Comments on: Jessamyn on FutureTense

Jessamyn on FutureTense

Miko — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:39:36 -0800

Hey, I'm listening to Jessamyn talking about MetaFilter and revolting users on FutureTense. It's the April 14 show. Nice interview, if brief! After listening, my sense of entitlement prompts me to ask: we gonna get any doughnuts?

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:44:07 -0800

revolting users

Hey, i just got up, gimmee a minute.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:47:49 -0800

revolting users

*ears burn*

By: Brandon Blatcher

Brandon Blatcher — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:56:29 -0800

Hmmm, interesting timing, what with grouse's request and Jessamyn saying that Metafilter and such sites are what they are because the users. Maybe that does explain YouTube.

By: Artw

Artw — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:58:51 -0800

The users are revolting! But how do they smell?

Wait, I think I got that joke wrong...

By: desjardins

desjardins — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:01:23 -0800

yeah, I was pleasantly surprised to hear this on my way home tonight. First I'd heard of the Flickr dust-up, but I'm so out of the loop lately.

By: middleclasstool

middleclasstool — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:18:59 -0800

Corrected the host's grammar.

That's moxie.

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:19:18 -0800

The Revolution will not be FPP'd.

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:21:48 -0800

They mentioned less websites than I thought they would.

By: nola

nola — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:24:22 -0800

If a Metafilter falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it does it make a sound?

By: waraw

waraw — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:34:54 -0800

No, but it might blink.

By: Fuzzy Skinner

Fuzzy Skinner — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:06:27 -0800

The users are revolting! But how do they smell?

Only n00bs have the scratch and sniff functionality built in. Please don't ask where you have to scratch me.

By: hototogisu

hototogisu — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:53:07 -0800

"their copyright violations..."

Ok, that was hilarious.

By: SassHat

SassHat — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:56:38 -0800

Jess you have a great radio voice. You should go take over NPR and make them Stay. Out. Of. Brooklyn!

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:58:11 -0800

I, for one, have always been revolting. (Repugnant, too!)

By: mudpuppie

mudpuppie — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:04:43 -0800

Corrected the host's grammar. That's moxie.

Ahem.

~~"Creativeness."~~

*cough* Creativity. *cough*

Kidding! Okay, not kidding -- poking. Good-naturedly!

By: Miko

Miko — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:09:15 -0800

Come on, she's a New Englander! I think that's moxie!

By: cortex

cortex — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:14:59 -0800

Who with the what about doughnuts now?

By: SlyBevel

SlyBevel — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:23:24 -0800

Damn. Now the Jessamyn voice in my head can't sound like GladOs anymore.

Re-humanization strikes again.

By: wendell

wendell — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:23:44 -0800

Some of us are revolting. Others of us are simply tense. About the future.

By: hortense

hortense — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:37:45 -0800

am I that obvious?

By: mudpuppie

mudpuppie — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:40:38 -0800

Come on, she's a New Englander! I think that's moxie!

Of course it's moxie! I'm just moxiliciously pointing out that she used the word "creativeness."

By: mumkin

mumkin — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:40:51 -0800

Damn. Now the Jessamyn voice in my head can't sound like GladOs anymore.

What, SlyBevel, you don't listen to the MeFi Podcast?

Speaking of which, weren't we supposed to have a new episode today?

By: LiveLurker

LiveLurker — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:52:11 -0800

And there is a good reason we never had emoticons here...cause ONE would say it all!

Always did love that "eyes around the world, better than you emote."

DANG, did I say that? Did I really say that?

I DID! Plus sticking my tongue out at you, while winking. (and not previewing cause....well...not a previewing kinda moment.

By: Phire

Phire — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:02:04 -0800

The guy's way of talking really really bugged me. The stop-go-stop-go pacing made me want to slap him upside the head and tell him to spit it out. Jess has a lovely voice though - totally unlike what I imagined it to be (and no, I don't listen to podcasts) and somehow a lot... younger and vibrant than I expected. She sounds like she's no older than 25.

Though the "fewer" moment was brilliant. :D

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:21:18 -0800

Listening to this now, I should correct the suicidegirls thing. If I remember correctly I had to tear up a check they mailed to me for $4,000 when I removed the ad (they were paying for it to run all month).

By: LiveLurker

LiveLurker — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:29:14 -0800

"I promise not to ask Fussy where to scratch or sniff," she said.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:40:58 -0800

I have to listen to fewer online radio.

By: acoutu

acoutu — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:58:12 -0800

From the intro, I thought this was going to be about Jessamyn revolting users.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:35:57 -0800

That's funny, I forgot about that entirely.

