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Rid yourself of long email threads with micromobs

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Re: Rid yourself of long email threads with micromobs

#11

Post by nzmsv »

ajaykam wrote: post #9

It turns out to be a pretty complicated problem. Every single email client and device formats email forwards differently. The technical challenge is to take the input from a fwd'd thread, account for which client it's coming from and then reformat it in a way that makes sense. Not to mention the fact that the text towards the bottom of a forwarded thread (the earliest messages) is messy and can be difficult to compre…

It actually does look kinda interesting. But what's with all the spambot comments?

Re: Rid yourself of long email threads with micromobs

#12

Post by ajaykam »

nzmsv wrote: post #11
ajaykam wrote: post #9

It turns out to be a pretty complicated problem. Every single email client and device formats email forwards differently. The technical challenge is to take the input from a fwd'd thread, account for which client it's coming from and then reformat it in a way that makes sense. Not to mention the fact that the text towards the bottom of a forwarded thread (the earliest messages) is messy and can be difficult to compre…

It actually does look kinda interesting. But what's with all the spambot comments?

no idea. apparently spam bots love us.

Re: Rid yourself of long email threads with micromobs

#13

Post by jaredhansen »

nzmsv wrote: post #11
ajaykam wrote: post #9

It turns out to be a pretty complicated problem. Every single email client and device formats email forwards differently. The technical challenge is to take the input from a fwd'd thread, account for which client it's coming from and then reformat it in a way that makes sense. Not to mention the fact that the text towards the bottom of a forwarded thread (the earliest messages) is messy and can be difficult to compre…

It actually does look kinda interesting. But what's with all the spambot comments?

I don't think they're bots. I recognize about half the names, and though they may not be regular HN contributors, they're real people (some of 'em, at least).

Re: Rid yourself of long email threads with micromobs

#14

Post by jedwhite »

nzmsv wrote: post #11
ajaykam wrote: post #9

It turns out to be a pretty complicated problem. Every single email client and device formats email forwards differently. The technical challenge is to take the input from a fwd'd thread, account for which client it's coming from and then reformat it in a way that makes sense. Not to mention the fact that the text towards the bottom of a forwarded thread (the earliest messages) is messy and can be difficult to compre…

It actually does look kinda interesting. But what's with all the spambot comments?

They're real people (at least the ones I know) :)

The other startups in Founder Institute try to support each other wherever possible (as do YCers obviously), but I think there are a few folks less familiar with the "substantive comments only" mantra on HN. But they're not bots.

Re: Rid yourself of long email threads with micromobs

#16

Post by lt »

jaredhansen wrote: post #13
nzmsv wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It actually does look kinda interesting. But what's with all the spambot comments?

I don't think they're bots. I recognize about half the names, and though they may not be regular HN contributors, they're real people (some of 'em, at least).

A few of them, yes. The rest are newly-created accounts and others (like billshander) are around 3 month old but with shady comment history.

Interesting.

Edit: I suppose the occam's razor explanation is that someone emailed (or twitted) the link around asking for people to show them some support in here, instead of an intricate botting conspiracy.

Re: Rid yourself of long email threads with micromobs

#17

Post by Ysx »

jaredhansen wrote: post #13
nzmsv wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It actually does look kinda interesting. But what's with all the spambot comments?

I don't think they're bots. I recognize about half the names, and though they may not be regular HN contributors, they're real people (some of 'em, at least).

Definitely some spam: the trevania, salimmadjd and gavrielh accounts were created less than 30 minutes ago. Billshander has had an account for some time, but only posted in this and one other Micromobs thread, both less than 30 minutes ago.

It's distasteful.

Re: Rid yourself of long email threads with micromobs

#18

Post by jedwhite »

Ysx wrote: post #17
jaredhansen wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think they're bots. I recognize about half the names, and though they may not be regular HN contributors, they're real people (some of 'em, at least).

Definitely some spam: the trevania, salimmadjd and gavrielh accounts were created less than 30 minutes ago. Billshander has had an account for some time, but only posted in this and one other Micromobs thread, both less than 30 minutes ago. It's distasteful.

I think it's worth differentiating between spam accounts, and new accounts. They are not the same thing.

I'm sure that a lot of the folks on HN are here because someone in a startup emailed the other folks they know in startups and said "check out my thread on HN and give me a vote". That's how I first found out about it and YC.

Spam might be distasteful, but I don't think there is anything distasteful about someone from a startup introducing other startup founders to the site and asking them to get involved. It might take new members of the community a while to learn the rules, but there is no innate correlation between being new and being a spammer. And HN isn't normally an elitist place where length of tenure implies respectability. I don't think anyone wants to see it turn into the tech community equivalent of a country club.

Re: Rid yourself of long email threads with micromobs

#20

Post by eggnestceo »

lt wrote: post #16
jaredhansen wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think they're bots. I recognize about half the names, and though they may not be regular HN contributors, they're real people (some of 'em, at least).

A few of them, yes. The rest are newly-created accounts and others (like billshander) are around 3 month old but with shady comment history. Interesting. Edit: I suppose the occam's razor explanation is that someone emailed (or twitted) the link around asking for people to show them some support in here, instead of an intricate botting conspiracy.

Yep, I checked this out and created an account because of a tweet that I got. I follow some startup CEOs. Hope you don't consider this to be a "shady" comment ;-) And yes, I am a fan of micromobs; it has been useful to me. It's kindof like campfire, but better.
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