[FoRK] The death of email?

[Luis Villa]

On Jan 23, 2008 4:20 PM, Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 23, 2008 at 02:51:11PM -0500, Luis Villa wrote:
>
> > I don't think they are seeking to be in sealed environments; they are
> > seeking to be in easy, feature-rich environments. (Ever tried to do a
>
> SL is an easy, feature-rich environment.

You have a funny definition of easy, but yes, I'll agree on feature rich.

I should have added (I thought it was assumed) that these were
features that solved problems people have. College students have the
problem of inviting people to parties and tracking RSVPs. Facebook
solves that problem; email doesn't. The list of such features could be
very long.

Second Life doesn't solve any problems that anyone has.

> Which has about 50 k simultaneous
> users. WoW has some 10 MUsers, though I have no clue how many online
> at the time. Somehow, I can't imagine spend a lot of time in Wow.

That sentence not complete.

WoW (relative to SL) solves a problem- by providing goals and a
storyline, it gives people something to *do* that is relatively
mindless. SL says 'here is a pile of tools.' Unless you're one of the
rare people who has a self-directed creative software itch, SL isn't
solving your problem.

> The in-laws managed to throw 100+ parties with no computers whatsoever.
> Judging from the evidence, these were the parties I'd rather attend
> instead of pencil-necked geek parties which need a godforsaken online
> platform to RSVgimmeafuckingbreakP.

The evidence (at least so far from my 18 months back in
college-mind-space) is that the geekier you are, the less likely you
are to use facebook. Facebook is the anti-geeky; *everyone* in college
uses it.

> > The sealedness is neither feature nor bug; it just happens to be how
> > the feature-richness is achieved.
>
> Maybe it's just me, but haven't the tools all gone to shit?

Which tools?

> > (I love standards, but there has been no standard-based innovation in
> > email/social collaboration in 20 years. Had there been, facebook would
>
> Facewhat? Never been on it (I think it requires building a profile
> even before you log in), and for what? To enter a yet another ephemeral
> platform? Which is known to be TLA-tapped? For free? Are they nuts, or what?

<shrug> Your phone and your email are tapped too; you use them because
that is where the people are. In college, facewhat is where the people
are.

Luis