Jon emailed me on Friday asking for a good time to chat and I was like "um, call me in the next 5-20 minutes...?" and he did. I'd been awake for about 20 minutes. We talked for about 10-15 minutes. He doesn't really have that delivery on the phone, though it was clear that he sort of had his angle "well *I* don't bitch about my raisin bran" which seemed to me to be missing the point and probably hence my grammar correction which I would have skipped if I'd thought it would have been on the air. Someone on MeFi emailed me about mistaking reign for rein or vice versa this week ("jessamyn, I was disappointed" or something) and another friend who works for NPR says that they ALWAYS get viewer mail about hosts who use "incorrect" grammar on the air, regular as clockwork.

I think people look at a lot of these sites as blogs that, well, if one person isn't writing them, someone else will do it (*cough* Gawker *cough*) and it's like TV: don't like it don't watch it. We occasionally have that in a sense on MeFi [and sorry for getting the Suicide Girls revenue dollars thing so wrong, Matt] but generally speaking it's a different sort of community than just one person's blog or other sorts of online destinations and to me that's SO OBVIOUS I'm surprised it doesn't come across more. I'd also like to point out a Flickr group that I help moderate called Everything New is Bad which is winding down now but was decently fun when the anti-video stuff started up.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:54:14 -0800

I saw someone on flickr with a stupid 'no cam-corder' icon (like a no smoking sign but with a picture of a camcorder). Frankly, videos on flickr are awesome and those whiners can go get stuffed.

By: Miko

Miko — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:19:38 -0800

e sort of had his angle "well *I* don't bitch about my raisin bran" which seemed to me to be missing the point

I do think that sometimes radio interviewers will push a stupid point like this not because they honestly don't get it, but because they are trying to get a clear, complete statement from you on tape that encapsulates what you believe about the topic. Jessamyn, you don't do this, but a lot of people when being interviewed think that everyone already understands their point of view. And you'd be surprised how many people respond to questions with incomplete sentences, which really come out as confusing fragments on the audio. So radio interviewers will often ask questions that are idiotic-sounding, or a lot more basic than the subject expects, because they are trying to draw out audio of you explaining to the world how the world should understand your issue. I've heard a lot of people reacting badly to radio interviewers this way, as if they were treating the subject as dumb, or hadn't done their homework, when really, it's a strategy that they teach in radio. Most of the time the interviewer is quite familiar with your point of view, but is trying to draw out the subject for an audience to whom it's new. And not every interview is fantastic, but on the other hand, folks are sometimes working on 4 or 5 stories at a time and being conservative with their energy.

another friend who works for NPR says that they ALWAYS get viewer mail about hosts who use "incorrect" grammar on the air, regular as clockwork.

Heh. So this "revolting users" stuff shouldn't be so terribly foreign to them.

The NPR model has become increasingly 2.0-ish over the last few years, anyhow. Things like StoryCorps, Audio Postcards, reader mail, listener contests, etc have proliferated. And the very act of doing the pledge drive (which is tracked by number of pledges each show brings in) is definitely an exercise in voting for favorite content.

By: matteo

matteo — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 06:41:17 -0800

and another friend who works for NPR says that they ALWAYS get viewer mail about hosts who use "incorrect" grammar on the air, regular as clockwork

you don't say.

By: dirtdirt

dirtdirt — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 07:53:50 -0800

You know what's funny? I left a gag comment on the gag video that Jessamyn posted on Flickr about the video brouhaha. The comment was "Less features! Less features!", and EVERY time that comment has reappeared in my recent activity on Flickr, I've cringed.

By: jongordon

jongordon — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:12:00 -0800

I thought it was delightful when Jessamyn corrected my grammar on the air, so I left it in. The usual impulse is to edit such passages into oblivion so as to hide imperfection. I did not. I spoke incorrectly when asking an impromptu question. Guilty. I chose to leave it in the final version.. because it was a funny, human moment.

Regarding the Raisin Bran question, hats off to Miko for the analysis of interviewing methodology. Miko got it right. Interviewing is not about pleasing the interview subject. It's about getting good answers for the audience. And I thought Jessamyn's answer was good and illustrated a key point.

Thanks for taking the time to talk about the interview ... and I promise to make less grammatical errors going forward. Tee hee.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:20:56 -0800

Hiya, Jon!

By: CitrusFreak12

CitrusFreak12 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:34:19 -0800

I was just about to say what Miko said.
But then Miko said it.

There's nothing worse than interviewing someone who will answer you with like a one word response.

By: Miko

Miko — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:51:50 -0800

Welcome, jongordon!

By the way, if you can answer this, when I heard the interview I couldn't help but wonder where you came across the "user revolt" idea. I wondered if you'd picked it up from SXSW, or if you're a reader here or somewhere else related to the story. Just curious about how these things make their way through media culture.

By: Miko

Miko — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:53:19 -0800

Oh, and also, I always thought FutureTense was a Canadian show because it always appears embedded with "As It Happens" on my affiliate. I was surprised to see it was an American Public Media show, not a CBC show. What is that relationship all about? Is the "American" in APR "American" in the broad sense? Or is the show especially produced to pair with Canadian shows, but for American audiences?

