




if (typeof(disqus_iframe_css) == 'undefined') {
	disqus_iframe_css = '';
}
if (typeof(disqus_def_name) == 'undefined') {
	disqus_def_name = '';
}
if (typeof(disqus_def_email) == 'undefined') {
	disqus_def_email = '';
}
if (typeof(disqus_skip_auth) == 'undefined') {
	disqus_skip_auth = false;
}
if (typeof(disqus_default_text) == 'undefined') {
	disqus_default_text = 'Type your comment here.';
}

(function(){
	
	var ie = document.uniqueID
		&& document.compatMode
		&& !window.XMLHttpRequest
		&& document.execCommand ;

	try {
		if(!!ie) {
			document.execCommand("BackgroundImageCache", false, true);
		}
	} catch(e) {};
})();

var Dsq = new function() {
	this.container = document.getElementById('dsq-content');
	this.jsonData = {"reactions": [], "has_more_reactions": false, "users": {"47daa943b7c64040ec35825c65c89943": {"username": "Hosted_Web", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "Hosted_Web", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/47daa943b7c64040ec35825c65c89943/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "http://www.hostedweb.co.uk/", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "8b65c06639883a93a071530e67c0e5b3": {"username": "Singapore Property", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "Singapore Property", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/8b65c06639883a93a071530e67c0e5b3/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "http://www.streetsine.com", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "134be7b97f9d907237d39094059096f7": {"username": "High School", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "High School", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/134be7b97f9d907237d39094059096f7/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "http://www.musthighschool.com/", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "f0e79b9962233b03abed0a70254f51d4": {"username": "Patxi Bonel", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "Patxi Bonel", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/f0e79b9962233b03abed0a70254f51d4/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "08f4d0153e4aca521a5bb79451dccbb6": {"username": "G. Oliver Young", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "G. Oliver Young", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/08f4d0153e4aca521a5bb79451dccbb6/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "a74704e6a975da0fca99be5bb92564c4": {"username": "Chrissy", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "Chrissy", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/a74704e6a975da0fca99be5bb92564c4/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "http://singalongchrissy.blogspot.com", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "4a1a538cc3cf793c0bb559758c29584f": {"username": "David Sims", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "David Sims", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/4a1a538cc3cf793c0bb559758c29584f/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "5e6de9e1d14aa8b4898dee8f340d555f": {"username": "eUKhost", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "eUKhost", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/5e6de9e1d14aa8b4898dee8f340d555f/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "http://www.eukhost.com", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "57ed84c9a19e5b55ded0464390225779": {"username": "Dennis Linnell", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "Dennis Linnell", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/57ed84c9a19e5b55ded0464390225779/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "8bf83138aaa606f93d77b70423674427": {"username": "Vince Kellen", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "Vince Kellen", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/8bf83138aaa606f93d77b70423674427/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "http://www.kellen.net", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "22d41ead73d69626c51841bab089d224": {"username": "Javier Cabrerizo", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "Javier Cabrerizo", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/22d41ead73d69626c51841bab089d224/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "http://javiercabrerizo.blogspot.com/", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "b74033cad9e182a048193c023e2e6bfb": {"username": "Hans Henrik H. Heming", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "Hans Henrik H. Heming", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/b74033cad9e182a048193c023e2e6bfb/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "http://www.connecta.dk", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "bf2204a36c922c2a286586b6e24ffa2b": {"username": "Shreepad Shukla", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "Shreepad Shukla", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/bf2204a36c922c2a286586b6e24ffa2b/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "ad38617766b69477f0192bbb195004a4": {"username": "technical review", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "technical review", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/ad38617766b69477f0192bbb195004a4/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "http://s-tech-inc.blogspot.com/2008/10/online-marketing.html", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "8b470de87262e9161fb7b0360e7b04c3": {"username": "anand", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "anand", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/8b470de87262e9161fb7b0360e7b04c3/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "a0cc8d29f54a4d8b959b7f702c347ab7": {"username": "Lars Haugstad", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "Lars Haugstad", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/a0cc8d29f54a4d8b959b7f702c347ab7/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "267679c71001a3266258261d96d4b3f7": {"username": "Paul Cox", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "Paul Cox", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/267679c71001a3266258261d96d4b3f7/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "http://innovation-in-oil-and-gas.blogspot.com/", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "e9be5401e80ebad81666ad1a7c41f707": {"username": "David Burta", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "David Burta", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/e9be5401e80ebad81666ad1a7c41f707/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "f2b7818cb08849f0b717b005edda0f1c": {"username": "Edmund Ng", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "Edmund Ng", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/f2b7818cb08849f0b717b005edda0f1c/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "http://www.internet-empire.com", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}, "11d794f6d29d79ab11651f1043440fd6": {"username": "Matt Moore", "tumblr": "", "display_name": "Matt Moore", "url": "http://disqus.com/guest/11d794f6d29d79ab11651f1043440fd6/", "registered": false, "linkedin": "", "blog": "http://engineerswithoutfears.blogspot.com/", "remote_domain": null, "points": null, "facebook": "", "avatar": "http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png", "delicious": "", "is_remote": false, "verified": false, "flickr": "", "twitter": "", "remote_domain_name": ""}}, "forum": {"use_media": false, "name": "Andrew McAfee&#39;s Blog", "streaming_realtime": false, "url": "andrewmcafee", "allow_anon_post": true, "reactions_enabled": true, "reply_position": 0, "show_avatar": true, "allow_anon_votes": false, "disqus_auth_disabled": false}, "realtime_enabled": false, "request": {"username": "", "is_global_moderator": false, "sharing": {}, "sort": 4, "forum": "andrewmcafee", "is_initial_load": true, "is_authenticated": false, "timestamp": "2009-11-30_17:21:14", "remote_domain": "", "page": 1, "is_moderator": false, "display_username": "", "points": null, "subscribe_on_post": 2, "moderator_can_edit": false, "is_remote": false, "is_verified": false, "missing_perm": null}, "realtime_paused": false, "posts": {"11971938": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "if your industry is being transformed by IT, then it is important to invest in IT. How to invest?<br><br>Firstly, if there're commercial off-the-shelve (COTS) ERP, or hosted SaaS thats been designed for your business needs, then consider using it. This brings you to a basic competitive level. At this point, \"IT still doesn't matter\" since your competitors will likely be using similar COTS.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-07-01_06:49:10", "killed": false, "user_key": "134be7b97f9d907237d39094059096f7", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "07/01/2009 05:49 AM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "10791966": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "I also agree, I.T is the way forward, but its how you use it that ultimately creates success or failure. If implemented without proper research it can be a costly mistake that fails to benefit anyone.", "is_last_child": true, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2009-06-12_07:01:02", "killed": false, "user_key": "47daa943b7c64040ec35825c65c89943", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "06/12/2009 06:01 AM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": true, "email": "", "parent_post_id": 5486865, "depth": 1, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486861": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Is investment in IT a questionable thing? I really don't have anything on this but IT today can build of destroy a business. Information Technology with is something that can not be left out of the picture now.... especially as the web 2.0 has fully integrated itself with the internet. I wrote something regarding <a href=\"http://s-tech-inc.blogspot.com/2008/10/online-marketing.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">online marketing</a> which would go out to suggest what length these people go to and what methods they adopt for marketing a products launch and what factors make campaigns successful.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2008-10-17_06:20:15", "killed": false, "user_key": "ad38617766b69477f0192bbb195004a4", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "10/17/2008 05:20 AM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486862": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "As pointed out in other posts, the causality is not well established, at least based on what is written in this blog.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2007-05-14_08:15:09", "killed": false, "user_key": "bf2204a36c922c2a286586b6e24ffa2b", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "05/14/2007 07:15 AM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486863": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Great research. I align with the \"IT does matter\" side. <br>Some additional angles that would be interesting to observe in this research are:<br>- Alongside with the increase in competition and turbulence detected in high IT consuming industries, is there a similar icnrease in the variance of corporate performance? That is, does the difference between best-worse performer in the industry vary?<br>- Is there an observed difference depending on the type of IT adopted? For example, does the adoption of large process automation software like ERP have the same impact as the adoption of collaboration or information management software?", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2007-05-16_16:13:02", "killed": false, "user_key": "22d41ead73d69626c51841bab089d224", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "05/16/2007 03:13 PM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486864": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "I think that while all three hypotheses on IT \"mattering\" in a competitive sense have merit, there is a fourth variation I would like to contribute.  The technology could be completely homogeneous (SAP, Microsoft) for any market segment (e.g., the oil and gas industry) with markedly different results.  This is a function of organization's culture (highly adaptive, adaptive, reluctant or resistant), where IT stands in the political pecking order within the organization, legacy IT (technologies and experiences) and, ultimately, how it is embraced and deployed.  We can give the same stick to a stupid monkey and a brilliant human being and get constructive results from the monkey (and a stick in the hand of the brilliant human).  It's all how the IT is embraced and deployed, not what the IT is per se.  Competitive advantage goes to those who innovate on how to use the stick, not necessarily the qualities of the stick itself.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2007-05-16_17:44:45", "killed": false, "user_key": "e9be5401e80ebad81666ad1a7c41f707", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "05/16/2007 04:44 PM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486865": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": true, "message": "I agree with David, the way companies in a particular industry use IT, will separate the winners from the losers.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2008-01-29_19:55:36", "killed": false, "user_key": "a74704e6a975da0fca99be5bb92564c4", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "Yesterday 07:55 PM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 1, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486866": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "In my opinion, if your industry is being transformed by IT, then it is important to invest in IT. How to invest? <br><br>Firstly, if there're commercial off-the-shelve (COTS) ERP, or hosted SaaS thats been designed for your business needs, then consider using it. This brings you to a basic competitive level. At this point, \"IT still doesn't matter\" since your competitors will likely be using similar COTS.<br><br>Now, to use IT as a competitive edge, invest in smaller bespoke systems like plugins for the COTS product / SaaS you're using. Every company is different. Having some form of strategic customization will give your business the competitive edge. <br><br>Then IT do matter.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2008-09-28_14:00:33", "killed": false, "user_key": "8b65c06639883a93a071530e67c0e5b3", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "09/28/2008 01:00 PM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486867": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "IT does matter. If you see the way technology companies are merging than you will realize that small players are increasingly getting harder and harder to survive.<br><br>That is the reason why Social Tagging sites like DIGG, Del.icio.us and Communal Portals like MySpace, FaceBook and have given smaller players hope as they tapped on to exponential growth of the internet.<br><br>IT has shown that it gives the innovative players a chance to take on the big boys and companies leveraging IT to have an equal chance of survival.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2007-05-10_01:31:42", "killed": false, "user_key": "f2b7818cb08849f0b717b005edda0f1c", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "05/10/2007 12:31 AM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486868": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Interesting study. Starting to go through the details now. Here's a thought. Within IT-heavy industries IT magnifies competitive effects through faster-moving market learning cycles (Boisot SLCs). This has the result of increasing information flow within and between firms. As the information flow \"heats up\" competitive cycles shrink and the effect of differences in short-term advantage magnifies. The market gets \"hotter\" exhibiting more randomness as a result of increased information flow.<br><br>Normally systems are seen as ways of reducing randomness, which may be true within the firm, but models of competition may actually vary more greatly between firms as culture, shared mental-models, cognitive limitations, etc. cause the firm to lock in on different information and hence difference strategies for competing. Also, since firms self seek differential strategies they are inclined to see and use information differently from their competitors, thus creating more variation is strategy and strategy execution. In this case, increased investments in IT in markets may be seen as destabilizing due to basic human behavior in competition. I got a better gun so I believe I can out-shoot my opponents.<br><br>For the competitors our there (which all firms are), this is seductively interesting since over-optimism leads businesses to believe they can navigate the increased chaos better than the competitors, thus fueling further investment in IT. <br><br>It would be curious to see if there are firms that seem to be not turbulent (don't alter their position in share) despite the turbulence of the market. Is there a leader separating from the pack? If so, this may be evidence of a use of IT that is more enduring than short-term leap-frogging.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2007-05-04_17:19:33", "killed": false, "user_key": "8bf83138aaa606f93d77b70423674427", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "05/04/2007 04:19 PM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486869": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Very nice article Professor McAfee.IT is certainly on demand nowadays. If you look any kind of work lot of things depends on software you use. It has made revolution this will be still or even increase  alive in upcoming years. The only thing required is proper research and planning which is the most important in this field.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2007-05-04_08:33:34", "killed": false, "user_key": "5e6de9e1d14aa8b4898dee8f340d555f", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "05/04/2007 07:33 AM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486870": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "It's a very interesting work.<br><br>But after reading all of it I have a feeling that turbulence and concentration mean unstable industries. Could it happen that<br>because IT innovation cycles are shorter than many other technologies, this would mean that depending on the point at which a company had made its three to five years major investment this could result in a competitive advantage at the beginning and just the opposite at the<br>end of each investment cycle? Because of IT obsolescence, those industries with major IT investments and financial resources should<br>get the major share of the market?", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2007-05-04_06:51:31", "killed": false, "user_key": "f0e79b9962233b03abed0a70254f51d4", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "05/04/2007 05:51 AM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486871": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Oliver Young makes a good point that any advantage conferred by technology innovation may be short-term. But, as with any competitive edge, it matters a lot how the company plays that advantage. Consider Yahoo's early lead in search-engine technology, which it has managed to parlay into a lasting, top-tier position in that media niche, while other early stars of that niche (Excite, Alta Vista) are candidates for \"I Love the 90s\" episodes.<br><br>So, any competitive edge, even a short-termed one, can't be lightly discarded (nor relied on exclusively, of course). Given that, Lars Haugstad's point about the types of IT investment seems extremely relevant, as it proposes differentiating among companies that have invested in innovation that would give them an advantage, versus those companies that simply spend a great deal on IT because they haven't learned how to run their commodity-level IT operations cost-effectively.<br><br>A ripe area for exploration would be the performance of companies that spend more of their IT budget on new products, processes, and services, compared to those that spend more on daily operations.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2007-05-02_12:57:43", "killed": false, "user_key": "4a1a538cc3cf793c0bb559758c29584f", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "05/02/2007 11:57 AM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486872": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Very interesting results. I do, however, believe that discussing IT in general is too broad of a concept. I suggest looking at IT-investments with two different perspectives:<br><br>Operational deployment<br>IT serves as an enabler. Operations (as discussed with CVS) can be made more efficiently, and greater control of information can augment the standard product, such as when UPS offers tracking of their shipments. Typical ERP/MIS systems fall under this category.<br><br>Strategic deployment<br>IT serves to strategically differentiate. The company builds its business model around the opportunities that IT offers. Offering unique solutions enabled by IT that are strategically aligned with the business model can create competitive advantages that may even outlive the rapid turbulence of the high-IT industry.<br><br>These two categories of deployment are significantly different and offers very different result. I believe both of these can occur in any of the IT-industry segments (low/medium/high), but strategic deployment is mostly seen in the high-end side of the spectrum.<br><br>As mentioned before me, IT is worth nothing unless properly deployed with the mindset and culture of the organization. Therefore, IT provides strategic competitive advantage only with the support of human creativity to reap its benefits.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2007-04-30_10:30:12", "killed": false, "user_key": "a0cc8d29f54a4d8b959b7f702c347ab7", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "04/30/2007 09:30 AM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486873": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Interesting work. Your findings could have all sorts of strategic implications, especially in industries that are not already High-IT. But what about cause and effect? Have you looked into whether heavy IT adoption is the cause of greater concentration and turbulence OR the (possibly indirect) consequence of it?", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2007-04-28_23:52:01", "killed": false, "user_key": "57ed84c9a19e5b55ded0464390225779", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "04/28/2007 10:52 PM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486874": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "In my mind there is no doubt that there is a strong interrelationship between IT expenditure and competitiveness.<br><br>But where it few years ago was all about resource planning and overall financial control I think it's a new game today.<br><br>Maybe it's possible to explain with different Capital-definitions?<br><br>1. Financial Capital as in \"ERP\", \"Lean\", \"SAP\", \"ROI\".<br><br>2. Human Capital as in \"HR\", \"HRM\" and related stuff.<br><br>3. Social Capital as in \"relations\", \"Dunbar\", \"web2.0\", E2.0\", \"Open Innovation\".<br><br>4. Psychological Capital as in \"Personal Leadership\", \"Optimism\", \"Hope\", \"Efficacy\", \"Resilience\".<br><br>5-10 years ago IT was all about 1&2 - today competitive force maybe is about something else, ceteris paribus, it's about how you can grow the \"Social Capital\". IT is definitely a determinant factor or what?", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2007-04-29_04:12:53", "killed": false, "user_key": "b74033cad9e182a048193c023e2e6bfb", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "Yesterday 03:12 AM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486875": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Thanks for diving into one of the fundamental questions, professor.<br>From the era of I-do-my-own-software portion of the industry has shifted more or less<br>into heavy homogenizing with the help of big vendors. This seems to be a quite a natural shift as we can see in any industry. Technology vendors will tend to even out the competition and make it better for consumer. <br>IT's potential to differentiate is still as vast as human creativity. amazon Vs barnes & nobles, netflix Vs blockbuster...<br>(\"We conclude that the improved ability of firms to replicate business innovations is linked not only to productivity increases, but also to changes in the nature of business com-petition itself.\")<br>When large corporations shake out their dust to get nimble, homogenizing may be the fastest and least risky way to do so. In the world of Goliaths, every body will have spades but it does matter how they decide use them. Deployment of IT makes a big difference (as professor said, 'drunken sailor' attitude will not help!). Its<br>deployment is. How well they are integrated into the business? How knowledgeable is the staff to harness the benefits?...Intelligent and visionary deployment can make the organizations respond to sudden and unexpected changes in the market place. Professor, I think it might be interesting to include a metric to check how IT helped (if at all!) organizations to respond to challenges in market place. These changes may or may not occur every year or so but some of them are capable of deciding the life span. <br>I subscribe to the notion IT does matter as it springs forth from an inextinguishable<br>resource - human creativity.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2007-04-29_09:23:47", "killed": false, "user_key": "8b470de87262e9161fb7b0360e7b04c3", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "Yesterday 08:23 AM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486876": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "So there is a correlation between IT spend & industry concentration & turbulence. At the risk of being naive, could a case be made that the causation pattern runs in the opposite direction? Could these industries have invested in IT precisely because they were perceiving greater competition in their markets (caused by other changes in their regulatory/technical/social environments)? This is the \"IT as silver bullet\" approach - which was rife in the mid-90s and is hardly uncommon now. A question might be: is growth in IT spend a leading or lagging indicator for concentration or turbulence?<br><br>The comments made under the heading \"A Surprise\", are not that surprising for those familiar with the law of unintended consequences. To what extent does IT make the business environment more complex? It certainly allows more interactions between entities (which is a necessary condition for complexity to arise in a system - pace Alexrod & Cohen). And to what extent did IT in the 90s reduce flexibility at the price of conformity? ERP systems are notoriously hard to configure & deploy - which is why SOA & SAAS are getting the attention at the moment.<br><br>All that said I agree with the 3 comments made at the end of your article.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2007-04-28_22:04:41", "killed": false, "user_key": "11d794f6d29d79ab11651f1043440fd6", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "04/28/2007 09:04 PM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486877": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "I have been writing about these ideas for the oil and gas industry. <br><br>In my blog you will find discussion of this article and reviews of Professor Richard N. Langlois, Professor Sydney Winter, and John Hagel's works. This group of writers are all contributing to these ideas, and collectively are pushing the envelope.", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2007-04-28_13:14:20", "killed": false, "user_key": "267679c71001a3266258261d96d4b3f7", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "04/28/2007 12:14 PM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}, "5486878": {"up_voted": false, "ip": "", "has_replies": false, "message": "Professor McAfee, first of all I would like to say thank you to you and the rest of your team for undertaking the research. It is clearly one of the fundamental questions facing the IT industry today.<br><br>I will readily admit that I am a subscriber to the \u00c2\u201cIT Doesn\u00c2\u2019t Matter\u00c2\u201d mantra, but I do so with one major caveat: IT doesn\u00c2\u2019t matter in the long-run. In the short-run, as firms adopt IT at different rates and rationalize those purchases with different levels of success there will be an amplification of turbulence. In the long-run, however, these forces will shake out as all firms reach the same plateau, rationalizing much of the same technology for the same business benefit. This is not to say that IT doesn\u00c2\u2019t matter at all \u00c2\u2014 in the short-run it is tremendously important and can change the competitive landscape quite drastically \u00c2\u2014 but the major game-changing shifts do not occur every day, they occur at most once every 10-12 years.<br><br>My concern is that your analysis is, due to our place in history, examining the short-term impact of a major shift \u00c2\u2014 where we would expect the competitive landscape to change. With a longer time horizon I think we will find that the day to day operations and decisions of IT shops have little to no impact on the competitive landscape. Then again, as John Maynard Keynes famously quipped \u00c2\u201cin the long-run we\u00c2\u2019re all dead.\u00c2\u201d", "is_last_child": false, "can_reply": true, "down_voted": false, "real_date": "2007-04-28_12:42:58", "killed": false, "user_key": "08f4d0153e4aca521a5bb79451dccbb6", "has_been_anonymized": false, "edited": false, "author_is_moderator": false, "from_request_user": null, "votable": true, "date": "04/28/2007 11:42 AM", "approved": true, "num_replies": 0, "is_first_child": false, "email": "", "parent_post_id": null, "depth": 0, "points": 0, "author_is_creator": false, "is_realtime": false}}, "integration": {"receiver_url": null, "theme": 1, "reply_position": false, "disqus_logo": false}, "timer": {"timer_url": "http://localhost:8005", "thread_id": "10392457", "user_id": "anonymous", "forum_id": "78088", "hash": 9096628869282508816}, "thread": {"days_alive": 0, "slug": "does_it_matter_results_are_in", "paginate": false, "num_pages": 1, "num_posts": 20, "per_page": 0, "total_posts": 0, "realtime_paused": true, "id": 10392457, "queued": false}, "reactions_limit": 10, "context": {"show_reply": true, "use_fb_connect": false, "forum_facebook_key": "", "use_yahoo": false, "subscribed": false, "use_twitter_signin": true, "use_openid": true, "realtime_speed": 5000}, "reactions_start": 0, "settings": {"debug": false, "disqus_url": "http://disqus.com", "media_url": "http://media.disqus.com"}, "media_url": "http://media.disqus.com"};
	/* */ this.jsonData.cookie_messages = {"user_created": null, "post_has_profile": null, "post_twitter": null, "post_not_approved": null}; this.jsonData.session = {"url": null, "name": null, "email": null}; /* */

