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This page contains all of the posts and discussion on MemeStreams referencing the following web page: MemeStreams now has a NUP. You can find discussions on MemeStreams as you surf the web, even if you aren't a MemeStreams member, using the Threads Bookmarklet.

MemeStreams now has a NUP
by Decius at 6:08 pm EDT, Oct 15, 2011

MemeStreams now requires a New User Password in order to create an account. If you want the NUP, and you know me, ask, and I'll give it to you.

Although it isn't visible to most users, MemeStreams is flooded with thousands of spam related accounts every day. New users who join have little chance of being noticed by the community because their posts are drowned in a flood of spam. As a consequence, MemeStreams hasn't been growing in a long time.

I think that spam is an important element in the development of social networking sites. MySpace faded from the limelight because Facebook was better protected from spam and scams. On Facebook, you only get messaged by your friends. Not businesses that you may or may not have a relationship with. Facebook has not just killed off MySpace - it has killed off personal email, too. My personal email is now mostly mailing lists and messages from companies that I do business with. Recently, Google+ came on the scene, but it hasn't resonated with users. I suspect that the lack of a feature for privately messaging people is part of the problem. You're supposed to use Gmail, and Gmail has spam.

Spam has certainly had a negative impact on MemeStreams. Putting an NUP in place is the first step toward taking control of this community. Once the spam is totally cleaned out, we'll be able to move toward inviting people who we want to participate and who have an interest in participating.


 
RE: MemeStreams now has a NUP
by Hijexx at 6:33 pm EDT, Oct 15, 2011

Decius wrote:

Facebook has not just killed off MySpace - it has killed off personal email, too.

And that really sucks. I lost touch with a lot of people when I dropped off the social network grid. No one uses email anymore. I got people's email addresses before I left, but my experience has been no one checks email anymore.

I'm still not doing the smartphone thing. The future of that is full of suck too. See http://www.mobiledia.com/news/112155.html for the story on Verizon pledging to sell customer data to advertisers. Now your ISP is monetizing you, there's no way of this trap unless you want to colo somewhere and run your own POP for your VPN endpoint at all times.

The future of the internet, quoting from 1984:

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever."

Stephen Baker's book "The Numerati" paints a similarly bleak picture about how we'll be sliced and diced and monetized: http://thenumerati.net/

Information doesn't want to be free. We lost.


  
RE: MemeStreams now has a NUP
by Decius at 10:59 am EDT, Oct 17, 2011

Hijexx wrote:
And that really sucks. I lost touch with a lot of people when I dropped off the social network grid. No one uses email anymore. I got people's email addresses before I left, but my experience has been no one checks email anymore.

I think this is an important point.

Information doesn't want to be free. We lost.

Actually I think it does, its just not the information we were thinking. Your information wants to be free. My information is covered by several international copyrights. The difference is the same as ever - corporate lobbyists get policy results and voters don't.

MemeStreams would have ended up having to monetize the same way as facebook if it became popular. The only way to combat that is to charge user fees.

How much is your privacy worth?

Would you pay a monthly subscription fee to use a social networking site that disposed of logs and wasn't advertiser supported? Would anyone else?

Part of the problem is that the thing that makes these sites attractive is the people who use them. Free is a good way of attracting people, which attracts people.


 
 
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