Via megablog Slashdot comes news that Google will be adding limited comments to its Google News service. The basic idea is that people mentioned in a story will be allowed to add comments to it via email. Obviously this has attracted an absolute flurry of commentary.
I just wanted to point out that South Sea Republic guru Cam Riley, who is a sometime contributor to Club Troppo, got there first with his (sadly now defunct) newcopia service. Newcopia was a site designed to allow third party comments on uncommentable feeds, such as the feed from the Department of the Parliamentary Library. You can read what the politicians read, but there’s no feedback. Newcopia allowed comments on such sources.
I remember the first time I heard about features to allow people to annotate or comment on someone’s else’s content. Way before Cam’s newcopia, way before Tim Lambert’s ill-advised venture; lord, I think it was the late-nineties. It didn’t fly because people objected to random strangers being allowed to publish reactions to one’s content. Imagine that :- )
Well, I guess there was Usenet :)
There’s always Usenet
There’ll always be Usenet.
Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Usenet R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn
No man no! Don’t speak it out loud!
At least ROT13 it so we don’t all go nuts.
I did once try and say it out loud. They had to perform an emergency tracheotomy right there on the floor of my best friend’s parent’s rumpus room. My Sinatra impression has never been the same since.
I think you are thinking of thirdvoice (to allow comments on others websites… ) It didn’t fly because you needed people to install 3rdvoice plugin + go to sites/stories that other 3rd voice subscribers were commenting on
google market cap: two hundred and fity million billion.
cam market cap: $0