	
	this.curPageId = 'dsq-comments';

	this.frames = {};
};

var disqus_popup_reference = null;

if(typeof DsqLocal == 'undefined') {
	DsqLocal = {};
}



/**
 * Dsq.Strings: UI strings
 */
Dsq.Strings = new function() {
	this.ADD_NEW_COMMENT = "Add New Comment";
	this.LOG_INTO_DISQUS = "Log into DISQUS";
	this.USE_MEDIA = "Use Media";
	this.LOGOUT = "Logout";
	this.SHARING_OPTIONS = "Sharing options";
	this.SHARE_ON = "Share on";
	this.TWEET_THIS_COMMENT = "Tweet this comment";
	this.SHARE_ON_NEWSFEED = "Share on news feed";
	this.SEND_UPDATE_TO_YAHOO = "Send update to Yahoo!";
	this.REBLOG_ON = "Reblog on";
	this.CONFIGURE_OPTIONS = "Configure options";
	this.POST_AS = "Post as";
	this.SORT_BY = "Sort by";
	this.SUBSCRIBE_BY_EMAIL = "Subscribe by email";
	this.SUBSCRIBE_BY_RSS = "Subscribe by RSS";
	this.POPULAR_NOW = "Popular now";
	this.BEST_RATING = "Best Rating";
	this.NEWEST_FIRST = "Newest first";
	this.OLDEST_FIRST = "Oldest first";
	this.HIGHLIGHTED = "Highlighted";
	this.UNSUBSCRIBE = "Unsubscribe";
	this.REQUIRED = "Required";
	this.OPTIONAL = "Optional";
	this.YOU_ARE_COMMENTING_AS_A = "You are commenting as a";
	this.LOGIN_BELOW = "Login below";
	this.PLEASE_LOGIN_BELOW_TO_COMMENT = "Please login below to comment.";
	this.SUBSCRIBE_TO_ALL_COMMENTS_BY_EMAIL = "Subscribe to all comments by email";
	this.DO_NOT_SUBSCRIBE_TO_COMMENTS = "Do not subscribe to comments";
	this.REALTIME_UPDATING_IS = "Real-time updating is";
	this.ENABLED = "enabled";
	this.PAUSED = "paused";
	this.PAUSE = "Pause";
	this.RESUME = "Resume";
	this.SHOW = "Show";
	this.JUST_NOW = "Just now";
	this.REPLY = "Reply";
	this.EDIT = "Edit";
	this.FLAG = "Flag";
	this.MODERATE = "Moderate";
	this.CANCEL = "Cancel";
	this.REPLYING_TO = "Replying to";
	this.REPORT_MISSING_REACTIONS = "Report missing reactions";
	this.POST_A_COMMENT = "Post a comment";
	this.FLAG_INAPPROPRIATE_COMMENT = "Flag inappropriate comment";
	this.FLAGGED = "Flagged";
	this.NO = "No";
	this.YES = "Yes";
	this.NEVER_MIND = "Never mind";
	this.ARE_YOU_SURE_YOU_WOULD_LIKE_TO_REPORT_THIS_COMMENT_TO_A_MODERATOR = "Are you sure you would like to report this comment to a moderator";
	this.THIS_WILL_FLAG_COMMENTS_FOR_MODERATORS_TO_TAKE_ACTION = "This will flag comments for moderators to take action";
	this.TO_RATE_PLEASE_LOG_IN = "To rate, please log in";
	this.JUST_A_MOMENT = "Just a moment...";
	this.GUEST = "Guest";
	this.NAME = "Name";
	this.EMAIL = "Email";
  this.WEBSITE = "Website";
  this.SETTINGS = "Settings";
  this.MODERATOR_OPTIONS = "Moderator options: ";
};
// Dsq.Strings

/**
 * Dsq.FmtStrings: functions that return interpolated UI strings
 */
Dsq.FmtStrings = new function() {
	// Seems we have to use named interpolation for Django to translate. Investigate more.
	this.LOGGED_IN_AS = function(username) {
		return Dsq.Utils.interpolate('Logged in as %(username)s', {username:username});
	};

	this.LOGOUT_FROM = function(disqus) {
		return Dsq.Utils.interpolate('Logout from %(disqus)s', {disqus:disqus});
	};

	this.SHOWING_COMMENTS_FULL = function(total, num) {
		if (num === 1) {
			return Dsq.Utils.interpolate("Showing <span id='dsq-num-posts'>%(num)s</span> of <span id='dsq-total-posts'>%(total)s</span> comment", {num:num, total:total});
		} else {
			return Dsq.Utils.interpolate("Showing <span id='dsq-num-posts'>%(num)s</span> of <span id='dsq-total-posts'>%(total)s</span> comments", {num:num, total:total});
		}
	};

	this.SHOWING_COMMENTS_WITHOUT_PAGINATION = function(num) {
		if (num === 1) {
			return Dsq.Utils.interpolate("Showing <span id='dsq-num-posts'>%(num)s</span> comment", {num:num});
		} else {
			return Dsq.Utils.interpolate("Showing <span id='dsq-num-posts'>%(num)s</span> comments", {num:num});
		}
	};

	this.NUMBER_OF_COMMENTS = function(num) {
		return Dsq.Utils.interpolate(
			(num == 1
				? '%(num)s comment'
				: '%(num)s comments'
			), {num:num});
	};

	this.NUMBER_OF_LIKES = function(num) {
		return Dsq.Utils.interpolate(
			(num == 1
				? '%(num)s like'
				: '%(num)s likes'
			), {num:num});
	};

	this.NUMBER_OF_POINTS = function(num) {
		return Dsq.Utils.interpolate(
			(num == 1
				? '%(num)s point'
				: '%(num)s points'
			), {num:num});
	};
};
// Dsq.FmtStrings





Dsq.CSRF_TOKEN = '4f0bfca82e06c976a1efdd7c783a5fd0';
Dsq.COMMENTS_RE = /(<li.*?id="?dsq-comment-(\d+)"?.*?>)((?:.|\s)*?)(<\/li>)/gim;
Dsq.POST_RE = /(<div.*?id="?dsq-comment-header-(\d+)"?.*?>)((?:.|\s)*?)(<\/div>)\s*(<div.*?class="?dsq-comment-body"?.*?>)((?:.|\s)*)(<\/div>)/gim;
Dsq.POST_BODY_RE = /\s*(<div.*?id="?dsq-comment-message-(\d+)"?.*?>)((?:.|\s)*)(<\/div>)/gim;
// HACK: Safari ends with "-->" while other browsers end with "--&gt;" as expected.
Dsq.MEDIA_POST_RE = /&lt;!--\[(.*?)\]--(?:>|&gt;)/gim;



// TODO: It might be faster to use string methods to find all <li (...) </li> blocks and pass to Dsq.PostHandler manually.
Dsq.CommentsHandler = function(str, head, post_id, content, tail, offset, s) {
	var prepend_post = Dsq.Templates.prependPost(post_id);
	var append_post = Dsq.Templates.appendPost(post_id);

	content = content.replace(Dsq.POST_RE, Dsq.PostHandler);
	Dsq.Templates.postLoopCounter++;
	head = Dsq.Templates.Filters.commentContainer(post_id, head);
	return prepend_post + head + content + tail + append_post;
};

Dsq.PostHandler = function(str, h_head, post_id, h_content, h_tail, b_head, b_content, b_tail, offset, s) {
	var prepend_header = Dsq.Templates.postPrependHeader(post_id);
	var append_header = Dsq.Templates.postAppendHeader(post_id);
	var prepend_body = Dsq.Templates.preBody(post_id);
	var append_body = Dsq.Templates.postBody(post_id);
	var append_footer = Dsq.Templates.postFooter(post_id);

	b_content = b_content.replace(Dsq.POST_BODY_RE, Dsq.PostBodyHandler);
	return h_head + prepend_header + h_content + append_header + h_tail + b_head + prepend_body + b_content + append_body + b_tail + append_footer;
};

Dsq.PostBodyHandler = function(str, head, post_id, content, tail, offset, s) {
	content = Dsq.Templates.Filters.commentContent(post_id, content);
	return head + content + tail;
};

Dsq.MediaPostHandler = function(str, args, offset, s) {
	args = args.split(' ');
	if(args[0] == 'seesmic') {
		return '<br />' + Dsq.Templates.mediaSeesmic(args[1], args[2]);
	}
	return '';
};


/**
 * Shorcuts
 */
Dsq.$ = function(element) { return document.getElementById(element); };
Dsq.$b = document.body || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0];


/**
 * Dsq.Debug: Logging functions.
 */

Dsq.Debug = new function() {this.log=function(s){};this.profile=function(f){if(typeof f == 'function')return f();else return eval(f);};};


/**
 * Dsq.Urls: URL paths
 */
Dsq.Urls = new function() {
	this.LOGIN = '/profile/login/';
	this.LOGOUT = '/logout/';
	this.REPLY = 'http://disqus.com/forums/andrewmcafee/does_it_matter_results_are_in/reply.html';
	this.REQUEST_USER_PROFILE = '/AnonymousUser/';
	this.REQUEST_USER_AVATAR = 'http://media.disqus.com/images/noavatar92.png';
};
// Dsq.Urls

/**
 * Dsq.Validators: Validation for form fields
 */
Dsq.Validators = new function() {
	this.VALID_EMAIL_RE = /^[a-z0-9\-\_\+]+(\.[a-z0-9\-\_\+]+)*\@(([a-z0-9\-\_\+]+(\.[a-z0-9\-\_\+]+)*)+\.[a-z]{2,}|([0-9]+\.){3}[0-9]+)$/i;
	this.name = function(name) {
		var error = false;

		if(typeof Dsq.Templates.placeholder !== 'undefined' &&
		   name == Dsq.Templates.placeholder.name) {
			error = true;
		}
		if(name.length <= 1) {
			error = true;
		}

		if(error) {
			return "Please enter a name to comment.";
		} else {
			return true;
		}
	};
	this.email = function(addr) {
		if(Dsq.Validators.VALID_EMAIL_RE.test(addr)) {
			return true;
		} else {
			return "Please enter a valid email to comment.";
		}
	};
	this.url = function(addr) {
		if(!addr || addr.indexOf('.') != -1) {
			return true;
		} else {
			return "Please check your website URL (this field is optional).";
		}
	};

	this.validate = function(bulk_validation, failure_callback) {
		failure_callback = failure_callback || function(e){ alert(e); };

		for(var i = 0; i < bulk_validation.length; i++) {
			v = bulk_validation[i];
			ret = v.validator(v.value);
			if(ret !== true) {
				failure_callback(ret);
				return false;
			}
		}
		return true;
	};
};

/**
 * Dsq.Utils: Generic utility functions.
 */
Dsq.Utils = new function() {
	this.ie = /msie/i.test(navigator.userAgent) && !/opera/i.test(navigator.userAgent);
	this.ie7 = (document.all && !window.opera && window.XMLHttpRequest) ? true : false;
	this.ie6 = (!window.XMLHttpRequest) ? true: false;
	this.webkit = navigator.userAgent.indexOf('AppleWebKit/') >= 0;
	this.gebiFromElementCollectionCache = {};
	this._styleSheet = null;

	this.gebiFromElement = function(el, id, tag) {
		// This only method only helps IE.
		if(!this.ie) {
			return Dsq.$(id);
		} else {
			var cacheKey = el.id + '-' + tag;
			tag = tag || 'div';
			if(typeof this.gebiFromElementCollectionCache[cacheKey] != 'undefined') {
				collection = this.gebiFromElementCollectionCache[cacheKey];
			} else {
				collection = el.getElementsByTagName(tag);
				this.gebiFromElementCollectionCache[cacheKey] = collection;
			}

			for(var i = 0; i < collection.length; i++) {
				if(collection[i].id == id) {
					return collection[i];
				}
			}
			return null;
		}
	};

	this.execOnReady = function(func) {
		var node = document.createElement('document:ready');
		try {
			node.doScroll('left');
			func();
			node = null;
		} catch(err) {
			setTimeout(function() { Dsq.Utils.execOnReady(func); }, 10);
		}
	};


	// Courtesy of http://www.quirksmode.org/js/cookies.html
	this.createCookie = function(name,value,days) {
		if (days) {
			var date = new Date();
			date.setTime(date.getTime()+(days*24*60*60*1000));
			var expires = "; expires="+date.toGMTString();
		}
		else var expires = "";
		document.cookie = name+"="+value+expires+"; path=/";
	};

	this.readCookie = function(name) {
		var nameEQ = name + "=";
		var ca = document.cookie.split(';');
		for(var i=0;i < ca.length;i++) {
			var c = ca[i];
			while (c.charAt(0)==' ') c = c.substring(1,c.length);
			if (c.indexOf(nameEQ) == 0) return c.substring(nameEQ.length,c.length);
		}
		return null;
	};

	this.eraseCookie = function(name) {
		Dsq.Utils.createCookie(name,"",-1);
	};

	this.deleteNode = function(node) {
		if(node) {
			this.deleteChildren(node);
			if(typeof node.outerHTML != 'undefined') { node.outerHTML = ''; }
			else if(node.parentNode) { node.parentNode.removeChild(node); }
			delete node;
		}
	};

	this.deleteChildren = function(node) {
		if(node) {
			for(var x = node.childNodes.length-1; x >= 0; x--) {
				var childNode = node.childNodes[x];
				if(childNode.hasChildNodes()) { this.deleteChildren(childNode); }
				if(typeof childNode.outerHTML != 'undefined') { childNode.outerHTML = ''; }
				else node.removeChild(childNode);
				delete childNode;
			}
		}
	};

	this.findPos = function(obj) {
		var curleft = 0;
		var curtop = 0;
		if (obj.offsetParent) {
			do {
				curleft += obj.offsetLeft;
				curtop += obj.offsetTop;
			} while (obj = obj.offsetParent);
		}
		return [curleft,curtop];
	};

	this.getWindowSize = function() {
		var windowWidth = -1;
		var windowHeight = -1;

		if(typeof(window.innerWidth) == 'number') { //Non-IE
			windowWidth = window.innerWidth;
			windowHeight = window.innerHeight;
		} else if(document.documentElement) { // IE 6+ in 'standards compliant mode'
			windowWidth = document.documentElement.clientWidth || document.body.clientWidth;
			windowHeight = document.documentElement.clientHeight || document.body.clientHeight;
		}

		return [windowWidth, windowHeight];
	}

	this.getScrollPos = function() {
		var scrollWidth, scrollTop;

		if(document.documentElement && (document.documentElement.scrollTop || document.documentElement.scrollWidth)) {
			scrollWidth = document.documentElement.scrollWidth;
			// IE is weird here.  If no doctype is provided, document.body.scrollTop is 0,
			// otherwise document.documentElement.scrollTop is 0.
			scrollTop = document.documentElement.scrollTop || document.body.scrollTop;
		} else if(document.body.scrollTop && document.body.scrollWidth) {
			scrollWidth = document.body.scrollWidth;
			scrollTop = document.body.scrollTop;
		}

		return [scrollWidth, scrollTop];
	}

	this.addEventListener = function(instance, eventName, listener) {
		var listenerFn = listener;
		if (instance.addEventListener) {
			instance.addEventListener(eventName, listenerFn, false);
		} else if (instance.attachEvent) {
			listenerFn = function() {
				listener(window.event);
			};
			instance.attachEvent("on" + eventName, listenerFn);
		} else {
			throw new Error("Event registration not supported");
		}
		return {
			instance: instance,
			name: eventName,
			listener: listenerFn
		};
	};

	this.removeEventListener = function(event) {
		var instance = event.instance;
		if (instance.removeEventListener) {
			instance.removeEventListener(event.name, event.listener, false);
		} else if (instance.detachEvent) {
			instance.detachEvent("on" + event.name, event.listener);
		}
	};

	this.fixIframesIE = function(id) {
		var disqusThread = Dsq.$(disqus_container_id);
		var iframes = disqusThread.getElementsByTagName('iframe');

		if(id) {
			var container = Dsq.$(id);
		} else {
			var container = Dsq.$('dsq-content');
		}

		for(i = 0; i < iframes.length; i++) {
			if (container) {
				iframes[i].style.width = container.offsetWidth;
			}
		}
	};

	this.getElementsByClassName = function(oElm, strTagName, strClassName) {
	/* Credit: Jonathan Snook [http://www.snook.ca/jonathan], Robert Nyman [http://www.robertnyman.com] */
		var arrElements = (strTagName == "*" && oElm.all)? oElm.all : oElm.getElementsByTagName(strTagName);
		var arrReturnElements = new Array();
		strClassName = strClassName.replace(/\-/g, "\\-");
		var oRegExp = new RegExp("(^|\\s)" + strClassName + "(\\s|$)");
		var oElement;
		for(var i = 0; i < arrElements.length; i++) {
			oElement = arrElements[i];
			if(oRegExp.test(oElement.className)) {
				arrReturnElements.push(oElement);
			}
		}
		return (arrReturnElements);
	};

	this.postToUrl = function(url, post_data, opt_redirect) {
		var form = document.createElement('form');
		var iframe_container = document.createElement('div');
		var id = 'dsq-temp-iframe-' + (new Date()).getTime();

		form.method = 'POST';
		form.action = url;
		if (!opt_redirect) {
			form.target = id;
		}
		iframe_container.innerHTML = '<iframe style="display:none" name="' + id + '" id="' + id + '"></iframe>';

		for(var key in post_data) {
			if(post_data.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
				var input = document.createElement('input');
				input.name = key;
				input.type = 'hidden';
				input.value = post_data[key];

				form.appendChild(input);
			}
		}

		Dsq.$b.appendChild(iframe_container);
		Dsq.$b.appendChild(form);
		form.submit();
	};