By: jongordon

jongordon — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:23:42 -0800

Miko, I was at SXSWi but missed the user revolt panel. My editor thought the Flickr rebellion was interesting, and I remembered there was a panel at SXSWi, which led me to Jessamyn. And so it goes.

Future Tense airs during As It Happens, but only in the U.S. Future Tense doesn't air in Canada to the best of my knowledge. American Public Media (which produces Marketplace, Prairie Home, etc) distributes As It Happens in the U.S. APM inserts Future Tense in the middle of As It Happens as part of that process. I work for APM/Minnesota Public Radio. Confusing, eh?

By: netbros

netbros — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:24:08 -0800

MetaFilter's own jongordon.

By: ericost

ericost — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:26:26 -0800

Nice interview.

I work for Flickr, and I gotta say this particular flickr dustup about the video feature has been the most maddening and entertaining one yet. Navigating the muddy waters of community management has never been so difficult, for me at least. But we sure got a lot of awesome protest art in the bargain!

(Matt, Jessamyn, and Cortex continue to amaze me in their roles as moderators here at Metafilter, which is in my experience one of the very best communities on the Web. Hats off to you three.)

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:41:54 -0800

Whoever had the donut idea was totally inspired, it's a great media hook and just good natured generally. What are people going to say "Don't placate us with your donuts!!" it's just silly.

By: ericost

ericost — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:49:11 -0800

I think this was the beginning of the donut thing, from Jan. 2007 (and still one of my favorite photos on Flickr; wish I could remember what big user protest was going on at the time).

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:37:16 -0800

"Creativeness."

*cough* Creativity. *cough*

Creativeness has been part of English for around two centuries (1820 L. HUNT Indicator No. 26 I. 204 Such must be the.. creativeness of their fancy). What was your point again?

Someone on MeFi emailed me about mistaking reign for rein or vice versa this week ("jessamyn, I was disappointed" or something)

Jesus. Will the asshattery never end? Worry about your own usage, people, if that's what floats your boat; let other people worry about theirs.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:54:38 -0800

itym they'res hth

By: Skorgu

Skorgu — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:55:33 -0800

I don't usually miss the img tag, but I suddenly feel the need for the "I love this thread so much" kitten right now.

So imagine it here.

By: Artw

Artw — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:57:07 -0800

Metafilter: The clevernessing

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:15:19 -0800

A bit of an aside, but, Jon, was there any notice of the recent micro-flap on the linguistics-blog circuit about the actual non-existence of the future tense in English?

(I'm guessing the answer is "no". But, hey.)

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:28:30 -0800

There's a linguistics-blog circuit?

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:30:19 -0800

Oh my yes.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:26:56 -0800

There's a linguistics-blog circuit?

On which languagehat is a viking!

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:55:01 -0800

Okay now this is really weird. A photo of mine from Flickr was also used on NPR today.

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:00:22 -0800

THAT IS A BUTT

THEY USED A PHOTO OF A BUTT

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:08:37 -0800

man if npr needs butts I can hook them up like it ain't nothin'

By: ericost

ericost — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:39:48 -0800

Jessamyn: Whoever had the donut idea was totally inspired, it's a great media hook andjjust good natured generally. What are people going to say "Don't placate us with your donuts!!" it's just silly.

Since you asked.

By: cortex

cortex — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:43:55 -0800

My donut pic just got We Demand Donut spam.

I'm bothered enough by this johnny-come-lately donut enthusiasm, but, look, you fuckers have just crossed the threshold of what I can only describe as my goddam lawn, and I am prepared to fetch the shotgun.

By: oncogenesis

oncogenesis — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:46:48 -0800

Jesus. Will the asshattery never end?

No. And I'm not your Jesus.

By: middleclasstool

middleclasstool — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:03:56 -0800

My donut pic just got We Demand Donut spam.

I once tweeted about going to the gym and having wicked beer farts from the night before. The very next day, I was (and am to this day) followed by FartSurvey.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:29:58 -0800

THEY USED A PHOTO OF A BUTT

Slowly changing the world to be the way I want it, I am.

By: jamjam

jamjam — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:16:31 -0800

Someone on MeFi emailed me about mistaking reign for rein or vice versa this week ("jessamyn, I was disappointed" or something)

I'm sure they were only trying to spurn you on to greater effort.

By: Karmakaze

Karmakaze — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:18:47 -0800

My donut pic just got We Demand Donut spam.

I just tagged my one photo of a donut "donut" and "doughnut" - I want We Demand Donut spam, too!

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:22:19 -0800

A bit of an aside, but, Jon, was there any notice of the recent micro-flap on the linguistics-blog circuit about the actual non-existence of the future tense in English?

Neat. I didn't know there had been any flapping about it, but that's what I've been telling my students for years, to their constant consternation.

By: deborah

deborah — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:21:02 -0800

I prefer my donuts without spam.

What?