15 -0000

Hi Ursula, the link in the email should bring you back to the top of the qwidget. if you are autosigned in (which you can choose to be next time you sign in), the qwidget will automatically open. From there, you have to click the "messages" link. we're aware that the link is WAY too small right now. we're working on making it easier to see and maybe even getting a mailbox logo next to it. however, it isn't technically possible at this point to link directly to your inbox from the email notification you get.

Re: Does Obama have a chance?

MikeQW — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:57:15 -0000

It's different because with comments, there is no guidance. with the qwidget you were directed as far as what you were supposed to talk about. the unstructured nature of comments ends up discouraging people from participating because in the split second after they read the website's content, they have to decide what kind of thing to say, and most people just click away before they have to come up with something interesting. with the qwidget, we slowly guide people into conversations by making the first step a simple yes/no/maybe. then we ask why. also, by limiting everyone to 200 characters, we'll never get long winded rants that turn off other more casual users. and by limiting people to one entry/answer, we won't get flame wars between a few users who argue on and on in one comment section.

Re: Thoughts to Consider for Better Online Marketing

MikeQW — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:51:19 -0000

That makes sense. I think for now, with my own project, I'll continue mostly to use my own twitter account but i've set up one for the product and will experiment a bit with both after we launch.

Re: rizzn's personal blog: Disqus Makes the “Connect” Decision For Me

MikeQW — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:31:16 -0000

This is obviously a fantastic thing for bloggers. But for users, will it make us more likely to comment? Each blog that uses disqus and wants facebook connect capabilities has to apply to facebook to get a facebook connect key. It seems frustrating that blogs can't just let third party apps do the connection for them. This means that disqus will only work on super power bloggers. And a lot of users won't benefit. Darn your rules, Facebook!

Re: louisgray.com: Social Media and Your Friends: Oil and Water?

MikeQW — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:20:40 -0000

Despite having a few hundred followers (which isn't a lot) on Twitter, and having written for a few different blogs, most of my friends never got to see that part of me. In fact, none of my regular friends even knew what Twitter was until a few days ago. And then recently, I decided to merge my lives. It's early on but I like the encouragement from thinkers like you. Thanks for the post.

Re: Are You Addicted to Twitter?

MikeQW — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:14:39 -0000

there should be some kind of award for most likely to excessively "love" songs on last.fm which then clutter up everyone's friendfeed account.

Re: 8tracks

MikeQW — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 15:01:09 -0000

Hey Fred,
Do you use Lala.com? I'm pretty excited about it and we share a lot of musical tastes (Okkervill River has been a favorite of mine since Black Sheep Boy). 8tracks looks pretty awesome but Lala is winning me over.

Re: Thoughts to Consider for Better Online Marketing

MikeQW — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:12:15 -0000

Great post Mike but I have a question...If there is someone who is the face of a product, should they create a separate twitter, facebook account for the product? For example, should Loic focus on his own twitter account to promote seesmic or should he focus on the official seesmic account?

Re: The Qwidget Blog: Stories, Updates, and Thoughts From the Qwidget Makers » Trouble-Shooting

MikeQW — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:15:58 -0000

If you open a any of the Qwidget pop up pages (sign up, login, account, inbox) near any kind of flash object (like a youtube video embed), the qwidget window will appear under the flash object. We are working to get that fixed.

Re: The Qwidget’s New Website & Logo Reveleaed

MikeQW — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:38:17 -0000

The Qwidget will probably launch on this blog in the next few days. We are tending to last minute bugs. Check back soon or subscribe to our feed to be notified of our launch.

Re: Why I don’t comment on blogs

MikeQW — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:07:08 -0000

Thanks for the encouragement Grant!

Re: Why I don’t comment on blogs

MikeQW — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:06:21 -0000

Hey Alain,
I totally agree that comments are necessary on blogs. I wouldn't do away with them for the world....I just think that the immediate emotional reaction that most people have when they look at a comment section turns them off from the prospect of participating. I'm not saying that there isn't value there.

Re: Why I don’t comment on blogs

MikeQW — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:04:08 -0000

comment anxiety...i love it. and i may use it too. :)

Re: Why I don’t comment on blogs

MikeQW — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:03:45 -0000

Interesting that reason number 2 does not resonate. I wonder if others agree. Obviously, those were just my thoughts on why I don't participate. I think that that reason came from my reading of Scoble's blog and TC. I see the same names again and again and when I see Robert or Michael Arrington respond to certain commenters, I think to myself, "how much work do I need to do to merit a response from those guys?" And I know that this is probably flawed thinking - that they would respond to any insightful comment - but the emotional gut reaction is still there and I bet that others feel it too.

Re: Why I don’t comment on blogs

MikeQW — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:00:54 -0000

I totally agree. And I think like that too when I read a particularly fantastic blog post...or at least one that is provocative enough to get a response out of me. But I think that you and I are definitely in the minority. More than 97% of the people that read this post did not leave a comment. But I bet that they had opinions about what I wrote. And there has to be a better way to get them to express those opinions.

Re: Why I don’t comment on blogs

MikeQW — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:58:30 -0000

Agreed that smart comments reward a blogger's thinking. All of the comments that this post has received made my day. I'm really excited about getting this dialogue going.

Re: Why I don’t comment on blogs

MikeQW — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:55:09 -0000

Hi Scott,
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree with much of what you say. And I agree that you need to invest a lot of time in participating in the "commentosphere" if you want to get anything out of it. It's yet another reason why so few people bother. But there will emerge filters and processes that will make it easier for normal folks to sift through the sheer volume of info to find what is relevant to them. The internet seemed like a big scary place in the early days of search engines...but that began to change with altavista and full changed with google. I think there will be some analogous mechanism for the world of online participation. Right now, that world is dominated by commenting but that reign can't last much longer IMHO. I hope and believe that what we're about to launch with the Qwidget (T minus a few days!) will play a part in this new future. We'll see!

Re: State of the blog - By a Z lister

MikeQW — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:35:40 -0000

Great post, Mike. Like a lot of people around here, I discovered you through Friendfeed. And enjoy your thoughts and your participation on FF - even if my own is not so consistent. Anyway, I look forward to reading your state of the blog at 100 posts, 200, 1000, etc.

Re: Alleged Palin Hacker Kernell Pleads Innocent

MikeQW — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:18:26 -0000

My big question here is this: Are republicans going to put blame on Rep. Mike Kernell? Will he be seen as the puppet master in this break in?

Re: Senuti Recovers Music from Your iPod

MikeQW — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:16:48 -0000

I have been using Senuti for awhile and it is fantastic. And here's another great use for it: if your iPod is PC formatted, you can use Senuti to move music from PC to Mac or vice versa while still listening to it in the meantime. That became useful to me when transferring my music collection from my parents' PC to my Mac. It's also been helpful when I visit a friend's house and throw some totally free, CC-licensed music onto my iPod from their iTunes. I use Senuti to back it up on my computer at home.

Re: Senuti Recovers Music from Your iPod

MikeQW — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:10:38 -0000

Re: Zemanta

MikeQW — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:25:28 -0000

Just noticed that Zemanta's "Related Articles" are included in GReader (and probably other RSS readers as well). I have used Sphere and liked it but this is a big improvement. Very very interesting.