	// Strips integer id from id of element in the form ('some-id-###')
	this.extractId = function(e) {
		var chunks = e.id.split('-');
		if(chunks.length <= 1) {
			return 0;
		} else {
			return parseInt(chunks[chunks.length-1]);
		}
	};

	this.getStyle = function(el, styleProp) {
		if(el.currentStyle) {
			var y = el.currentStyle[styleProp];
		} else if(window.getComputedStyle) {
			var y = document.defaultView.getComputedStyle(el, null).getPropertyValue(styleProp);
		}

		if(y == 'transparent' || y == '') {
			this.getStyle(el.parentNode, styleProp);
		} else {
			return y;
		}
	};

	this.execScript = function(url, append_qs, container) {
		var script = document.createElement('script');
		append_qs = typeof append_qs == 'undefined' ? true : append_qs;
		container = container || Dsq.container;

		if(append_qs) {
			var j = (url.indexOf('?') >= 0) ? '&' : '?';
			url += j + (new Date()).getTime();
		}
		script.type = 'text/javascript';
		script.charset = 'UTF-8';
		script.src = url;
		container.appendChild(script);
		return script;
	};

	this.pluralize = function(num, singular, plural) {
		return (num != 1) ? plural || 's' : singular || '';
	};

	this.getRequestParams = function(queryString /* optional */) {
		var pairs, tuple;
		var params = {};

		queryString = queryString || window.location.search.substring(1);
		pairs = queryString.split('&');

		for (var i = 0, pair; pair = pairs[i]; i++) {
			tuple = pair.split('=');
			params[tuple[0]] = (tuple[1] || true);
		}

		return params;
	};

	this.addCssRule = function(selector, styleText, index) {
		var stylesheet;
		index = index || 0;

		if(!this._styleSheet) {
			var styleEl = document.createElement('style');
			document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(styleEl);
			this._styleSheet = styleEl.sheet;
			if(!this._styleSheet) {
				// IE does not like our newly created stylesheet.
				this._styleSheet = document.styleSheets[document.styleSheets.length-1];
			}
		}
		stylesheet = this._styleSheet;

		if(stylesheet.insertRule) {
			var ruleText = selector + ' { ' + styleText + ' }';
			if(index == -1) {
				index = stylesheet.cssRules.length;
			}
			stylesheet.insertRule(ruleText, index);
		} else if(stylesheet.addRule) {
			stylesheet.addRule(selector, styleText, index);
		}
	};

	this.forEachIn = function(obj, callback) {
		for(var key in obj) {
			if(obj.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
				callback(key, obj[key]);
			}
		}
	};

	this._interpolateGlobalContext = {
		// values that get used a lot and are global to the request
		'profile_url': Dsq.Urls.REQUEST_USER_PROFILE,

		'disqus_url': Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url,
		'media_url': Dsq.jsonData.settings.media_url,
		'request_username': Dsq.jsonData.request.username,
		'request_display_username': Dsq.jsonData.request.display_username,
		'forum_name': Dsq.jsonData.forum.name
	};

	this.renderFromContextStack = function(key, contexts) {
		// Returns the first instance of `key` in the array of objects `contexts` or else ''
		for (var i=0; i<contexts.length; i++) {
			if (contexts[i][key] !== undefined) {
				return String(contexts[i][key]);
			}
		}
		throw new Error('key ' + key + ' not found in context');
	};

	var that = this;
	this.interpolate = function(fmt, opt_localContext) {
		// Interpolate `fmt` named-format string with an assumed global context.
		// Based on `interpolate` in django.views.i18n
		var contextStack = [opt_localContext || {}, that._interpolateGlobalContext];
		return fmt.replace(/%\(\w+\)s/g, function(match){
			return that.renderFromContextStack(match.slice(2,-2), contextStack);
		});
	};

	this.stripTags = function(s) {
		// Removes HTML tags from `s`
		return s.replace(/(<([^>]+)>)/g,"");

	};

	this.assert = function(b) {
		if (!b) {
			throw new Error('Assertion error.');
		}
	};

};
// Dsq.Utils

/**
 * Dsq.Popup: Popup helper functions.
 */
Dsq.Popup = new function() {
	this.timeHide = new Array();
	this.timeShow = new Array();
	this.activePopup = {};
	this.profileCache = {};
	this.statusCache = {};

	this.showTimer = function(post_id) {
		// clear the hide timer
		clearTimeout(this.timeHide[post_id]);

		// start the timer
		if(!Dsq.Popup.profileIsOn && !Dsq.Thread.adminIsOn) {
			this.timeShow[post_id] = setTimeout("Dsq.Popup.popProfile(\"" + post_id + "\")", 400);
		}
	};

	this.hideTimer = function(post_id) {
		// clear the show timer
		clearTimeout(this.timeShow[post_id]);
	};

	this.updateProfile = function(username) {
		// Callback from /embed/profile.js
		if (this.statusCache[username]) {
			var statusEl = Dsq.$('dsq-profile-status-' + username);
			statusEl.innerHTML = this.statusCache[username];
			statusEl.style.display = 'block';
		}

		if (this.profileCache[username]) {
			var _cache = this.profileCache[username];

			var _genhtml = function(text) { return '<span><big>' + text + '</big></span>'; };
			var _no_comments = _genhtml(Dsq.FmtStrings.NUMBER_OF_COMMENTS(_cache.comments_count));
			var _no_likes = _genhtml(Dsq.FmtStrings.NUMBER_OF_LIKES(_cache.likes_count));
			var _no_points = _genhtml(Dsq.FmtStrings.NUMBER_OF_POINTS(_cache.points));

			var statsEl = Dsq.$('dsq-popup-profile-user-stats-' + username);
			statsEl.innerHTML = '';

			if (Dsq.jsonData.users[username].registered) {
				statsEl.innerHTML = _no_comments + _no_likes;
			}
			statsEl.innerHTML += _no_points;

			var activeSites = '';
			for (var i = 0; i < _cache.active_sites.length; i++) {
				var site = _cache.active_sites[i];
				activeSites += '<li><a href="' + site.url + '"> \
					<img src="' + site.favicon + '"/ width="16" height="16"/></a>\
					<a href="' + site.url + '">' + site.name + '</a></li>';
			}
			if (activeSites !== '') {
				Dsq.$('dsq-popup-profile-active-sites-' + username).innerHTML = activeSites;
			} else {
				Dsq.$('dsq-popup-profile-active-sites-' + username).innerHTML = 'This site.';
			}

			var moderatedSites = '';
			for (var i = 0; i < _cache.moderated_sites.length; i++) {
				var site = _cache.moderated_sites[i];
				moderatedSites += '<li><a href="' + site.url + '"> \
					<img src="' + site.favicon + '"/ width="16" height="16"/></a>\
					<a href="' + site.url + '">' + site.name + '</a></li>';
			}
			if (moderatedSites !== '') {
				Dsq.$('dsq-popup-profile-moderated-' + username).innerHTML = moderatedSites;
			} else {
				Dsq.$('dsq-popup-profile-moderated-wrapper-' + username).innerHTML = '';
			}
		}

		// Reposition popup after full HTML is rendered
		if(Dsq.Popup.activePopup && Dsq.Popup.activePopup.el) {
			Dsq.Popup.initPopup(Dsq.Popup.activePopup.el, Dsq.Popup.activePopup.id, Dsq.Popup.activePopup.type);
		}

	};

	this.showCookieMsgs = function() {
		var title = '';
		var message = '';
		var numAlerts = 0;

		Dsq.Utils.forEachIn(Dsq.jsonData.cookie_messages, function(k, v) {
			if (!v) return;

			switch(k) {
				// Cookie: Twitter
				case 'post_twitter':
					if (v === 'error') {
						title = 'Twitter Error!';
						message += '<li id="dsq-msg-twitter-error">Oops, we couldn\'t tweet this comment. Please check your <a href="http://disqus.com/account/services">account settings</a>.</li>';
					} else {
						var _msg = v.split(':');
						title = 'Tweeted!';
						message += '<li id="dsq-msg-twitter-success">Your comment was successfully tweeted. <a href="http://twitter.com/' + _msg[0] + '/status/' + _msg[1] + '">Click here to view the tweet</a>.</li>';
					}
					break;
				// Cookie: Unapproved Post
				case 'post_not_approved':
					title = 'Comment awaiting approval by a moderator';
					message += '<li id="dsq-msg-post-not-approved">Your comment must be approved by a moderator before appearing here.</li>';
					break;
				// Cookie: Profile Found
				case 'post_has_profile':
					title = 'Use your existing commenter profile';
					message += '<li id="dsq-msg-post-has-profile">You have just posted your commment as a <span class="dsq-badge-guest">Guest</span>, but you may already have a <span class="logo-disqus">Disqus</span> Profile.<br /><br /><a href="http://disqus.com/claim">Log in and claim this comment!</a></li>';
					break;
				case 'user_created':
					var _data = v.split(':');
					title = 'Profile created!';
					message += '<li id="dsq-msg-user-created">You have just created a <span class="logo-disqus">Disqus</span> Profile, the best way to claim, manage, and track your comments all over the web. \
					<br /><br />A confirmation is being sent to <strong>' + _data[1] + '</strong>. Please check for this email in order to verify your profile. \
					<ul class="dsq-list-tick"> \
						<li>Your username is <strong>' + _data[0] +'</strong>. <a href="http://disqus.com/people/' + _data[0] + '/" target="_blank">Click here to view your public profile</a>.</li> \
						<li>Be sure to set your profile picture, as well as connect your <span class="dsq-badge-facebook">Facebook</span> and <span class="dsq-badge-twitter">Twitter</span> accounts. <a href="http://disqus.com/account/" target="_blank">Click here for account settings</a>.</li> \
					</ul> \
					</li>'
					break;
				default:
					break;
			}
			numAlerts++;
		});

		if(numAlerts > 1) {
			message = '<ul class="dsq-list-bluebullet">' + message;
			message += '</ul>';
			title = 'Thanks for posting!';
		}
		if(numAlerts > 0) {
			if(typeof(disqus_cookie_msgs) == 'function') {
				disqus_cookie_msgs(message, title);
			} else {
				Dsq.Popup.popModal(message, title);
			}
		}
	};

	this.helpBadges = function(post_id) {
		var html = ' \
			<ul class="dsq-popup-help"> \
				<li><span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-verified">Verified</span> has a <span class="logo-disqus">Disqus</span> Profile with a confirmed email address.</li> \
				<li><span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-registered">Registered</span> has a <span class="logo-disqus">Disqus</span> Profile, but has not yet confirmed his or her email address.</li> \
				<li><span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-guest">Guest</span> is not logged in with any account and has not claimed his or her comments.</li> \
				<li class="dsq-help-otheraccts">Other accounts</li> \
				<li><span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-facebook">Facebook</span> is using his or her Facebook profile via Facebook Connect.</li> \
				<li><span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-twitter">Twitter</span> is using his or her Twitter profile via Twitter Sign-in.</li> \
				<li><span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-openid">OpenID</span> is using his or her OpenID.</li> \
			</ul> \
		';

		this.popModal(html, 'Help: Types of Commenters', post_id);
		return;
	};

	this.permalink = function(post_id) {
		var header = 'Link to this comment';
		var body = '<strong>You are anchored to</strong>:<br />' + document.location.protocol + '//' + document.location.host + document.location.pathname + document.location.search + '#comment-' + post_id;

		this.popModal(body, header, post_id);
	};

	this.login = function(header, body) {
		var h = header || 'Login or Register';
		var b = body || '';
		b += Dsq.Templates.frameLogin({id: 'dsq-popup-login'});
		b += '</iframe>'; // HACK: Sometimes there is something funky with the IFRAME SRC that causes no end tag
		this.popModal(b, h, null, true, 'dsq-popup-login');
	};

	this.blacklist = function(id) {
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[id];
		var userData = Dsq.jsonData['users'][_meta.user_key];
		var title = 'Add to Blacklist';
		var message = ' \
		Adding this person to the blacklist will block him or her from commenting on this site. Check the following types that you would like to add to the blacklist:'
		+ (userData['registered'] ?
			'<div class="dsq-blacklist-option"> \
				<input id="dsq-blacklist-username" type="checkbox" checked> \
				<label for="dsq-blacklist-username"><strong>Username</strong>: ' + userData['username'] + '</label> \
			</div>'
			: '')
		+ (_meta.email ?
			'<div class="dsq-blacklist-option"> \
				<input id="dsq-blacklist-email" type="checkbox" checked> \
				<label for="dsq-blacklist-email"><strong>Email address</strong>: ' + _meta.email + '</label> \
			</div>'
			: '')
		+ '<div class="dsq-blacklist-option"> \
			<input id="dsq-blacklist-ip" type="checkbox" onclick="Dsq.$(\'dsq-blacklist-ip-warning\').style.display=\'block\'"> \
			<label for="dsq-blacklist-ip"><strong>IP address</strong>: ' + _meta.ip + '</label> \
		</div> \
		';

		message += ' \
			<p id="dsq-blacklist-ip-warning" style="display:none">	\
				Note: Blocking this person\'s IP address may also unintentionally prevent others, who share his/her IP address, from commenting on this site. \
				This may include people who are sharing the same computer, living in the same house, or using the same Internet provider. Only block an IP address as a last resort. \
			</p> \
		';

		message += ' \
			<p style="text-align:center"><button onclick="Dsq.Post.blockUser(' + id + '); this.disabled=true; this.innerHTML=\'Just one moment...\'">Add to Blacklist</button></p> \
		';

		Dsq.Popup.popModal(message, title);
	};

	this.remoteAccountSettings = function() {
		var body = '';
		// Set up IFrame.
		var params = {};
		var base_url = 'http://disqus.com/forums/andrewmcafee/_auth/embed/remote_settings/';
		var attributes = {id: 'dsq-popup-account-settings'};
		if (typeof disqus_frame_theme != 'undefined') {
			params['theme'] = disqus_frame_theme;
		}

		body = Dsq.Templates._frameGeneric(base_url, params, attributes);
		this.popModal(body, 'Account Settings', null, true, 'dsq-popup-account-settings');
	};

	this.popModal = function(message, title, post_id, use_listener, extra_classes) {
		var container = document.createElement('div');
		var header, body;

		Dsq.Popup._closePopup(null, true);

		if(typeof(title) == 'undefined') { title = ''; }
		if(typeof(use_listener) == 'undefined') { use_listener = true; }

		if(post_id) {
			container.id = 'dsq-popup-message-' + post_id;
		} else {
			container.id = 'dsq-popup-message';
		}

		header = title;
		body = message;

		container.innerHTML = Dsq.Templates.popupModal(header, body);
		Dsq.Popup.initPopup(container, post_id, 'message', extra_classes);
		if(use_listener) {
			Dsq.Popup.popupListener = Dsq.Utils.addEventListener(document, 'mouseup', Dsq.Popup._closePopup);
		}
	};

	this.popAlert = this.popModal;

	this.loading = function(post_id) {
		var title = Dsq.Strings.JUST_A_MOMENT;
		var body = '<div style="text-align:center; padding: 5px 0 10px 0"><img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/loading.gif" alt="" /></div>'
		Dsq.Popup.lightbox(body, title, post_id);
	};

	this.lightbox = function(message, title, post_id) {
		// Wraps Dsq.Popup.popModal

		var overlay = document.createElement('div');
		overlay.id = 'dsq-overlay';
		overlay.className = 'dsq-overlay';
		Dsq.$b.appendChild(overlay);
		
		Dsq.Popup.popModal(message, title, post_id, false, 'dsq-lightbox');
	};

	this.popProfile = function(post_id, userKey) {
		var post = Dsq.jsonData['posts'][post_id];
		if (post && post.has_been_anonymized) {
			Dsq.Popup.popModal('This message was anonymized by its previous owner.', 'Anonymized', post_id);
			return;
		}

		if(post_id) {
			userKey = Dsq.jsonData['posts'][post_id].user_key;	
		}
		var userData = Dsq.jsonData['users'][userKey];
		var elId = 'dsq-popup-profile-' + userKey;
		var container = document.createElement('div');

		if(this.activePopup.el) {
			this._closePopup(null, true);
			if(this.activePopup.linkClicked) {
				this.activePopup.linkClicked = false;
				return;
			}
		}

		container.id = elId;
		container.innerHTML = Dsq.Templates.popupProfile(userKey);

		this.initPopup(container, post_id, 'profile');
		this.popupListener = Dsq.Utils.addEventListener(document, 'mouseup', this._closePopup);

		if(!this.profileCache[userKey]) {
			Dsq.Utils.execScript('http://disqus.com/embed/profile.js'
				+ '?username=' + userKey
				+ '&anon=' + (userData['registered'] ? 0 : 1)
				+ '&f=' + Dsq.jsonData['request'].forum);
		} else {
			this.updateProfile(userKey);
		}
	};

	this._closePopup = function(e, force) {
		var activePopup = Dsq.Popup.activePopup.el;
		var id = Dsq.Popup.activePopup.id;
		var link = 'dsq-avatar-' + id; // HACK: Specific to profile toggle target

		// HACK: This event should be gone if there is no active popup.
		if(!activePopup) {
			return;
		}
		if(force || !Dsq.Popup.isClicked(e, activePopup.id)) {
			// TODO: This is breaking iE?
			if(Dsq.Popup.popupListener) {
				Dsq.Utils.removeEventListener(Dsq.Popup.popupListener);
			}
			
			// Kill overlay
			var overlay = Dsq.$('dsq-overlay');
			if(overlay) { Dsq.Utils.deleteNode(overlay); }
			
			try {
				Dsq.Utils.deleteNode(activePopup);
			} catch(e) {
				// HACK: IE6 throws an error when using deleteNode() with a node containing a <table> in the html.
				activePopup.parentNode.removeChild(activePopup);
			}
			Dsq.Popup.activePopup = {};
		}

		if(!force && Dsq.Popup.isClicked(e, link)) {
 			Dsq.Popup.activePopup.linkClicked = true;
		}

	};

	this.initPopup = function(popup, post_id, type, extra_classes) {
		popup.className = 'dsq-popup dsq-popup-' + type + ' ' + (extra_classes ? extra_classes : '');
		if(Dsq.Utils.ie6 || Dsq.Utils.ie7) {
			// HACK: We can't modify the body before it's ready, so we need
			//       to use an IE-safe "DOMReady" workaround before loading
			//       our popup.
			Dsq.Utils.execOnReady(function() {Dsq.$b.appendChild(popup); });
		} else {
			Dsq.$b.appendChild(popup);
		}

		popup.style.display = 'block';

		var xPos = (Dsq.Utils.getWindowSize()[0] - popup.offsetWidth) / 2;
		var yPos = (Dsq.Utils.getWindowSize()[1] - popup.offsetHeight) / 2;

		if(Dsq.Utils.ie6) {
			yPos += Dsq.Utils.getScrollPos()[1];
		}

		popup.style.left = xPos + 'px';
		popup.style.top = yPos + 'px';

		Dsq.Popup.activePopup = {
			'el' : popup,
			'id' : post_id,
			'type': type,
			'linkClicked' : false
		};
	};

	this.isClicked = function(e, id) {
		var t = e.target || e.srcElement;
		while(t && t.parentNode) {
			if(t.id == id) {
				return true;
			}

			t = t.parentNode;
		}
		return false;
	};
};
// Dsq.Popup

/**
 * Dsq.Templates
 */
Dsq.Templates = new function() {
	/*
	 * Counter keeping track of the number of posts iterated over.
	 */
	this.postLoopCounter = 0;
	this.filters = {};
	this.addPostContainer = 'dsq-post-add';
	this.textareaContainer = 'dsq-post-add';

	this.registerTemplate = function(name, func) {
		this['$$_' + name] = func;

		if(typeof DsqLocal.Filters != 'undefined'
		&& typeof DsqLocal.Filters[name] == 'function') {
			// Push filters to this.filters to unify code.
			this.filters[name] = this.filters[name] || [];
			this.filters[name].push(DsqLocal.Filters[name]);
		}

		this[name] = function() {
			var ret;

			if(typeof DsqLocal.Templates != 'undefined'
			&& typeof DsqLocal.Templates[name] == 'function') {
				ret = DsqLocal.Templates[name].apply(this, arguments);
			}

			if(ret === undefined) {
				ret = this['$$_' + name].apply(this, arguments);
			}

			if(this.filters[name]) {
				var args = [ret];

				args.push.apply(args, arguments);
				for(var i = 0; i < this.filters[name].length; i++) {
					ret = this.filters[name][i].apply(this, args);
				}
			}

			return ret;
		};
	};

	this.registerFilter = function(name, func) {
		this.filters[name] = this.filters[name] || [];
		this.filters[name].push(func);
	};

	/**
	 * Dsq.Templates.Filters
	 */
	this.Filters = new function() {
		this.commentContainer = function(post_id, s) {
			var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];
			var classes = [];
			if(Dsq.jsonData.request.page > 1) {
				classes.push('dsq-append');
			}

			//
			// Extra classes used for custom themes
			//

			if(_meta.depth) {
				classes.push('dsq-comment-child', 'dsq-depth-' + _meta.depth, 'dsq-parent-is-' + _meta.parent_post_id);
			}


			//

			if(_meta.author_is_creator) {
				// TODO: We need to deprecate the "special" class since it is not properly prefixed.
				classes.push('special', 'dsq-special');
			}
			if(_meta.author_is_moderator) {
				classes.push('dsq-moderator');
			}
			classes.push(['dsq-odd', 'dsq-even'][Dsq.Templates.postLoopCounter % 2]);

			s = s.substring(0, s.lastIndexOf('>'));
			return s + ' class="dsq-comment ' + classes.join(' ') + '" style="margin-left:' + _meta.depth*30 + 'px">';
		};

		this.commentContent = function(post_id, s) {
			var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];
			if (_meta.killed) {
				return '<em>Comment removed.</em>';
			} else if (!_meta.approved) {
				return '<em>This comment was flagged for review.</em>';
			}

			s = s.replace(Dsq.MEDIA_POST_RE, Dsq.MediaPostHandler);
			return s;
		};
	};

	//
	// Thread
	//
	// TODO: These need to be stripped of all Django template tags.

	this.authPost = function() {
		if (!Dsq.jsonData.context.show_reply) {
			return '';
		}
		var result = [];
		result = result.concat([
				'<div id="dsq-auth"',
						Dsq.jsonData.integration.reply_position ? 'class="dsq-auth-bottom"' : '',
						'>',
					'<div class="dsq-by">',
						'<a href="http://disqus.com" target="_blank">',
							(Dsq.jsonData.integration.disqus_logo ?
								Dsq.Utils.interpolate('<img src="%(media_url)s/images/embed/by-disqus.png" alt="discussion by DISQUS">') :
								Dsq.Utils.interpolate('<img src="%(media_url)s/images/embed/dsq-button-120x19.png" alt="discussion by DISQUS">')
							),
						'</a>',
					'</div>',
					'<div class="dsq-auth-header">',
						'<h3 id="dsq-add-new-comment" class="dsq-h3-addcomment">',
								Dsq.Strings.ADD_NEW_COMMENT,
						'</h3>',
						'<div id="dsq-login">',
						(!Dsq.jsonData.request.is_authenticated && Dsq.jsonData.forum.allow_anon_post
								? '<p class="dsq-login-message" id="dsq-login-message">You are commenting as a <a class="dsq-help" title="Click for more information" href="#" onclick="Dsq.Popup.helpBadges(); return false">Guest</a>. You may select one to log into:</p>'
								: '')
		]);
		if (!Dsq.jsonData.request.is_authenticated) {
			result = result.concat([
							Dsq.Utils.interpolate(
								'<a id="dsq-login-toggle" href="%(disqus_url)s%(login_url)s?next=article:%(thread_id)s" onclick="Dsq.Popup.login(); return false"><img class="dsq-login-icon" src="%(media_url)s/images/dsq-profile-btn.png" title="%(log_into)s" alt="%(log_into)s"/></a>',
								{login_url: Dsq.Urls.LOGIN, thread_id: Dsq.jsonData.thread.id, log_into: Dsq.Strings.LOG_INTO_DISQUS}
								),
							'&nbsp; ',
							(Dsq.jsonData.context.use_fb_connect ?
								'<div id="dsq-fbc-login" onlogin="DisqusFbcParentController.onLogin()" size="medium" background="light" length="short" style="display:inline; margin-right:7px"></div>' :
								''
							),
							(Dsq.jsonData.context.use_twitter_signin ?
								Dsq.Utils.interpolate(
									'<div id="dsq-twitter-login" class="dsq-twitter-login" onclick="Dsq.Twitter.startTwitterConnect();" style="display:inline; cursor: pointer"><img src="%(media_url)s/images/twitter-signin-short.png" style="margin-right:7px" /></div>', {}) : ''),
							(Dsq.jsonData.context.use_openid ?
								Dsq.Utils.interpolate(
									'<div id="dsq-openid-login" class="dsq-openid-login" onclick="Dsq.OpenID.requestURL();" style="display:inline; cursor:pointer;"><img src="%(media_url)s/images/openid-login-button.png"/></div>', {}
								) : '')
			]);
		}
		result = result.concat([
						'</div>', // dsq-login
					'</div>', // dsq-auth-header
					'<div id="dsq-authenticated" class="dsq-authenticated" ',
						Dsq.jsonData.request.is_authenticated ? 'style="display:block"' : '',
						'>',
						'<div class="dsq-authenticated-pic">',
								Dsq.Utils.interpolate('<a href="%(url)s" title="%(request_display_username)s">' +
																			'<img class="dsq-post-avatar" src="%(avatar_url)s" alt="" /></a>',
																			{avatar_url: Dsq.Urls.REQUEST_USER_AVATAR,
																			url: (Dsq.jsonData.request.is_remote
																					 ? Dsq.jsonData.request.url
																					 : Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url + Dsq.Urls.REQUEST_USER_PROFILE) }),
						'</div>',
						'<div class="dsq-authenticated-info">',
							'<ul>',
								'<li>',
									(Dsq.jsonData.request.is_remote
										? Dsq.FmtStrings.LOGGED_IN_AS(
												Dsq.Utils.interpolate('<a href="%(url)s" title="%(request_display_username)s">%(request_display_username)s</a>', {url:Dsq.jsonData.request.url})
										  )
										: Dsq.FmtStrings.LOGGED_IN_AS(
												Dsq.Utils.interpolate('<a href="%(disqus_url)s%(profile_url)s" title="%(request_display_username)s">%(request_display_username)s</a>')
											)
									),
								'</li>',
								'<li class="logout">',
									(!Dsq.jsonData.request.is_remote
										? Dsq.Utils.interpolate('<img class="dsq-login-icon" src="%(media_url)s/images/dsqicon12.png" alt="%(logged_in_as)s"/>&nbsp',
											{logged_in_as: Dsq.FmtStrings.LOGGED_IN_AS(Dsq.jsonData.request.display_username)})
										: ''),

									(!Dsq.jsonData.request.is_remote
										? Dsq.Utils.interpolate('<a href="%(disqus_url)s%(logout_url)s?ctkn=%(csrf_token)s" title="%(logout_from_disqus)s">',
											{logout_url: Dsq.Urls.LOGOUT, csrf_token: Dsq.CSRF_TOKEN, logout_from_disqus: Dsq.FmtStrings.LOGOUT_FROM('DISQUS')})
										: ((Dsq.jsonData.request.remote_domain == 'twitter')
												? Dsq.Utils.interpolate('using Twitter (<a href="%(disqus_url)s%(logout_url)s?ctkn=%(csrf_token)s" title="Logout">Logout</a>)',
												 {logout_url: Dsq.Urls.LOGOUT, csrf_token: Dsq.CSRF_TOKEN})
												: ((Dsq.jsonData.request.remote_domain == 'openid')
													 ? Dsq.Utils.interpolate('using OpenID (<a href="%(disqus_url)s%(logout_url)s?ctkn=%(csrf_token)s" title="Logout">Logout</a>)',
													 {logout_url: Dsq.Urls.LOGOUT, csrf_token: Dsq.CSRF_TOKEN})
													 : ''
													)
											)
									),

									(!Dsq.jsonData.request.is_remote ? Dsq.FmtStrings.LOGOUT_FROM('<span class="logo-disqus">DISQUS</span>') : ''),
									'</a>',
								'</li>',
							'</ul>',
						'</div>',
					'</div>'
		]);
		if (Dsq.jsonData.context.use_fb_connect) {
			result = result.concat([
					'<div id="dsq-fbc-authenticated" class="dsq-authenticated">',
						'<div id="dsq-fbc-profilepic" class="dsq-authenticated-pic" uid="loggedinuser" type="FB.XFBML.ProfilePic" size="square" facebook-logo="true"></div>',
						'<div class="dsq-authenticated-info">',
							'<ul>',
								'<li>',
									'Logged in as <span id="dsq-fbc-name" uid="loggedinuser" type="FB.XFBML.Name" linked="true" useyou="false"></span>',
								'</li>',
								'<li class="logout">using Facebook Connect <a href="#" onclick="javascript:DisqusFbcParentController.logout();return false;">(Logout)</a></li>',
							'</ul>',
						'</div>',
					'</div>'
			]);
		}
		result = result.concat([
				'</div>', // dsq-auth
				'<div id="dsq-toolbar-items">',
				'</div>'
		]);
		result = result.concat([
					//
					//
					//
				((!Dsq.jsonData.forum.allow_anon_post && !Dsq.jsonData.request.is_authenticated) ?
					// Needs to be translated:
					('<p id="dsq-no-anon-msg">Required: Please log into <span class="logo-disqus">Disqus</span> ' +
					(Dsq.jsonData.context.use_fb_connect ? 'or connect with Facebook ' : '') +
					(Dsq.jsonData.context.use_twitter_signin ? 'or sign in with Twitter ' : '') +
					(Dsq.jsonData.context.use_openid ? 'or sign in using OpenID ' : '') +
					Dsq.Utils.interpolate('to comment on <strong>%(forum_name)s</strong>.</p>')) :
					''
				),
				'<div id="dsq-post-add"></div>',
				'<div style="margin:10px 0">',
				((Dsq.jsonData.forum.use_media) ?
						'<a href="#" id="dsq-media-link" onclick="Dsq.Post.showMenu(this, false, \'media\'); return false">' + Dsq.Strings.USE_MEDIA + ' <small>&#9660;</small></a>' :
						''),
				'</div>'
		]);
		return result.join('');
	};


	this.header = function() {

		var html = '\<h3 id="dsq-comments-count" class="dsq-h3-commentcount">\
	 <span id="dsq-num-posts">20</span> Comments\
	 &nbsp;\
	 <span class="dsq-item-feed">\
	 <a href="http://disqus.com/forums/andrewmcafee/does_it_matter_results_are_in/latest.rss"><img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/embed/bullet-feed.png"></a>\
	 </span>\
	 </h3>\
	 <div id="dsq-options" style="margin:15px 0">\
	 <span class="dsq-item-sort">\
	 Sort by\
	 <select id="dsq-sort-select" onchange="Dsq.Thread.sortBy(this.value);">\
	 <option value="hot" selected="selected">Popular now</option>\
	 <option value="best" >Best Rating</option>\
	 <option value="newest" >Newest first</option>\
	 <option value="oldest" >Oldest first</option>\
	 </select>\
	 &nbsp;\
	 </span>\
	 <span class="dsq-item-cp"><a href="http://disqus.com/forums/andrewmcafee/does_it_matter_results_are_in/">Community Page</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>\
	 <span class="dsq-item-subscribe">\
	 <img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/embed/email.png" style="width:12px;height:12px;vertical-align:middle">\
	 <span id="dsq-subscribe">\
	 <a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Thread.subscribe(1); return false">Subscribe by email</a>\
	 </span>\
	 </span>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-alerts">\
	 </div>\
		';

		
			html = Dsq.Templates.authPost() + html;
		

		
		if (Dsq.jsonData.request.is_moderator) { 
			html = ' \
			<div class="dsq-alert-message dsq-upgrade-message"> \
				<strong>Disqus upgrade available.</strong> Hi ' + Dsq.jsonData.request.display_username + ', this message is being displayed to you because you are a moderator of this site. <a href="#" onclick="Dsq.$(\'dsq-upgrade-message\').style.display=\'block\';this.style.display=\'none\';return false">Click here for details.</a> \
				<div style="display:none; margin-top:10px;" id="dsq-upgrade-message"> \
					A new theme is available with added features. <a href="http://disqus.com/comments/settings/' + Dsq.jsonData.forum.url + '/?p=customize">To change your theme, click here</a> and choose the theme Narcissus. \
					If you do not upgrade, you are missing out on features such as: real-time commenting, new sign-in integrations, and an upgrade interface. \
					<strong>This message will automatically go away in one week.</strong> \
				</div> \
			</div> \
			' + html; 
		}
		return html;
	};

	this.footer = function() {
		var html = Dsq.Templates.pagination();

		

		html += Dsq.Templates.reactions();

		
			html += Dsq.Templates.trackbacks();
		

		return html;
	};

	this.pagination = function() {
		var html = '';
		
		if (Dsq.$('dsq-pagination')) { Dsq.$('dsq-pagination').innerHTML = ''; }
		if (!Dsq.jsonData.thread.paginate) { return ''; }

		//
		// TODO: num_paginator still uses the template tag for pagination, 
		// 		while append_paginator does it all in JavaScript.
		//		This should all be in JavaScript.
		//

		if (Dsq.jsonData.thread.num_pages > 1 && Dsq.jsonData.request.page < Dsq.jsonData.thread.num_pages) {
			html = ' \<a class="dsq-paginate-append-text" href="#" onclick="Dsq.Thread.paginate(Dsq.jsonData.request.page + 1, this); return false">Show more comments...</a>\
	 <button class="dsq-button-small dsq-paginate-append-button" onclick="Dsq.Thread.paginate(Dsq.jsonData.request.page + 1, this);">Load more comments</button>\
			';
		}
		
		if (Dsq.$('dsq-pagination')) {
			Dsq.$('dsq-pagination').innerHTML = html;
			return '';
		} else {
			return '<div id="dsq-pagination" class="dsq-pagination">' + html + '</div>';
		}
	};

	this.trackbacks = function() {
		var html = '';

		if(typeof DsqLocal != 'undefined' && DsqLocal.trackback_url && DsqLocal.trackbacks) {
			var trackbacks = DsqLocal.trackbacks;
			var trackback_url = DsqLocal.trackback_url;
		} else {
			var trackbacks = [
			
			
			];
			var trackback_url = 'http://disqus.com/forums/andrewmcafee/does_it_matter_results_are_in/trackback/';
		}

		html += '<div class="dsq-item-trackback">Trackback URL&nbsp;&nbsp;<input class="dsq-trackback-url" onclick="this.select()" readonly="true" value="' + trackback_url + '"></div>';

		if(trackbacks.length) {
			html += '<ul id="dsq-references">'
			for(var i = 0; i < trackbacks.length; i++) {
				var trackback = trackbacks[i];
				html += '<li><cite><a href="' + trackback.author_url + '" rel="nofollow">' + trackback.author_name + '</a></cite> \
						<p class="dsq-meta">' + trackback.date + '</p> \
						<p class="dsq-content">' + trackback.excerpt + '</p></li>';
			}
			html += '</ul>';
			html = '<h3 class="dsq-h3-trackbacks">Trackbacks</h3>' + html;
		}

		return html;
	}

	this.showRetweets = function(id, limit, element_id /* Optional */) {
		var source, html = '';

		for (var i = 0, reaction; reaction = Dsq.jsonData.reactions[i]; i++) {
			if (reaction.id === id) {
				source = reaction.retweets;
			}
		}

		if (source) {
			if (limit === 0) {
				limit = source.length;
			}

			for (var j = 0; j < limit; j++) {
				var rt = source[j];
				html += '<a href="' + rt.url + '">' + rt.author_name + '</a>'	+ ((j === (limit - 1)) ? '.' : ', ');
			}
		}

		if (element_id === undefined) {
			return html;
		}

		var element = document.getElementById(element_id);
		element.innerHTML = html;
		return element;
	};

	this.showMoreReactions = function(reactions, has_more, start, limit) {
		var link = document.getElementById('dsq-show-more-reactions');
		var container = link.parentNode;
		container.removeChild(link);

		for (var i = 0, reaction; reaction = reactions[i]; i++) {
			var el = Dsq.Templates.generateReactionHTML(reaction);
			if (el) {
				container.innerHTML += el;
			}
		}

		if (has_more) {
			var d = Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url;
			var f = Dsq.jsonData.forum.url;
			var t = Dsq.jsonData.thread.id;
			var s = start;
			var l = limit;

			var handler = 'Dsq.Utils.execScript(\'' + d + '/forums/' + f + '/more_reactions.js?t=' + t + '&s=' + s + '&l=' + l + '\', true); return false;';
			container.innerHTML += '<li id="dsq-show-more-reactions"><a href="#" onclick="' + handler + '">Show more reactions</a></li>';
		}
	};

	this.generateReactionHTML = function(reaction) {
		if (reaction.body === null || reaction.body == '') {
			return;
		}

		if (reaction.author_name === '') {
			reaction.author_name = '&nbsp;';
		}

		if (reaction.url === '') {
			reaction.url = reaction.get_service_url;
		}

		/* Reaction HTML begins */
		var item = '<li class="dsq-reaction" id="dsq-reaction-' + reaction.id + '">'
			+ '<div class="dsq-reaction-header">'
			+ '<div class="dsq-header-avatar">';

		if (reaction.author_url && reaction.author_url !== '') {
			item += '<a target="_blank" href="' + reaction.author_url +'">';
		} else {
			item += '<a target="_blank" href="#" onclick="return false;">';
		}

		if (reaction.avatar_url && reaction.avatar_url !== '') {
			item += '<img src="' + reaction.avatar_url + '"/>';
		} else {
			item += '<img src="' + Dsq.jsonData.media_url + '/images/noavatar32.png"/>';
		}

		var service_icon = (reaction.get_service_name == 'trackback' || reaction.get_service_name == 'pingback' ? 'rss' : reaction.get_service_name.replace(' ', ''));
		item += '<img class="dsq-service-icon" src="' + Dsq.jsonData.media_url + '/images/reactions/services/' + service_icon + '.png"/>'
			+ '</a></div>'
			+ '<cite><span>' + reaction.author_name + '</span></cite>'
			+ '<span class="dsq-header-meta"><a class="dsq-header-time">' + reaction.date_created + '</a></span>'
			+ '</div><div class="dsq-reaction-body">'
			+ '<div class="dsq-reaction-message">' + reaction.body + '</div>'
			+ '<div class="dsq-reaction-footer">From <a class="dsq-service-name" target="_blank" href="' + reaction.url + '">' + reaction.get_service_name + '</a> '
			+ 'via ' + (reaction.source == 'backtype' ? '<a href="http://backtype.com/">BackType</a>' : '<a href="' + reaction.source_url + '">UberVU</a>')
			+ (Dsq.jsonData.request.is_moderator || Dsq.jsonData.request.is_global_moderator ? '&nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;<a class="dsq-hide-reaction" href="#" onclick="Dsq.Reaction.hide(' + reaction.id + '); return false;">Hide</a>' : '') + '</div></div>';

		if(reaction.retweets) {
			var num_retweets = reaction.retweets.length;
			if (num_retweets > 0) {
				item += '<div class="dsq-reaction-retweets">';
				if (num_retweets == 1) {
					item += 'One more retweet from <a href="' + reaction.retweets[0].url + '">'  + reaction.retweets[0].author_name + '</a>';
				} else {
					item += (num_retweets + ' more retweets from ');

					item += '<span id="dsq-reaction-retweets-' + reaction.id + '">';
					var n_tweets = (num_retweets > 15) ? 15 : num_retweets;
					item += Dsq.Templates.showRetweets(reaction.id, n_tweets);

					if (n_tweets != num_retweets) {
						item += '</span> <a onclick="Dsq.Templates.showRetweets(' + reaction.id + ', 0, \'dsq-reaction-retweets-' + reaction.id + '\');'
							+ 'this.parentNode.removeChild(this); return false;" href="#">Show all</a>';
					}
				}
				item += '</div>';
			}
		}

		item += '</li>'; /* Reaction HTML ends */
		return item;
	};

	this.reactions = function() {
		var html, reaction;

		if (Dsq.jsonData.reactions === undefined || Dsq.jsonData.reactions.length === 0) {
			return '';
		}

		html = '';
		for (var i = 0; reaction = Dsq.jsonData.reactions[i]; i++) {
			var item = Dsq.Templates.generateReactionHTML(reaction);
			if (item) {
				html += item;
			}
		}

		if (Dsq.jsonData.has_more_reactions) {
			var d = Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url;
			var f = Dsq.jsonData.forum.url;
			var t = Dsq.jsonData.thread.id;
			var s = Dsq.jsonData.reactions_start;
			var l = Dsq.jsonData.reactions_limit;

			var handler = 'Dsq.Utils.execScript(\'' + d + '/forums/' + f + '/more_reactions.js?t=' + t + '&s=' + s + '&l=' + l + '\', true); return false;';
			html += '<li id="dsq-show-more-reactions"><a href="#" onclick="' + handler + '">Show more reactions</a></li>';
		}

		return '<h3 class="dsq-h3-reactions">Reactions</h3><ul id="dsq-reactions" class="dsq-reactions">' + html + '</ul>';
	};
	
	this.missingPermissions = function() {
		return '';
	};

	//
	// Post
	//

	this.prependPost = function(post_id) {
		var html = '<div id="comment-' + post_id + '"></div>';
		return html;
	};

	this.appendPost = function(post_id) {
		var html = '<div id="dsq-comment-reply-' + post_id + '"></div>';
		return html;
	};

	this.postPrependHeader = function(post_id) {
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];
		var userData = Dsq.jsonData['users'][_meta.user_key];

		var _includeServices = function() {
			var userServices = Dsq.Post.getUserServices(null, post_id);
			var html = '';
			var hiddenThreshold = 3; // Define # of services to show before stuffing them in hidden div

			for(var i = 0; i < userServices.length; i++) {
				html +=
				(i == hiddenThreshold
					? '<li id="dsq-drop-hidden-' + post_id +'" class="dsq-drop-hidden"><ul>'
					: '')
				+ '<li class="dsq-drop-services"> \
					<a class="dsq-service-' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '" href="' + userServices[i].url + '" target="_blank"> \
						<img src="' + Dsq.jsonData.media_url + '/images/embed/services/' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '.png" alt="' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '">'
					+ userServices[i].name
					+ '</a> \
				</li>';
			}

			if(i >= hiddenThreshold) {
				html += '</ul></li> \
				<li id="dsq-drop-more-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-drop-more"><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.dropProfileMore(this, '+ post_id + '); return false"><small>&#9660;</small></a></li> \
				';
			}
			return html;
		};

		return ' \
			<div class="dsq-header-avatar" id="dsq-header-avatar-' + post_id + '" onmouseover="Dsq.Post.dropProfile(' + post_id + ')"> \
				<a id="dsq-avatar-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-avatar" href="' + userData.url + '" onclick="Dsq.Popup.popProfile(' + post_id + '); return false;">'
			+ (Dsq.jsonData.forum.show_avatar
				? '<img src="' + Dsq.jsonData.users[_meta.user_key].avatar + '" alt="" />'
				: '')
			+ '</a>'
			+ '</div> \
		';
	};

	this.postAppendHeader = function(post_id) {
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];

		return ''
			+ (_meta.author_is_moderator
				? '<img class="dsq-mod-star" src="http://media.disqus.com/images/bullet-star.png" title="Moderator" alt="" />'
				: '')
			+ '<span class="dsq-header-meta"> \
				<a id="dsq-time-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-header-time" href="#comment-' + post_id + '" title="Permalink">' + _meta.date + '</a> \
			</span>';
	};

	this.preBody = function(post_id) {
		return '';
	}

	this.postBody = function(post_id) {
		// TODO: Deprecate flagging conditional
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];
		return ''
			+ (_meta.edited
				? '<p class="dsq-editedtxt">(Edited by a moderator)</p>'
				: '')
			;
	};

	this.postFooter = function(post_id) {
		// TODO: Use media should be conditional
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];
		if(_meta.killed) { return ''; }

		return ' \
			<div class="dsq-comment-footer" id="dsq-comment-footer-' + post_id + '"> \
				<div id="dsq-points-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-likedtxt">'
				+ (_meta.points
					? _meta.points + Dsq.Utils.pluralize(_meta.points, ' person', ' people') + ' liked this comment.'
					: '')
				+ '</div>'
				+ '<ul class="dsq-comment-options dsq-list-style">'
				+ (_meta.votable
					? '<li class="dsq-list-first dsq-rate" id="dsq-rate-cont-' + post_id + '">'
					+ (!_meta.up_voted
						? '<a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.rate(this, ' + post_id + ', 1); return false;">Like</a>'
						: 'You liked this.') + '</li>'
					: '')
				+ '<li class="dsq-report' + (!_meta.votable ? ' dsq-list-first' : '') + '" id="dsq-post-report-' + post_id + '"><a href="#" class="dsq-post-report" onclick="Dsq.Post.report(' + post_id + ', false); return false;">Report</a></li> \
				</ul> \
				<ul class="dsq-list-style">'
				+ (_meta.can_reply
					? '<li class="dsq-list-first"><a href="#" id="dsq-reply-link-' + post_id +'" onclick="Dsq.Post.toggleReply(this, ' + post_id +'); return false;">Reply</a></li>'
					: '')
				+ (_meta.can_reply && !_meta.has_replies && _meta.from_request_user
					? '<li id="dsq-edit-el-' + post_id + '"><a id="dsq-edit-link-' + post_id + '" href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.edit(this, ' + post_id + '); return false;">Edit</a></li>'
					: '')
				+ '<li class="' + (!_meta.can_reply ? 'dsq-list-first' : '') + '" id="dsq-more-el-' + post_id + '"><a id="dsq-more-link-' + post_id + '" href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.showMenu(this, ' + post_id + ', \'more\'); return false">More <small>&#9660;</small></a></li>'
				+ (Dsq.jsonData.forum.use_media
					? '<li id="dsq-media-el-' + post_id +'" style="display:none"><a id="dsq-media-link-' + post_id + '" href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.showMenu(this, ' + post_id + ', \'media\'); return false">Use Media <small>&#9660;</small></a></li>'
					: '')
				+ '</ul>'
				+ '<div id="dsq-reply-bar-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-reply-bar" style="display:none"> \
						<div id="dsq-reply-bar-items-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-reply-bar-items"> \
						</div> \
						<div id="dsq-reply-bar-auth-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-reply-bar-auth"> \
							 \
								 \
								 	<a href="#" class="dsq-help dsq-reply-req-opt" title="You are commenting as a Guest. You may choose to log into an existing DISQUS Profile, your Facebook, Twitter or OpenID account to comment on Andrew McAfee&#39;s Blog" onclick="Dsq.Popup.helpBadges(); return false">Optional:</a> \
								 \
								<img class="dsq-login-icon" src="http://media.disqus.com/images/dsq-favicon-16x16.png" alt="" /> \
								<a id="dsq-reply-login-' + post_id + '" href="http://disqus.com/profile/login/?next=article:10392457" onclick="Dsq.Popup.login(); return false">Login</a> \
								 \
								&nbsp;or&nbsp; \
									<img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/twitter-signin-icon.png" alt="" /> \
									<a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Twitter.startTwitterConnect(); return false">Sign-in</a> \
								 \
								&nbsp;or&nbsp; \
									 <img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/openid-login-icon.png" alt="" /> \
									 <a href="#" onclick="Dsq.OpenID.requestURL(); return false">OpenID</a> \
								 \
							 \
						</div> \
					</div> \
					<div id="dsq-reply-' + post_id + '"></div> \
			</div> \
		';
	};

	//
	// Iframes
	//

	this._makeAttributes = function(attributes) {
		// Makes a tag attributes string out of an object.
		// Caller is responsible for making sure nothing needs to be escaped.
		var result = [];
		for (key in attributes) {
			result.push(' ' + key + '="' + attributes[key] + '"');
		}
		result = result.join('');
		return result;
	};

	this._frameGeneric = function(base_url, params, attributes) {
		if(typeof(disqus_callback_params) == 'undefined') {
			disqus_callback_params = '';
		}

		var default_params = {
			// TODO: These should be moved to Dsq.jsonData.
			'f'				: 'andrewmcafee',
			't'				: 'does_it_matter_results_are_in',
			// Do we need encodeURIComponent here?
			'ifrs'			: encodeURIComponent(disqus_iframe_css),
			'to_redirect'	: encodeURIComponent(window.location),
			'cbp'			: disqus_callback_params,
			'ff'			: Dsq.Thread.ff,
			'fc'			: Dsq.Thread.fc,
			'ac'			: Dsq.Thread.ac,
			'default_text'	: disqus_default_text
		};

		base_url += '?' + (new Date()).getTime();
		// Add params to default_params.
		if(params) {
			for(var key in params) {
				if(params.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
					default_params[key] = encodeURIComponent(params[key]);
				}
			}
		}
		// Build querystring.
		for(var key in default_params) {
			if(default_params[key] && default_params.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
				base_url += '&' + key + '=' + default_params[key];
			}
		}

		return [
			'<iframe marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" frameborder="0"',
			(' allowtransparency="true" src="' + base_url + '"'),
			this._makeAttributes(attributes),
			'</iframe>'].join('');
	};

	this.frameLogin = function(opt_attributes) {
		var params = {};
		var base_url = 'http://disqus.com/embed/login.html';
		var attributes = opt_attributes || {};
		attributes['class'] = 'dsq-post-login';

		if(typeof disqus_frame_theme != 'undefined') {
			params['theme'] = disqus_frame_theme;
		}
		return this._frameGeneric(base_url, params, attributes);
	};

	this.frameReply = function(post_id, extra_params, attributes) {
		// Returns the HTML for a reply iframe. Called by Dsq.Iframes.setReplyIframeToContainer
		var _meta = (typeof post_id != 'undefined') ? Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id] : false;
		var base_url = Dsq.Urls.REPLY;
		var params = {
			'def_email'		: disqus_def_email,
			'def_name'		: disqus_def_name
		};
		if(extra_params) {
			for(var key in extra_params) {
				if(extra_params.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
					params[key] = extra_params[key];
				}
			}
		}
		if(_meta) {
			params['parent_post'] = post_id;
		}
		if(typeof disqus_per_page != 'undefined') {
			params['per_page'] = disqus_per_page;
		}
		if(typeof disqus_frame_theme != 'undefined') {
			params['theme'] = disqus_frame_theme;
		}
		if(Dsq.jsonData.request.is_authenticated) {
			attributes['class'] += '-authenticated';
		}
		return this._frameGeneric(base_url, params, attributes);
	};

	this.frameEdit = function(post_id) {
		var _meta = (typeof post_id != 'undefined') ? Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id] : false;
		var base_url = 'http://disqus.com/embed/edit.html';
		var params = {
			'p' : post_id
		};
		return this._frameGeneric(base_url, params, {'class': 'dsq-post-edit', 'name': 'dsq-edit_' + post_id + '-frame'});
	};

	//
	// Menus
	//

	this.menuMore = function(post_id) {
		// TODO: "Remove post" button should hide menu.
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];
		var userData = Dsq.jsonData['users'][_meta.user_key];
		return ' \
			<li><a href="#comment-' + post_id + '" onclick="Dsq.Popup.permalink(' + post_id + ')">Link</a></li> \
			<li><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Popup.popProfile(' + post_id + '); return false;">Profile</a></li>'
	+ (Dsq.jsonData.request.is_moderator || Dsq.jsonData.request.is_global_moderator
		? '	<li class="dsq-menu-sep"></li>' + (_meta.email ? '<li class="dsq-admin-email">' + _meta.email + '</li>' : '')
		+ '	<li class="dsq-admin-ip">' + _meta.ip + '</li> \
			<li class="dsq-menu-sep"></li>'
		+ (Dsq.jsonData.request.moderator_can_edit
			? ' <li class="dsq-admin-edit"><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.edit(this, ' + post_id + '); return false;">Edit Comment</a></li>'
			: '')
		+ ' <li class="dsq-remove"><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.removePost(' + post_id + ', 1); return false;">Remove Comment</a></li> \
			<li class="dsq-report-spam"><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.reportSpam(' + post_id + '); return false;">Mark Spam</a></li> \
			<li class="dsq-block-user"><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Popup.blacklist(' + post_id + '); return false">Block User</a></li>'
		: '');
	};

	this.menuMedia = function(post_id) {
		return ' \
			<li><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.toggleMediaReply(this, ' + post_id + ', \'seesmic\'); return false;">Record video</a></li> \
		';
	};

	this.dropProfile = function(post_id) {
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id];
		var userData = Dsq.jsonData['users'][_meta.user_key];

		var _includeServices = function() {
			var userServices = Dsq.Post.getUserServices(null, post_id);
			var html = '';
			var hiddenThreshold = 3; // Define # of services to show before stuffing them in hidden div

			for(var i = 0; i < userServices.length; i++) {
				html +=
				(i == hiddenThreshold
					? '<li id="dsq-drop-hidden-' + post_id +'" class="dsq-drop-hidden"><ul>'
					: '')
				+ '<li class="dsq-drop-services"> \
					<a class="dsq-service-' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '" href="' + userServices[i].url + '" target="_blank"> \
						<img src="' + Dsq.jsonData.media_url + '/images/embed/services/' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '.png" alt="' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '">'
					+ userServices[i].name
					+ '</a> \
				</li>';
			}

			if(i >= hiddenThreshold) {
				html += '</ul></li> \
				<li id="dsq-drop-more-' + post_id + '" class="dsq-drop-more"><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Post.dropProfileMore(this, '+ post_id + '); return false"><small>&#9660;</small></a></li> \
				';
			}
			return html;
		};


		var menu = '<li class="dsq-drop-showlnk"><a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Popup.popProfile(' + post_id + '); return false;">Expand &#8663;</a></li>';
		var pointsMessage = '';
		if (userData['registered']) {
			pointsMessage = 'with ' + userData['points'] + ' points (more points are better).';
		}

		if (userData['is_remote']) {
			var domain = userData['remote_domain_name'];
			menu += '<li class="dsq-drop-badge" title="' + userData['display_name'] + ' is a ' + domain + ' user ' + pointsMessage + '" onclick="Dsq.Popup.helpBadges()">';
			menu += '<span class="dsq-badge-' + domain.toLowerCase() + '">' + domain + '</span></li>';
		} else if (userData['registered']) {
			if (userData['verified']) {
				menu += '<li class="dsq-drop-badge" title="' + userData['display_name'] + ' has a verified commenter profile ' + pointsMessage + '" onclick="Dsq.Popup.helpBadges()">';
				menu += '<span class="dsq-badge-verified">Verified</span></li>';
			} else {
				menu += '<li class="dsq-drop-badge" title="' + userData['display_name'] + ' has a registered, but unverified, commenter profile ' + pointsMessage + '" onclick="Dsq.Popup.helpBadges()">';
				menu += '<span class="dsq-badge-registered">Registered</span></li>';
			}
		} else {
			menu += '<li class="dsq-drop-badge" title="' + userData['display_name'] + ' has not claimed this commenter profile." onclick="Dsq.Popup.helpBadges()"><span class="dsq-badge-guest">Guest</span></li>';
		}

		menu += _includeServices();
		return menu;
	};

	//
	// Popups
	//

	this._popupGeneric = function(content) {
		return ' \
		<div class="dsq-popup-content"> \
			<div class="dsq-popup-top"></div> \
			<div class="dsq-popup-body" class="clearfix"> \
				<div class="dsq-popup-body-padding"> \
					<div class="dsq-popup-header"> \
						<a class="dsq-close-link" href="#" onclick="Dsq.Popup._closePopup(null, true); return false"><img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/modal-close.png" alt="" /></a>'
						+ content['header']
					+ '</div>'
					+ content['body']
					+ '<div class="powered-by"><a href="http://disqus.com/comments/">Powered by <img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/embed/disqus-logo.png" alt="Disqus Comments" style="margin-bottom:-5px" /></a></div> \
				</div> <!-- padding --> \
			</div> <!-- body --> \
			<div class="dsq-popup-bottom"></div> \
		</div> \
		';
	};

	this.popupProfile = function(user_key) {
		var userServices = Dsq.Post.getUserServices(user_key, null);
		var userData = Dsq.jsonData['users'][user_key];
		var headerHtml = '';
		var bodyHtml = '';
		var content = {};

		var _includeServices = function() {
			var html = '';
			for(var i = 0; i < userServices.length; i++) {
				html +=
				(i == 0
					? '<h4>Connections</h4><ul>'
					: '')
				+ '<li> \
					<img src="' + Dsq.jsonData.media_url + '/images/embed/services/' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '.png" alt="' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '" title="' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '" /> \
					<a class="dsq-service-' + userServices[i].name.toLowerCase() + '" href="' + userServices[i].url + '" target="_blank">'
					+ userServices[i].name
					+ '</a> \
				</li>'
				+ (i+1 == userServices.length ? '</ul>' : '');
			}
			return html;
		};

		headerHtml = ' \
			<table> \
				<tr> \
					<td> \
						<a class="dsq-profile-userurl" href="' + userData.url + '"><img class="dsq-popup-profile-avatar" src="' + userData['avatar'] + '" alt="" /></a> \
					</td> \
					<td> \
						<div class="dsq-popup-profile-user"> \
							<h3>' + userData['display_name'] + '</h3> \
							<div class="dsq-popup-profile-user-stats" id="dsq-popup-profile-user-stats-' + user_key + '">Loading...</div> \
						</div> \
					</td> \
				</tr> \
			</table> \
		';

		bodyHtml = ' \
			<div class="dsq-popup-profile-state"> \
				This is a&nbsp;<span class="'
					+ (userData['registered']
						? (userData['verified']
							? ' dsq-badge-verified'
							: (userData['is_remote']
								? ' dsq-badge-' + userData['remote_domain_name'].toLowerCase()
								: ' dsq-badge-registered')
							)
							: ' dsq-badge-guest') + '">'
			+ (userData['registered']
				? (userData['verified']
					? 'Verified'
					: (userData['is_remote']
						 ? userData['remote_domain_name']
						 : 'Registered')
					)
				: 'Guest')
			+ '</span>&nbsp;commenter profile.'
			+ '&nbsp;<a class="dsq-profile-userurl" href="' + userData.url + '"><strong>View more comments </strong></a>'
			+ (!userData['points']
				? '<p class="dsq-popup-notice">If this is you, <a href="http://disqus.com/profile" target="_blank">claim it now</a> to manage your comments.</p>'
				: '')
			+ ((userData['registered'] && !userData['verified'] && (Dsq.jsonData.request.username && (Dsq.jsonData.request.username == userData['username'])) && !userData['is_remote'])
				? '<p class="dsq-popup-notice"><strong>Alert</strong>: You have not verified this account. <a href="http://disqus.com/verify">Verify it now.</a></p>'
				: '')
			+ '</div> \
			<div id="dsq-profile-status-' + user_key + '" class="dsq-popup-profile-status" style="display:none"></div> \
			<div class="dsq-popup-profile-snapshot"> \
				<table> \
					<tr> \
						<td> \
							<div id="dsq-popup-profile-active-sites-wrapper-' + user_key + '"> \
								<h4>Most active sites</h4> \
								<ul id="dsq-popup-profile-active-sites-' + user_key + '"> \
									<li>Loading...</li> \
								</ul> \
							</div> \
						</td> \
						<td>'
							+ _includeServices()
							+ '<div id="dsq-popup-profile-moderated-wrapper-' + user_key + '"> \
								<h4>Moderator of</h4> \
								<ul id="dsq-popup-profile-moderated-' + user_key + '"> \
									<li>Loading...</li> \
								</ul> \
							</div> \
						</td> \
					</tr> \
				</table> \
			</div> \
			';

		content = {
			'header': headerHtml,
			'body': bodyHtml
		};

		return this._popupGeneric(content);
	};

	this.popupReblog = function() {
		var headerHtml = '';
		var bodyHtml = '';
		var content = {};

		headerHtml = ' \
			<cite><span>Reblog this comment</span></cite> \
		';

		bodyHtml = ' \
			<div id="dsq-reblog-form" class="dsq-reblog-form"> \
			</div> \
		';

		content = {
			'header': headerHtml,
			'body': bodyHtml
		};

		return this._popupGeneric(content);
	};

	this.popupModal = function(title, message) {
		var headerHtml = '';
		var bodyHtml = '';
		var content = {};

		headerHtml = ' \
			<h3>' + title + '</h3> \
		';

		bodyHtml = message;

		content = {
			'header': headerHtml,
			'body': bodyHtml
		};

		return this._popupGeneric(content);
	};

	this.alertContent = function(name, post_id) {
		var alert = {
			'post_not_approved': {
				'title': 'Comment awaiting approval by a moderator',
				'message': 'Thanks for posting. Your comment must be approved by a moderator before appearing here.'
			},
			'post_has_profile': {
				'title': 'Use your existing commenter profile',
				'message': 'You have just posted your commment as a <span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-guest">Guest</span>, but you may already have a <span class="dsq-badge dsq-badge-registered">Registered</span> commenter profile.<br /><br /><a href="http://disqus.com/claim">Log in and claim this comment!</a>'
			}
		};
		return alert[name] || false;
	};

	//
	// Actions
	//

	this.voted = function(post_id, points, vote) {
		// Update number of points
		Dsq.$('dsq-points-' + post_id).innerHTML = points + Dsq.Utils.pluralize(points, ' person', ' people') + ' liked this comment.';

		// Update link text
		if(vote) {
			Dsq.$('dsq-rate-cont-' + post_id).innerHTML = 'You liked this.';
		}
	};

	this.subscribed = function(status) {
		var title, message;

		if(status) {
			title = 'Subscribed!';
			message = 'You have subscribed to this comment thread. New comments will be sent directly to your email inbox, where you may read and respond by email.';
			Dsq.$('dsq-subscribe').innerHTML = ' \
				<a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Thread.subscribe(0); return false">Unsubscribe</a> \
			';
		} else {
			title = 'Unsubscribed';
			message = 'You have unsubscribed to this comment thread. New comments will no longer be sent to your email inbox.';
			Dsq.$('dsq-subscribe').innerHTML = ' \
				<a href="#" onclick="Dsq.Thread.subscribe(1); return false">Subscribe by email</a> \
			';
		}

		Dsq.Popup.popModal(message, title);

	};
	
	this.highlighted = function() {
		Dsq.Popup.popModal('This comment has been highlighted.', 'Highlighted comment');
	};

	//
	// Media
	//

	this.mediaSeesmic = function(id, thumb) {
		return ' \
			<div id="dsq-seesmic-' + id + '_preview" class="dsq-seesmic-preview"><a href="http://www.seesmic.com/video/' + id + '" target="_blank" class="see_link">&nbsp;</a> \
				<div style="display:block;width:160px; height:120px; border:none; background-image:url(http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/' + thumb + ')"> \
					<div id="dsq-seesmic-' + id + '_hide" class="seePlayOverlay" style="display:none;"><img onclick="see_play_video(\'' + id + '\',false)" src="http://media.disqus.com/images/seesmic/stopOverlay.png" width="50" height="50" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand; padding-top: 30px; padding-left: 50px" alt="" /></div> \
					<div id="dsq-seesmic-' + id + '_show" class="seePlayOverlay"><img onclick="see_play_video(\'' + id + '\',true)" src="http://media.disqus.com/images/seesmic/playOverlay.png" width="50" height="50" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand; border:none; padding-top: 30px; padding-left: 50px" alt="" /></div> \
				</div> \
			</div> \
			<div id="' + id + '_content" style="display:block; width:100%; padding-top:5px"></div> \
		';
	};

	//
	// Callbacks
	//

	this.postComment_onSuccess = function(parent_post_id) {
		// Increment post count
		var num_posts = Dsq.$('dsq-num-posts');
		var total_posts = Dsq.$('dsq-total-posts');
		
		if (num_posts) { 
			num_posts.innerHTML = parseInt(num_posts.innerHTML) + 1;
		}
		if (total_posts) { 
			total_posts.innerHTML = parseInt(total_posts.innerHTML) + 1;
		}
	};
};
// Dsq.Templates


/**
 * Dsq.Post
 */
Dsq.Post = new function() {
	this.openedMenu = {};
	this.menuEventListener = null;
	this.stateReplyToggled = {};
	this.stateEditToggled = {};
	this.stateRecordLink = {};

	/**
	 * Inserts a new post into the document.
	 *
	 * @param after_id {Number}	Insert a post before specified id.  If after_id
	 *							evaluates to false, then post in the front.  If
	 *							after_id is -1, post at the end.
	 */
	this.insert = function(after_id, id, message, author) {
		// Skeleton template from thread_posts.html.
		var skeleton = ' \
			<li id="dsq-comment-%(id)s"> \
				<div id="dsq-comment-header-%(id)s" class="dsq-comment-header"> \
					<cite id="dsq-cite-%(id)s" class="dsq-comment-cite"> \
						<a id="dsq-author-user-%(id)s" href="%(author_url)s" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">%(author_name)s</a> \
					</cite> \
				</div> \
				<div id="dsq-comment-body-%(id)s" class="dsq-comment-body"> \
					<div id="dsq-comment-message-%(id)s" class="dsq-comment-message">%(message)s</div> \
				</div> \
			</li> \
		';
		var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[id];
		var _user_meta = Dsq.jsonData.users[_meta.user_key];
		var markup = Dsq.Utils.interpolate(skeleton, {
			id: id,
			message: message,
			author_url: _user_meta.blog,
			author_name: _user_meta.display_name
		});
		var div = document.createElement('div');
		markup = markup.replace(Dsq.COMMENTS_RE, Dsq.CommentsHandler);
		div.innerHTML = markup;

		if (after_id === -1) {
			Dsq.$('dsq-comments').appendChild(div);
		} else if (!after_id) {
			Dsq.$('dsq-comments').insertBefore(div, Dsq.$('dsq-comments').firstChild);
		} else if (Dsq.$('dsq-comment-' + after_id)) {
			// Get next node after "after_id", so we can insert before it.
			// If "after_id" is the last comment, the target node is the
			// last node.
			
			// var append_post_id = Dsq.Templates.appendPost(after_id).replace('<div id="','').replace('"></div>', '');
			var append_post_id = 'dsq-append-post-' + after_id;
			var node = Dsq.$(append_post_id);
			while (node = node.nextSibling) {
				if (!node || node.nodeType == 1) { // 1 == Node.ELEMENT_NODE
					break;
				}
			}
			if (!node) {
				node = Dsq.$(append_post_id);
			}
			node.parentNode.insertBefore(div, node);
		}
	};

	this.incrementPostCount = function() {
		
		var num_posts = Dsq.$('dsq-num-posts');
		var total_posts = Dsq.$('dsq-total-posts');

		if (num_posts) {
			num_posts.innerHTML = parseInt(num_posts.innerHTML, 10) + 1;
		}
		if (total_posts) {
			total_posts.innerHTML = parseInt(total_posts.innerHTML, 10) + 1;
		}
	}
	
	this.outlineComment = function(post_id) {
		Dsq.$('dsq-comment-' + post_id).className += ' dsq-comment-outline';
		setTimeout("(function () { Dsq.Post.clearOutlineComment(" + post_id + ") })()", 3000);
	};
	
	this.clearOutlineComment = function(post_id) {
		Dsq.$('dsq-comment-' + post_id).className = Dsq.$('dsq-comment-' + post_id).className.replace('dsq-comment-outline', '');
	};

	this.showMenu = function(el, id, name) {
		var anchorPos = Dsq.Utils.findPos(el);
		var menu = document.createElement('ul');

		if(this.openedMenu) {
			if(this.openedMenu.linkClicked) {
				this.openedMenu.linkClicked = false;
				return;
			}
		}

		switch(name) {
			case 'more':
				menu.innerHTML = Dsq.Templates.menuMore(id);
				break;
			case 'media':
				menu.innerHTML = Dsq.Templates.menuMedia(id);
				break;
			default:
				break;
		}

		// Add menu to document body
		menu.id = 'dsq-menu-' + id;
		menu.className = 'dsq-menu';
		Dsq.$b.appendChild(menu);

		// Position and show
		anchorPos[1] += 15;
		menu.style.left = anchorPos[0] + 'px';
		menu.style.top = anchorPos[1] + 'px';
		menu.style.display = 'block';

		// Set global reference
		this.openedMenu = {
			'el' : menu,
			'id' : id,
			'name' : name,
			'linkClicked' : false
		};

		// Set listener
		this.menuEventListener = Dsq.Utils.addEventListener(document, 'mouseup', this._hideMenu);
	};

	this._hideMenu = function(e) {
		var el = e.target || e.srcElement;
		var openedMenu = Dsq.Post.openedMenu.el;
		var id = Dsq.Post.openedMenu.id;

		if(!id) {
			var link = 'dsq-' + Dsq.Post.openedMenu.name + '-link';
		} else {
			var link = 'dsq-' + Dsq.Post.openedMenu.name + '-link-' + id;
		}

		if(!openedMenu) {
			return;
		}

		if(!Dsq.Popup.isClicked(e, openedMenu.id)) {
			openedMenu.style.display = 'none';
			Dsq.Utils.removeEventListener(Dsq.Post.menuEventListener);
			Dsq.Utils.deleteNode(openedMenu);

		} else {
			// Hide the menu if a link was clicked inside the menu.  We can't
			// completely remove the menu until the onclick event on the link
			// fires, but the menuEventListener will prevent multiple menus
			// from polluting the DOM.
			if(el && typeof el.href != 'undefined') {
				openedMenu.style.display = 'none';
				Dsq.Post.openedMenu.el = null;
			}
		}

		if(Dsq.Popup.isClicked(e, link)) {
 			Dsq.Post.openedMenu.linkClicked = true;
		}
	};


	this.getUserServices = function(user_key, id) {
		if(!user_key && id) {
			var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[id];
			user_key = _meta.user_key;
		}
		var userData = Dsq.jsonData['users'][user_key];
		var userServices = [];

		// Keep a full list of supported services. This is the order they will display in the drop-profile.
		// Each service must have a corresponding case in _buildServiceUrl()
		var supportedServices = ['blog', 'twitter', 'facebook', 'tumblr'];

		function _buildServiceUrl(serviceName) {
			var data = userData[serviceName];
			var services = {
				blog:		function(d) { return d; },
				twitter:	function(d) { return d; },
				facebook:	function(d) { return d; },
				tumblr:		function(d) { return 'http://' + d + '.tumblr.com'; }
			};
			return services[serviceName](data);
		}

		for(var i = 0; i < supportedServices.length; i++) {
			if(userData[supportedServices[i]]) {
				var serviceUrl = _buildServiceUrl(supportedServices[i]);
				userServices.push({'name' : supportedServices[i], 'url' : serviceUrl});
			}
		}
		return userServices;
	}

	this.dropProfile = function(id) {
		var dp = Dsq.$('dsq-drop-profile-' + id);

		// IE6 needs JS to display/hide. All other browsers use CSS.
		if(dp) {
			if(Dsq.Utils.ie6) dp.style.display = (dp.style.display == 'inline') ? 'none' : 'inline';
			return false;
		} else {
			dp = document.createElement('ul');
		}

		dp.id = 'dsq-drop-profile-' + id;
		dp.className = 'dsq-drop-profile';

		if(Dsq.Utils.ie6) { dp.style.display = 'inline'; }

		var container = Dsq.$('dsq-header-avatar-' + id);
		dp.innerHTML = Dsq.Templates.dropProfile(id);
		container.appendChild(dp);
	};

	this.dropProfileMore = function(el, id) {
		var hiddenItems = Dsq.$('dsq-drop-hidden-' + id);

		hiddenItems.style.display = 'inline';
		el.parentNode.style.display = 'none';
	};

	this._updateReplyLinks = function(el, id) {
		// Update "reply / cancel" links based on state.
		var displayDict = {};

		if(id) {
			if(this.stateReplyToggled[id]) {
				el.innerHTML = 'Cancel';
				displayDict['media'] = 'inline';
				displayDict['edit'] = 'none';
			} else {
				el.innerHTML = 'Reply';
				displayDict['media'] = 'none';
				displayDict['edit'] = 'inline';
			}
		}

		for(var key in displayDict) {
			if(displayDict.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
				var	linkEl = Dsq.$('dsq-' + key + '-el-' + id),
					spacer = Dsq.$('dsq-' + key + '-spacer-' + id);

				if(linkEl) {
					linkEl.style.display = displayDict[key];
					if(spacer) spacer.style.display = displayDict[key];
				}
			}
		}
	};

	this._updateMediaLinks = function(el, id) {
		// Update "use media / cancel" links based on state.
		var appendId = (id) ? ('-' + id) : '';
		var link = Dsq.$('dsq-media-link' + appendId);

		if(this.stateRecordLink[id]) {
			link.innerHTML = 'Cancel Media';
			link.onclick = function() { Dsq.Post.toggleMediaReply(link, id); return false; };
		} else {
			link.innerHTML = 'Use Media <small>&#9660;</small>';
			link.onclick = function() { Dsq.Post.showMenu(link, id, 'media'); return false; };
		}
	};

	this.toggleReply = function(el, id) {
		// Create reply IFrame
		if (window.disqus_use_postmessage) {
			if (!this.stateReplyToggled[id]) {
				Dsq.$('dsq-reply-' + id).style.display = 'block';
				Dsq.$('dsq-reply-bar-' + id).style.display = 'block';
				// Create IFrame if it doesn't exist.
				if (!Dsq.frames['reply_' + id]) {
					var _meta = Dsq.jsonData.posts[id];
					Dsq.frames['reply_' + id] = new Dsq.ReplyFrame(Dsq.$('dsq-reply-frame-' + id), id);
					Dsq.frames['reply_' + id].init();
					Dsq.frames['reply_' + id].setState(id, _meta.depth);
				}
			} else {
				Dsq.$('dsq-reply-' + id).style.display = 'none';
				Dsq.$('dsq-reply-bar-' + id).style.display = 'none';
			}
		} else {
			// DEPRECATED
			if(!this.stateReplyToggled[id]) {
				// Reply toolbar
				Dsq.$('dsq-reply-bar-' + id).style.display = 'block';
				Dsq.Iframes.showReplyIframeInContainerIfAllowed(Dsq.$('dsq-reply-' + id), id);
			} else {
				Dsq.$('dsq-reply-bar-' + id).style.display = 'none';
				Dsq.Iframes.hideAllInContainer(Dsq.$('dsq-reply-' + id));
				if(this.stateRecordLink[id]) {
					// HACK: Cancel media before canceling self.
					this.toggleMediaReply(Dsq.$('dsq-media-link-' + id), id);
				}
			}
		}

		this.stateReplyToggled[id] = !this.stateReplyToggled[id];
		this._updateReplyLinks(el, id);

		if(Dsq.Utils.ie) { Dsq.Utils.fixIframesIE('dsq-reply-' + id); }

		Dsq.Events.fire(Dsq.Events.REPLY_IFRAME_TOGGLED, {
			postId: id,
			opened: this.stateReplyToggled[id]
		});
	};

	this.toggleMediaReply = function(el, id, xtype) {
		id = id || 0;
		if(id) {
			var container = Dsq.$('dsq-reply-' + id);
		} else {
			var container = Dsq.$('dsq-post-add');
		}

		if(!this.stateRecordLink[id]) {
			Dsq.Iframes.showReplyIframeInContainer(container, id, {xtype:xtype}, 'dsq-post-video');
		} else {
			Dsq.Iframes.showReplyIframeInContainer(container, id);
		}
		this.stateRecordLink[id] = !this.stateRecordLink[id];
		this._updateMediaLinks(el, id);

		if(Dsq.Utils.ie) { Dsq.Utils.fixIframesIE(); }
	};

	this.edit = function(el, id) {
		Dsq.$('dsq-comment-message-' + id).innerHTML = Dsq.Templates.frameEdit(id);
		el.parentNode.style.display = 'none';
		if(Dsq.Utils.ie) { Dsq.Utils.fixIframesIE('dsq-comment-message-' + id); }
	};

    this.rate = function(el, id, vote) {
		if(Dsq.jsonData.request.is_authenticated || Dsq.jsonData.forum.allow_anon_votes) {
			if(vote == 1) {
                Dsq.$('dsq-rate-cont-' + id).innerHTML = '<img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/loading-small.gif">';
            }

            Dsq.Utils.execScript('http://disqus.com/forums/andrewmcafee/vote.js'
                + '?post_id='    + id
                + '&vote='        + vote);

		} else {
			Dsq.Popup.login(Dsq.Strings.TO_RATE_PLEASE_LOG_IN);
		}
    };

	this.report = function(id, confirmed) {
		if(confirmed) {
			Dsq.Utils.postToUrl('http://disqus.com/forums/andrewmcafee/does_it_matter_results_are_in/post_report/', {'post_id': id});
			Dsq.Popup.popModal('Thank you. This comment has been flagged for moderator attention.', 'Successfully flagged');
			Dsq.Utils.deleteNode(Dsq.$('dsq-post-report-' + id));
		} else {
			var title = Dsq.Strings.FLAG_INAPPROPRIATE_COMMENT;
			var message = Dsq.Strings.ARE_YOU_SURE_YOU_WOULD_LIKE_TO_REPORT_THIS_COMMENT_TO_A_MODERATOR + '? \
			<br /><br /> \
			<button onclick="Dsq.Popup._closePopup(null, true)"><strong>' + Dsq.Strings.NO + '</strong>, ' + Dsq.Strings.NEVER_MIND + '</button>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<button onclick="Dsq.Post.report(' + id + ', true);"><strong>' + Dsq.Strings.YES + '</strong>, ' + Dsq.Strings.FLAG_INAPPROPRIATE_COMMENT + '</button><br /><br />'
			+ Dsq.Strings.THIS_WILL_FLAG_COMMENTS_FOR_MODERATORS_TO_TAKE_ACTION + '. \
			';

			Dsq.Popup.popModal(message, title, id);
		}
	};



	this.showAlert = function(id, msg) {
		var msgEl = Dsq.$('dsq-comment-message-' + id);
		var alert = '<div class="dsq-comment-alert">' + msg + '</div>';

		msgEl.innerHTML = alert + msgEl.innerHTML;
	};

};
// Dsq.Post


/**
 * Dsq.Thread
 */
Dsq.Thread = new function() {
	this.fc = null;
	this.ff = null;
	this.ac = null;

	
	this.adminIsOn = false;

	
	
	

	this.hlComment = null;
	this.hlCommentClass = null;

	this.getNextComment = function(el) {
		var start_id = el.id;
		while(el = el.nextSibling) {
			if(el.id && el.id.indexOf('dsq-comment-') != -1 && el.id != start_id) {
				return el;
			}
		}
		return null;
	};

	this.getActiveCommentId = function() {
		if (document.URL.indexOf('#comment-') >= 0) {
			var anchor = document.URL.slice(document.URL.indexOf('#') + 1);
			return anchor.replace('comment-', '');
		}
		return null;
	};

	this.highlightAnchor = function() {
		var i = this.getActiveCommentId();
		if (i == null) return false;
		var id = 'dsq-comment-' + i;
		var hash = window.location.hash;

		// Toggle the hash incase the comment isn't available when the page loads
		// for WebKit-based browsers.
		if (Dsq.Utils.webkit) {
			window.location.hash = '';
			window.location.hash = hash;
		}

		this.hlComment = Dsq.$(id);
		// Adding this conditional guard pending #289
		if (!this.hlComment) {
			return;
		}
		this.hlCommentClass = this.hlComment.className;
		this.hlComment.className += ' dsq-hl-anchor';

		setTimeout("Dsq.Thread.highlightClear()", 3000);
	};

	this.highlightClear = function() {
		if (!this.hlComment) {
			return;
		}
		this.hlComment.className = this.hlCommentClass;
	};

	this.login = function(toggle) {
		// toggle id is #dsq-reply-login-[id]
		var postId;
		if(toggle.id.indexOf('dsq-reply-login') != -1) {
			postId = toggle.id.slice(16);
			var container = Dsq.$('dsq-reply-' + postId);
		} else {
			var container = Dsq.$('dsq-post-add');
		}

		if(toggle) {
			if(toggle.className == 'dsq-login-active') {
				Dsq.Iframes.showReplyIframeInContainerIfAllowed(container, postId);
				toggle.className = '';
			} else {
				Dsq.Iframes.showLoginIframeInContainer(container, postId);
				toggle.className = 'dsq-login-active';
			}
		} else {
			Dsq.Iframes.showLoginIframeInContainer(container, postId);
		}

		if(Dsq.Utils.ie) { Dsq.Utils.fixIframesIE(); }
	};


	this.paginate = function(page, el_clicked, per_page) {
		// Use extra_params to pass any override parameters that we need to persist.
		var extra_params = '';

		// "Per page" can either be overriden by providing it as an argument
		// (per-call) or setting the disqus_per_page override variable (global).
		if(typeof per_page == 'undefined') {
			per_page = null;
		}
		if(typeof disqus_per_page != 'undefined' && per_page === null) {
			per_page = disqus_per_page;
		}

		if(typeof disqus_sort != 'undefined') {
			extra_params += '&sort=' + disqus_sort;
		}
		if(per_page !== null) {
			extra_params += '&per_page=' + per_page;
		}

		Dsq.$('dsq-pagination').innerHTML += '<img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/loading-small.gif">';
		
		if(el_clicked) {
			el_clicked.style.display = 'none';
		}
		
		Dsq.Utils.execScript('http://disqus.com/forums/andrewmcafee/thread.js'
			+ '?slug='	+ 'does_it_matter_results_are_in'
			+ '&p='		+ page
			+ extra_params);
	};

	this.sortBy = function(sort) {
		var disqus_script = document.createElement('script');
		var disqus_date = new Date();

		if (location.hash != '') {
			location.hash = '#disqus_thread';
		}

		if(typeof(disqus_url) == 'undefined') {
			disqus_url = disqus_href;
		}
		disqus_script.type = 'text/javascript';
		disqus_script.src = 'http://disqus.com/forums/andrewmcafee/thread.js'
			+ '?slug='	+ 'does_it_matter_results_are_in'
			+ '&sort='	+ sort
			+ '&title='
			+ '&'		+ disqus_date.getTime();

		Dsq.$('dsq-comments').innerHTML = '<img src="http://media.disqus.com/images/loading.gif">';
		Dsq.container.appendChild(disqus_script);
	};

	this.subscribe = function(status, email) {
		// `status` is an int -- 1 to subscribe, 0 to unsubscribe
		if(Dsq.jsonData.request.is_authenticated || email) {
			// If authenticated user OR anonymous email provided

			if(email) {
				Dsq.Popup._closePopup(null, true);
			}

			Dsq.Utils.execScript('http://disqus.com/forums/andrewmcafee/subscribe.js'
				+'?status=' 	+ status
				+ '&slug='		+ 'does_it_matter_results_are_in'
				+ '&email=' 	+ encodeURIComponent(email));

		} else if(!email) {
			// If anonymous user and no email has been provided yet, prompt for email

			var title = 'Subscribe to this comment thread';
			var message = ' \
				New comments will be sent directly to your email inbox! \
				<div class="dsq-subscribe-submit"> \
					<p><strong>Enter your email address below.</strong></p> \
					<input type="text" id="dsq-subscribe-email"> \
					<button onclick="Dsq.Thread.subscribe(1, Dsq.$(\'dsq-subscribe-email\').value)">Subscribe</button> \
				</div> \
			';

			Dsq.Popup.popModal(message, title);
		}
	};

	this.showSettings = function() {
		if (!Dsq.jsonData.request.is_moderator) {
			return;
		}

		/* The form has to be re-designed when more options will come out. */
		var html = 'Automatically close comments after <input size="3" id="dsq-thread-days-alive" value="' + Dsq.jsonData.thread.days_alive + '" type="text" /> days. Existing comments will still be displayed.<br /><br />(Using 0 days will disable this feature)<br /><br />'
								 + '<button onclick="Dsq.Thread.updateDaysAlive();" class="dsq-button-small"><span>Save</span></button>'
								 + '<span id="dsq-thread-settings-status" class="dsq-options-status"></span>';
		Dsq.Popup.popModal(html, 'Settings');
	};

	this.updateDaysAlive = function() {
		var days = Dsq.$('dsq-thread-days-alive').value;
		var status = Dsq.$('dsq-thread-settings-status');
		Dsq.Utils.postToUrl('http://disqus.com/forums/andrewmcafee/update_days_alive.js', {days:days,thread:Dsq.jsonData.thread.id});
		status.innerHTML = 'Saved!';
		window.setTimeout(function() { status.innerHTML = ''; }, 1000);
	};
};
// Dsq.Thread

Dsq.Events = function() {
	var obj = {};

	// Private
	var handlers = {};
	var getHandlers = function(event) {
		if (handlers[event] === undefined) {
			handlers[event] = [];
		}
		return handlers[event];
	};

	// Public
	// Value keys : postId, node, xtype
	obj.REPLY_IFRAME_CREATED = 1;
	// Value keys : postId, opened
	obj.REPLY_IFRAME_TOGGLED = 2;
	obj.fire = function(event, opt_value) {
		if (!event) {
			throw new Error('Unknown event');
		}
		var value = opt_value || {};
		for (var i=0; i<getHandlers(event).length; i++) {
			getHandlers(event)[i](value);
		}
	};
	obj.addHandler = function(event, callback) {
		getHandlers(event).push(callback);
	};

	return obj;
}();

/**
 * Dsq.Realtime
 */
Dsq.Realtime = new function() {
	var initialized = false;
	var interval = null;
	var last_checked = Dsq.jsonData.request.timestamp;
	var new_posts = [];
	var ongoing_request = false;
	var prev_script = null;

	function updateNewPostCount() {
		Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-alert').style.display = new_posts.length ? 'block' : 'none';

		Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-queued').innerHTML = new_posts.length
		+ ' new '
		+ Dsq.Utils.pluralize(new_posts.length, 'comment', 'comments')
		+ Dsq.Utils.pluralize(new_posts.length, ' was', ' were')
		+ ' just posted.';

		Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-show').innerHTML = '(' + Dsq.Strings.SHOW + ')';
	}

	function insertNewPosts() {
		var post_id = null;
		var after_id = Dsq.$('dsq-sort-select').value === 'oldest' ? -1 : null;

		for (var i=0; i<new_posts.length; i++) {
			post_id = new_posts[i];
			Dsq.Post.insert(after_id, post_id, Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id].message);
			Dsq.Post.incrementPostCount();
			Dsq.Post.outlineComment(post_id);
		}
		new_posts = [];
	}

	this.enableInterval = function() {
		interval = setInterval(Dsq.Realtime.check, Dsq.jsonData.context.realtime_speed);
		Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-status').innerHTML = Dsq.Strings.ENABLED;
		Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-toggle').innerHTML = '(' + Dsq.Strings.PAUSE + ')';
	}

	this.disableInterval = function() {
		if (interval) {
			clearInterval(interval);
			interval = null;
		}
		Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-status').innerHTML = Dsq.Strings.PAUSED;
		Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-toggle').innerHTML = '(' + Dsq.Strings.RESUME + ')';
	}

	this.toggleInterval = function() {
		if (!interval) {
			Dsq.Realtime.enableInterval();
		} else {
			Dsq.Realtime.disableInterval();
		}
		return false;
	}

	this.initialize = function() {
		if (!initialized) {
			initialized = true;
			Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-toggle').onclick = this.toggleInterval;
			if (!Dsq.jsonData.forum.streaming_realtime) {
				Dsq.$('dsq-realtime-show').onclick = this.show;
				updateNewPostCount();
			}
			if (Dsq.jsonData.thread.realtime_paused) {
				Dsq.Realtime.disableInterval();
			} else {
				Dsq.Realtime.enableInterval();
			}
		}
	}

	this.show = function() {
		insertNewPosts();
		updateNewPostCount();
		return false;
	}

	this.check = function() {
		if (!ongoing_request && Dsq.jsonData.realtime_enabled) {
			if (prev_script) {
				prev_script.parentNode.removeChild(prev_script);
			}
			ongoing_request = true;
			prev_script = Dsq.Utils.execScript('http://disqus.com/forums/10392457/realtime.js?timestamp=' + last_checked);
		}
	};

	this.update = function(timestamp, posts, users) {
		ongoing_request = false;
		last_checked = timestamp;

		if (users) {
			for (var user_id in users) {
				if (users.hasOwnProperty(user_id)) {
					if (!Dsq.jsonData.users[user_id]) {
						Dsq.jsonData.users[user_id] = users[user_id];
					}
				}
			}
		}

		if (posts) {
			for (var post_id in posts) {
				if (posts.hasOwnProperty(post_id)) {
					if (!Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id]) {
						Dsq.jsonData.posts[post_id] = posts[post_id];
						new_posts.push(post_id);
					}
				}
			}

			if (Dsq.jsonData.forum.streaming_realtime) {
				insertNewPosts();
			} else {
				updateNewPostCount();
			}
		}
	};

}();

// DEPRECATED
Dsq.Iframes = function() {
	// Different style of object from the above. Hoping to switch to this for some reason.
	var obj = {};

	// Private
	var showIframeInContainer = function(container, id, markup) {
		// Look through container for iframes, hiding them, except show one that matches id
		// If none of them matched id, create a new iframe using markup and insert it.
		// Returns the iframe node if and only if it was newly created.
		var found = false;
		for (var i=0; i<container.childNodes.length; i++) {
			var child = container.childNodes[i];
			if (child.nodeName == 'IFRAME') {
				if (child.id == id) {
					child.style.display = 'block';
					found = true;
				} else {
					child.style.display = 'none';
				}
			}
		}
		if (found) {
			return;
		}
		// The iframe wasn't found, so construct it and add it to the container.
		// Don't use innerHTML because it might reload iframes
		var div = document.createElement('div');
		div.innerHTML = markup;
		var iframe = div.childNodes[0];
		div.removeChild(iframe);
		container.appendChild(iframe);
		return iframe;
	};

	// Public
	obj.makeReplyIframeId = function(opt_postId, opt_xtype) {
		var id = 'dsq-post-add-iframe';
		if (opt_xtype) {
			id += '-' + opt_xtype;
		}
		if (opt_postId) {
			id += '-' + opt_postId;
		}
		return id;
	};
	obj.makeLoginIframeId = function(opt_postId) {
		if (!opt_postId) {
			return 'dsq-login-iframe';
		}
		return 'dsq-login-iframe-' + opt_postId;
	};
	obj.makeReplyIframeName = function(opt_postId, opt_xtype) {
		var name = 'dsq-reply-frame';
		if (opt_xtype) {
			name += '-' + opt_xtype;
		}
		if (opt_postId) {
			name += '-' + opt_postId;
		}
		return name;
	};
	obj.showReplyIframeInContainer = function(container, opt_postId, opt_extraParams, opt_className) {
		// Construct the id so we can check if it's already present.
		// Hide any other iframes we find, and show this one if it's found.
		var params = opt_extraParams || {};
		// use xtype in the id and name so we can distinguish media replies from text replies:
		var id = Dsq.Iframes.makeReplyIframeId(opt_postId, params.xtype);
		var name = Dsq.Iframes.makeReplyIframeName(opt_postId, params.xtype);
		var attributes = {
			'id': id,
			'name': name,
			'class': opt_className || 'dsq-post-reply'
			};
		var markup = Dsq.Templates.frameReply(opt_postId, opt_extraParams, attributes);
		var iframe = showIframeInContainer(container, id, markup);
		// It was newly created
		if (iframe) {
			Dsq.Events.fire(Dsq.Events.REPLY_IFRAME_CREATED, {
				postId: opt_postId,
				node: iframe,
				xtype: params.xtype
			});
		}
	};
	obj.showLoginIframeInContainer = function(container, opt_postId) {
		var id = Dsq.Iframes.makeLoginIframeId(opt_postId);
		var markup = Dsq.Templates.frameLogin({id: id});
		showIframeInContainer(container, id, markup);
	};
	obj.showReplyIframeInContainerIfAllowed = function(container, opt_postId) {
		if (Dsq.jsonData.context.show_reply) {
			obj.showReplyIframeInContainer(container, opt_postId);
		} else {
			obj.hideAllInContainer(container);
		}
	};
	obj.hideAllInContainer = function(container) {
		for (var i=0; i<container.childNodes.length; i++) {
			var child = container.childNodes[i];
			if (child.nodeName == 'IFRAME') {
				child.style.display = 'none';
			}
		}
	};

	return obj;
}();

Dsq.Twitter = new function() {
	var that = this;

	this.startTwitterConnect = function() {
		var popupParams = 'location=0,status=0,width=800,height=400';
		that._twitterWindow = window.open(Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url + '/_ax/twitter/begin/', 'twitterWindow', popupParams);
		that._twitterInterval = window.setInterval(that.completeTwitterConnect, 1000);
	};

	this.completeTwitterConnect = function() {
		if (that._twitterWindow.closed) {
			window.clearInterval(that._twitterInterval);
			window.location.reload();
		}
	};
};

Dsq.Yahoo = new function() {
	var that = this;

	this.startYahooConnect = function() {
		var popupParams = 'location=0,status=0,width=800,height=400';
		that._yahooWindow = window.open(Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url + '/_ax/yahoo/begin/', 'yahooWindow', popupParams);
		that._yahooInterval = window.setInterval(that.completeYahooConnect, 1000);
	};

	this.completeYahooConnect = function() {
		if (that._yahooWindow.closed) {
			window.clearInterval(that._yahooInterval);
			window.location.reload();
		}
	};
};

Dsq.OpenID = new function() {
	var that = this;

	this.requestURL = function() {
		var message = '<table class="dsq-openid-form"><tr><td style="vertical-align:top;" rowspan="2"><img src="' + Dsq.jsonData.settings.media_url + '/images/openid-icon-100x100.png" /></td>';
		message += '<td><label for="dsq-openid-url">OpenID URL:</label></td><td><input type="text" id="dsq-openid-url" /></td></tr>';
		message += '<tr><td><label for="dsq-openid-username">Display name:</label></td><td><input type="text" id="dsq-openid-username" /></td></tr>';
		message += '<tr><td class="dsq-openid-submit" colspan="3"><input type="button" value="Sign in" onclick="Dsq.OpenID.startConnect();" /></td></tr>';
		message += "</table>";

		Dsq.Popup.popModal(message, 'Sign in using OpenID');
	};

	this.startConnect = function() {
		var isblank = function(str) {
			return /^\s*$/.test(str);
		};

		var openid_url = Dsq.$('dsq-openid-url').value;
		var username = Dsq.$('dsq-openid-username').value;

		if (isblank(openid_url)) {
			return;
		}

		var popupParams = 'location=0,status=0,width=800,height=500';
		var url = Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url + '/_ax/openid/begin/' + '?url=' + encodeURIComponent(openid_url) + '&username=' + encodeURIComponent(username);
		that._openidWindow = window.open(url, 'openidWindow', popupParams);
		that._openidInterval = window.setInterval(that.completeConnect, 1000);
	};

	this.completeConnect = function() {
		if (that._openidWindow.closed) {
			window.clearInterval(that._openidInterval);
			window.location.reload();
		}
	};
};

Dsq.Reaction = new function() {
	var that = this;

	this.hide = function(id) {
		Dsq.Utils.execScript('http://disqus.com/forums/andrewmcafee/hidereaction.js?' + 'reaction_id=' + id);
	};

	this.reportMissingReactions = function() {
		if (!Dsq.jsonData.request.is_moderator || !Dsq.jsonData.forum.reactions_enabled) {
			return;
		}

		if (Dsq.jsonData.thread.queued) {
			Dsq.Popup.popModal('Your report has been received. The system will automatically search for new reactions; if any are found, they will be displayed on this comment thread.<br/><br/>Thank&nbsp;you.',
												 'Reported missing reactions');
			return;
		}

		Dsq.Utils.execScript(Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url + '/forums/andrewmcafee/queueurl.js');
	};
};

Dsq.CNN = function() {
	var obj = {};

	obj.authenticate = function() {
		var url = Dsq.jsonData.settings.disqus_url + "/saml/cnn/try/";
		Dsq.Utils.postToUrl(url, {'target': document.location}, true);
	};

	return obj;
}();


if(Dsq.Utils.ie6) {
	(function() {
		DSQ_HEADER_AVATAR_RE = /<div class="dsq-header-avatar"(.*?)>/gim;
		Dsq.Templates.registerFilter('postPrependHeader', function(html, post_id) {
			// Add "onmouseout" for dsq-header-avatar for dropProfile
			// functionality since IE6 cannot use :hover.
			function _headerAvatarReplace(content, inner, _unused, html) {
				return '<div class="dsq-header-avatar" '
					+ inner
					+ ' onmouseout="Dsq.Post.dropProfile(' + post_id + ')">';
			}
			html = html.replace(DSQ_HEADER_AVATAR_RE, _headerAvatarReplace);
			return html;
		});
	})();
}









(function() {
	//
	// Load theme.  This overrides the base templates with template functions
	// from the respective themes.
	//
	if (Dsq.jsonData.integration.theme == 4) {
		var theme = 'narcissus';
		// HACK: Set variable on window to use post message.
		window.disqus_use_postmessage = true;

		
		for(var prop in Dsq.Themes[theme]) {
			if(Dsq.Themes[theme] && Dsq.Themes[theme].hasOwnProperty(prop)) {
				Dsq.Templates[prop] = Dsq.Themes[theme][prop];
			}
		}
		
		for(var prop in Dsq.Post) {
			if(Dsq.Themes[theme] && Dsq.Themes[theme].hasOwnProperty(prop)) {
				Dsq.Post[prop] = Dsq.Themes[theme][prop];
			}
		}
	}

	//
	// Register templates.  This must be done after all themes are loaded.
	//
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('authPost', Dsq.Templates.authPost);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('header', Dsq.Templates.header);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('footer', Dsq.Templates.footer);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('trackbacks', Dsq.Templates.trackbacks);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('reactions', Dsq.Templates.reactions);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('prependPost', Dsq.Templates.prependPost);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('appendPost', Dsq.Templates.appendPost);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('postPrependHeader', Dsq.Templates.postPrependHeader);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('postAppendHeader', Dsq.Templates.postAppendHeader);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('preBody', Dsq.Templates.preBody);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('postBody', Dsq.Templates.postBody);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('postFooter', Dsq.Templates.postFooter);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('_popupGeneric', Dsq.Templates._popupGeneric);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('voted', Dsq.Templates.voted);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('popupProfile', Dsq.Templates.popupProfile);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('postBox', Dsq.Templates.postBox);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('pagination', Dsq.Templates.pagination);
	Dsq.Templates.registerTemplate('postComment_onSuccess', Dsq.Templates.postComment_onSuccess);

})();

Dsq.container.className = "clearfix";
Dsq.container.innerHTML = ' \
<ul id="dsq-comments">\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486878">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486878" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486878" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-5486878">G. Oliver Young</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486878" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486878" class="dsq-comment-message">Professor McAfee, first of all I would like to say thank you to you and the rest of your team for undertaking the research. It is clearly one of the fundamental questions facing the IT industry today.<br><br>I will readily admit that I am a subscriber to the Â“IT DoesnÂ’t MatterÂ” mantra, but I do so with one major caveat: IT doesnÂ’t matter in the long-run. In the short-run, as firms adopt IT at different rates and rationalize those purchases with different levels of success there will be an amplification of turbulence. In the long-run, however, these forces will shake out as all firms reach the same plateau, rationalizing much of the same technology for the same business benefit. This is not to say that IT doesnÂ’t matter at all Â— in the short-run it is tremendously important and can change the competitive landscape quite drastically Â— but the major game-changing shifts do not occur every day, they occur at most once every 10-12 years.<br><br>My concern is that your analysis is, due to our place in history, examining the short-term impact of a major shift Â— where we would expect the competitive landscape to change. With a longer time horizon I think we will find that the day to day operations and decisions of IT shops have little to no impact on the competitive landscape. Then again, as John Maynard Keynes famously quipped Â“in the long-run weÂ’re all dead.Â”</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486877">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486877" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486877" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-5486877" href="http://innovation-in-oil-and-gas.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Paul Cox</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486877" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486877" class="dsq-comment-message">I have been writing about these ideas for the oil and gas industry. <br><br>In my blog you will find discussion of this article and reviews of Professor Richard N. Langlois, Professor Sydney Winter, and John Hagel\'s works. This group of writers are all contributing to these ideas, and collectively are pushing the envelope.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486876">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486876" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486876" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-5486876" href="http://engineerswithoutfears.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Matt Moore</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486876" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486876" class="dsq-comment-message">So there is a correlation between IT spend & industry concentration & turbulence. At the risk of being naive, could a case be made that the causation pattern runs in the opposite direction? Could these industries have invested in IT precisely because they were perceiving greater competition in their markets (caused by other changes in their regulatory/technical/social environments)? This is the "IT as silver bullet" approach - which was rife in the mid-90s and is hardly uncommon now. A question might be: is growth in IT spend a leading or lagging indicator for concentration or turbulence?<br><br>The comments made under the heading "A Surprise", are not that surprising for those familiar with the law of unintended consequences. To what extent does IT make the business environment more complex? It certainly allows more interactions between entities (which is a necessary condition for complexity to arise in a system - pace Alexrod & Cohen). And to what extent did IT in the 90s reduce flexibility at the price of conformity? ERP systems are notoriously hard to configure & deploy - which is why SOA & SAAS are getting the attention at the moment.<br><br>All that said I agree with the 3 comments made at the end of your article.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486873">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486873" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486873" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-5486873">Dennis Linnell</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486873" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486873" class="dsq-comment-message">Interesting work. Your findings could have all sorts of strategic implications, especially in industries that are not already High-IT. But what about cause and effect? Have you looked into whether heavy IT adoption is the cause of greater concentration and turbulence OR the (possibly indirect) consequence of it?</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486874">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486874" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486874" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-5486874" href="http://www.connecta.dk" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Hans Henrik H. Heming</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486874" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486874" class="dsq-comment-message">In my mind there is no doubt that there is a strong interrelationship between IT expenditure and competitiveness.<br><br>But where it few years ago was all about resource planning and overall financial control I think it\'s a new game today.<br><br>Maybe it\'s possible to explain with different Capital-definitions?<br><br>1. Financial Capital as in "ERP", "Lean", "SAP", "ROI".<br><br>2. Human Capital as in "HR", "HRM" and related stuff.<br><br>3. Social Capital as in "relations", "Dunbar", "web2.0", E2.0", "Open Innovation".<br><br>4. Psychological Capital as in "Personal Leadership", "Optimism", "Hope", "Efficacy", "Resilience".<br><br>5-10 years ago IT was all about 1&2 - today competitive force maybe is about something else, ceteris paribus, it\'s about how you can grow the "Social Capital". IT is definitely a determinant factor or what?</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486875">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486875" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486875" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-5486875">anand</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486875" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486875" class="dsq-comment-message">Thanks for diving into one of the fundamental questions, professor.<br>From the era of I-do-my-own-software portion of the industry has shifted more or less<br>into heavy homogenizing with the help of big vendors. This seems to be a quite a natural shift as we can see in any industry. Technology vendors will tend to even out the competition and make it better for consumer. <br>IT\'s potential to differentiate is still as vast as human creativity. amazon Vs barnes & nobles, netflix Vs blockbuster...<br>("We conclude that the improved ability of firms to replicate business innovations is linked not only to productivity increases, but also to changes in the nature of business com-petition itself.")<br>When large corporations shake out their dust to get nimble, homogenizing may be the fastest and least risky way to do so. In the world of Goliaths, every body will have spades but it does matter how they decide use them. Deployment of IT makes a big difference (as professor said, \'drunken sailor\' attitude will not help!). Its<br>deployment is. How well they are integrated into the business? How knowledgeable is the staff to harness the benefits?...Intelligent and visionary deployment can make the organizations respond to sudden and unexpected changes in the market place. Professor, I think it might be interesting to include a metric to check how IT helped (if at all!) organizations to respond to challenges in market place. These changes may or may not occur every year or so but some of them are capable of deciding the life span. <br>I subscribe to the notion IT does matter as it springs forth from an inextinguishable<br>resource - human creativity.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486872">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486872" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486872" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-5486872">Lars Haugstad</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486872" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486872" class="dsq-comment-message">Very interesting results. I do, however, believe that discussing IT in general is too broad of a concept. I suggest looking at IT-investments with two different perspectives:<br><br>Operational deployment<br>IT serves as an enabler. Operations (as discussed with CVS) can be made more efficiently, and greater control of information can augment the standard product, such as when UPS offers tracking of their shipments. Typical ERP/MIS systems fall under this category.<br><br>Strategic deployment<br>IT serves to strategically differentiate. The company builds its business model around the opportunities that IT offers. Offering unique solutions enabled by IT that are strategically aligned with the business model can create competitive advantages that may even outlive the rapid turbulence of the high-IT industry.<br><br>These two categories of deployment are significantly different and offers very different result. I believe both of these can occur in any of the IT-industry segments (low/medium/high), but strategic deployment is mostly seen in the high-end side of the spectrum.<br><br>As mentioned before me, IT is worth nothing unless properly deployed with the mindset and culture of the organization. Therefore, IT provides strategic competitive advantage only with the support of human creativity to reap its benefits.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486871">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486871" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486871" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-5486871">David Sims</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486871" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486871" class="dsq-comment-message">Oliver Young makes a good point that any advantage conferred by technology innovation may be short-term. But, as with any competitive edge, it matters a lot how the company plays that advantage. Consider Yahoo\'s early lead in search-engine technology, which it has managed to parlay into a lasting, top-tier position in that media niche, while other early stars of that niche (Excite, Alta Vista) are candidates for "I Love the 90s" episodes.<br><br>So, any competitive edge, even a short-termed one, can\'t be lightly discarded (nor relied on exclusively, of course). Given that, Lars Haugstad\'s point about the types of IT investment seems extremely relevant, as it proposes differentiating among companies that have invested in innovation that would give them an advantage, versus those companies that simply spend a great deal on IT because they haven\'t learned how to run their commodity-level IT operations cost-effectively.<br><br>A ripe area for exploration would be the performance of companies that spend more of their IT budget on new products, processes, and services, compared to those that spend more on daily operations.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486870">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486870" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486870" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-5486870">Patxi Bonel</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486870" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486870" class="dsq-comment-message">It\'s a very interesting work.<br><br>But after reading all of it I have a feeling that turbulence and concentration mean unstable industries. Could it happen that<br>because IT innovation cycles are shorter than many other technologies, this would mean that depending on the point at which a company had made its three to five years major investment this could result in a competitive advantage at the beginning and just the opposite at the<br>end of each investment cycle? Because of IT obsolescence, those industries with major IT investments and financial resources should<br>get the major share of the market?</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486869">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486869" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486869" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-5486869" href="http://www.eukhost.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">eUKhost</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486869" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486869" class="dsq-comment-message">Very nice article Professor McAfee.IT is certainly on demand nowadays. If you look any kind of work lot of things depends on software you use. It has made revolution this will be still or even increase  alive in upcoming years. The only thing required is proper research and planning which is the most important in this field.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486868">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486868" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486868" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-5486868" href="http://www.kellen.net" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Vince Kellen</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486868" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486868" class="dsq-comment-message">Interesting study. Starting to go through the details now. Here\'s a thought. Within IT-heavy industries IT magnifies competitive effects through faster-moving market learning cycles (Boisot SLCs). This has the result of increasing information flow within and between firms. As the information flow "heats up" competitive cycles shrink and the effect of differences in short-term advantage magnifies. The market gets "hotter" exhibiting more randomness as a result of increased information flow.<br><br>Normally systems are seen as ways of reducing randomness, which may be true within the firm, but models of competition may actually vary more greatly between firms as culture, shared mental-models, cognitive limitations, etc. cause the firm to lock in on different information and hence difference strategies for competing. Also, since firms self seek differential strategies they are inclined to see and use information differently from their competitors, thus creating more variation is strategy and strategy execution. In this case, increased investments in IT in markets may be seen as destabilizing due to basic human behavior in competition. I got a better gun so I believe I can out-shoot my opponents.<br><br>For the competitors our there (which all firms are), this is seductively interesting since over-optimism leads businesses to believe they can navigate the increased chaos better than the competitors, thus fueling further investment in IT. <br><br>It would be curious to see if there are firms that seem to be not turbulent (don\'t alter their position in share) despite the turbulence of the market. Is there a leader separating from the pack? If so, this may be evidence of a use of IT that is more enduring than short-term leap-frogging.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486867">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486867" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486867" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-5486867" href="http://www.internet-empire.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Edmund Ng</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486867" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486867" class="dsq-comment-message">IT does matter. If you see the way technology companies are merging than you will realize that small players are increasingly getting harder and harder to survive.<br><br>That is the reason why Social Tagging sites like DIGG, Del.icio.us and Communal Portals like MySpace, FaceBook and have given smaller players hope as they tapped on to exponential growth of the internet.<br><br>IT has shown that it gives the innovative players a chance to take on the big boys and companies leveraging IT to have an equal chance of survival.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486862">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486862" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486862" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-5486862">Shreepad Shukla</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486862" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486862" class="dsq-comment-message">As pointed out in other posts, the causality is not well established, at least based on what is written in this blog.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486863">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486863" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486863" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-5486863" href="http://javiercabrerizo.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Javier Cabrerizo</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486863" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486863" class="dsq-comment-message">Great research. I align with the "IT does matter" side. <br>Some additional angles that would be interesting to observe in this research are:<br>- Alongside with the increase in competition and turbulence detected in high IT consuming industries, is there a similar icnrease in the variance of corporate performance? That is, does the difference between best-worse performer in the industry vary?<br>- Is there an observed difference depending on the type of IT adopted? For example, does the adoption of large process automation software like ERP have the same impact as the adoption of collaboration or information management software?</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486864">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486864" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486864" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <span id="dsq-author-user-5486864">David Burta</span>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486864" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486864" class="dsq-comment-message">I think that while all three hypotheses on IT "mattering" in a competitive sense have merit, there is a fourth variation I would like to contribute.  The technology could be completely homogeneous (SAP, Microsoft) for any market segment (e.g., the oil and gas industry) with markedly different results.  This is a function of organization\'s culture (highly adaptive, adaptive, reluctant or resistant), where IT stands in the political pecking order within the organization, legacy IT (technologies and experiences) and, ultimately, how it is embraced and deployed.  We can give the same stick to a stupid monkey and a brilliant human being and get constructive results from the monkey (and a stick in the hand of the brilliant human).  It\'s all how the IT is embraced and deployed, not what the IT is per se.  Competitive advantage goes to those who innovate on how to use the stick, not necessarily the qualities of the stick itself.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486865">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486865" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486865" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-5486865" href="http://singalongchrissy.blogspot.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Chrissy</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486865" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486865" class="dsq-comment-message">I agree with David, the way companies in a particular industry use IT, will separate the winners from the losers.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-10791966">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-10791966" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-10791966" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-10791966" href="http://www.hostedweb.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Hosted_Web</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-10791966" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-10791966" class="dsq-comment-message">I also agree, I.T is the way forward, but its how you use it that ultimately creates success or failure. If implemented without proper research it can be a costly mistake that fails to benefit anyone.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486866">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486866" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486866" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-5486866" href="http://www.streetsine.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Singapore Property</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486866" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486866" class="dsq-comment-message">In my opinion, if your industry is being transformed by IT, then it is important to invest in IT. How to invest? <br><br>Firstly, if there\'re commercial off-the-shelve (COTS) ERP, or hosted SaaS thats been designed for your business needs, then consider using it. This brings you to a basic competitive level. At this point, "IT still doesn\'t matter" since your competitors will likely be using similar COTS.<br><br>Now, to use IT as a competitive edge, invest in smaller bespoke systems like plugins for the COTS product / SaaS you\'re using. Every company is different. Having some form of strategic customization will give your business the competitive edge. <br><br>Then IT do matter.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-5486861">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-5486861" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-5486861" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-5486861" href="http://s-tech-inc.blogspot.com/2008/10/online-marketing.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">technical review</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-5486861" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-5486861" class="dsq-comment-message">Is investment in IT a questionable thing? I really don\'t have anything on this but IT today can build of destroy a business. Information Technology with is something that can not be left out of the picture now.... especially as the web 2.0 has fully integrated itself with the internet. I wrote something regarding <a href="http://s-tech-inc.blogspot.com/2008/10/online-marketing.html" rel="nofollow">online marketing</a> which would go out to suggest what length these people go to and what methods they adopt for marketing a products launch and what factors make campaigns successful.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 <li id="dsq-comment-11971938">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-header-11971938" class="dsq-comment-header">\
	 <cite id="dsq-cite-11971938" class="dsq-comment-cite">\
	 <a id="dsq-author-user-11971938" href="http://www.musthighschool.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">High School</a>\
	 </cite>\
	 </div>\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-body-11971938" class="dsq-comment-body">\
	 <div id="dsq-comment-message-11971938" class="dsq-comment-message">if your industry is being transformed by IT, then it is important to invest in IT. How to invest?<br><br>Firstly, if there\'re commercial off-the-shelve (COTS) ERP, or hosted SaaS thats been designed for your business needs, then consider using it. This brings you to a basic competitive level. At this point, "IT still doesn\'t matter" since your competitors will likely be using similar COTS.</div>\
	 </div>\
	 </li>\
	 </ul>\
';

(function() {
	
	





Dsq.Debug.profile(function() {
	if(Dsq.jsonData.request.page == 1 && Dsq.jsonData.request.is_initial_load) {
		Dsq.container.innerHTML = Dsq.Templates.header() + Dsq.container.innerHTML + Dsq.Templates.footer();
	}
	Dsq.$(Dsq.curPageId).innerHTML = Dsq.$(Dsq.curPageId).innerHTML.replace(Dsq.COMMENTS_RE, Dsq.CommentsHandler);
}); // Dsq.Debug.Profile

// HACK: Resetting cache because we're done with.
Dsq.Utils.gebiFromElementCollectionCache = null;


	
	
	var dsq_styleEl = document.getElementById(disqus_container_id);
	var dsq_anchorEl = document.getElementsByTagName('a')[0];
	
	Dsq.Thread.fc = Dsq.Utils.getStyle(dsq_styleEl, 'color');
	if(dsq_anchorEl) { Dsq.Thread.ac = Dsq.Utils.getStyle(dsq_anchorEl, 'color'); }
	Dsq.Thread.ff = Dsq.Utils.getStyle(dsq_styleEl, (Dsq.Utils.ie || window.opera ? 'fontFamily' : 'font-family'));
	// For Safari / Opera: strip quotes.
	Dsq.Thread.ff = Dsq.Thread.ff.replace(/['"]/g, '');
	Dsq.Thread.fc = encodeURIComponent(Dsq.Thread.fc);
	Dsq.Thread.ac = encodeURIComponent(Dsq.Thread.ac);
	Dsq.Thread.ff = encodeURIComponent(Dsq.Thread.ff);

	
	
	
	if(Dsq.$(Dsq.Templates.addPostContainer)) {
		// TODO: Check to see if theme uses postmessage.
		if (window.disqus_use_postmessage) {
			Dsq.frames['reply_0'] = new Dsq.ReplyFrame(Dsq.$(Dsq.Templates.textareaContainer));
			Dsq.frames['reply_0'].init(function() {
				// Use fallback iframe
				Dsq.$(Dsq.Templates.addPostContainer).innerHTML = '';
				var theme = (typeof disqus_frame_theme == 'undefined') ? 'default' : disqus_frame_theme;
				Dsq.Iframes.showReplyIframeInContainer(Dsq.$(Dsq.Templates.addPostContainer), null, {theme: theme});
				// if(Dsq.Utils.ie) { Dsq.Utils.fixIframesIE(); }
			});
		} else {
			// DEPRECATED
			Dsq.Iframes.showReplyIframeInContainer(Dsq.$('dsq-post-add'));
		}
	}

	
	

	
	if(document.location.hash != '') {
		document.location.hash = document.location.hash.substring(1);
	}

	Dsq.Popup.showCookieMsgs();

	
	if(document.location.search != '' && location.hash != '#disqus_thread') {
		var reply_id = Dsq.Utils.getRequestParams().dsq;
		if(reply_id) { document.location.hash = 'comment-' + reply_id; }
	}

	
	if((typeof OB_Script != 'undefined') && (typeof OB_versionNum != 'undefined')) {
		if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Firefox") != -1) {
			if(window.frames['dsq-reply-frame']) {
				window.frames['dsq-reply-frame'].location = Dsq.Urls.REPLY + (new Date()).getTime() + '&f=andrewmcafee&t=does_it_matter_results_are_in&to_redirect=' + encodeURIComponent(window.location) + '&ifrs=' + encodeURIComponent(disqus_iframe_css);
			}
		}
	}

	if (Dsq.jsonData.integration.theme == 4) {
		if (Dsq.jsonData.realtime_enabled) {
			Dsq.Realtime.initialize();
		}
	}

	




if(typeof(disqus_callback) == 'function') {
	var callback_params = Dsq.Utils.getRequestParams()['dsq_cbp'] || null;

	// We don't care about any errors in third-party code
	try {
		disqus_callback(callback_params);
	} catch (x) {
		if (typeof(console) != 'undefined' && typeof(console.log) == 'function') {
			// But it would be nice to let developers know about them
			console.log(x);
		}
		// pass
	}

	// HACK: We don't know if the callback wraps our container, which may
	// possibly result in a new DOM element.
	Dsq.container = document.getElementById('dsq-content');
}

})();




