gdp's Comments

Charles Hudson's Weblog : Thoughts on the Real-Time Web

Wed, 3 Jun 2009 13:40:06 +0000

Robert,

Thanks for the comment. I do use FriendFeed a lot, but don't consider myself a power user by any means. We should do lunch - I would like to be convinced on why search is really important.

Charles

StartupCFO : Is there too much free in freemium?

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:08:11 +0000

Zach, I think everything you makes sense. For business who understand how free users fit into the overall picture, I think having free users can be an important part of having a workable model. It's certainly the case in the free-to-play gaming space and in a few other areas as well. I would say that you're in the unique position of being part of a sensible model of how free players eventually become paid customers or lower overall customer acquistion costs by evangelism. And your marginal cost for supporting transactions by free customers sounds low enough that you can carry them at a manageable cost.

Isaac Keyet - Work Stuff : Intense Debate has launched!

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:40:19 +0000

Hey Isaac,

I've been running IDC on my own blog at www.charleshudson.net and I have a question for you. Prior to installing IDC, I used to be able to display incoming trackbacks on my blog posts. Since installing IDC, they no longer show up - is there a way to make them appear?

Charles Hudson's Weblog : Flock Browser

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 06:06:25 +0000

Conor,
Ironically, it wasn't until I installed IntenseDebate that I was able to figure out the problem. Making the blogging functionality work on Flock requires regular access to your xmlrpc.php file if you self-host your blog. What Flock doesn't tell you is that there are a lot of web hosts out there who block access to that file. Making it work requires tinkering with your .htaccess file - not exactly a novice feature. I got it working now and it is very very handy.

Charles Hudson's Weblog : Are Smart People Wasting Time on Bad Ideas?

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 18:22:50 +0000

danny,

wow, sounds like you have some strong opinions about this! i think the process of taking a raw idea and turning it into something is a great learning process and can be really rewarding, both personally and professionally. i just wonder if perhaps the risk meter hasn't gone a little bit too far.

it's really tempting to make ex-post judgments about whether something was a good or bad idea. many times there simply wasn't any way to know a priori. but, that being said, there are some ideas that do have higher odds of success from the start than others.

thanks for contributing to this post!

Charles Hudson's Weblog : Are Smart People Wasting Time on Bad Ideas?

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 18:18:48 +0000

This is a very thoughtful comment - thanks for adding it. I certainly think that many times it's as much about the journey as it is about the outcome. That being said, some paths offer better learning opportunities than others.

Charles Hudson's Weblog : Are Smart People Wasting Time on Bad Ideas?

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 16:51:08 +0000

Hunter,
I think it's actually rational to spend some cycles on those ideas where it's not clear that the payoff will be high, but where your hunch is that there's more to it than the average idea. All it takes is one of those to work out to make the others worth your time.

Charles Hudson's Weblog : Are Smart People Wasting Time on Bad Ideas?

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 09:31:38 +0000

Deva,

Very insightful comment. I agree that the blogosphere can create an echo chamber effect that makes some marginal ideas seem much more compelling than they actually are. Glad to hear that I'm not alone on this - keep up the good work on your blog!

Charles Hudson's Weblog : Are Smart People Wasting Time on Bad Ideas?

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:41:55 +0000

Craig,

I agree - I think the Palm Folio was a bad idea and I'm glad it got pulled before it really saw the light of day. Based on what I've seen about the Amazon Kindle, I feel the same way about that product as well.

One of the challenges for talented people is the problem of choice - how do you choose what to do with your time?

Charles Hudson's Weblog : Are Smart People Wasting Time on Bad Ideas?

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:42:07 +0000

I think okay ideas that aren't well executed are a tougher call. There's probably more to learn there.

I had an IM exchange with someone earlier today who pointed out that part of the problem at the moment is that the feedback loop is a bit broken at the moment - you get some signals about whether your idea is sticking (monthly uniques, traffic, etc) but not the real signals (revenue, profits, etc) that build big businesses in the long term.

Charles Hudson's Weblog : The Zen of Fantasy Football and Why Men Play Casual Games

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:42:54 +0000

Michael,
Yes, fantasy football is a very social experience and that's why I love it so much. I agree that being an active fantasy sports player makes you smarter and more engaged - it pays to know what's going on in the league if you wan to win. Let me know when you relaunch your page and I'll check it out.

I'm 7-4 and on track for the playoffs, barring any major injuries.

Charles Hudson's Weblog : Battle of the Bluetooth Headsets - Plantronics Discovery 665 vs. Aliph Jawbone

Tue, 6 Nov 2007 22:38:09 +0000

I bought my ear gels at http://www.blueheadsets.com - good price. You can also get them on Amazon, but they're often on backorder.

Intense Debate Forums : Bug Reporting

Sat, 3 Nov 2007 10:13:51 +0000

Any ETA on a comment import fix for WordPress? Keep up the good work ID team!

Intense Debate Forums : Feature Requests

Sat, 3 Nov 2007 10:11:29 +0000

Is there a way to integrate ID with any of the "Recent Comments" sidebar plugins for WordPress? Ever since I installed ID that part of my blog no longer updates and it actually drives a decent amount of my site traffic.

Charles Hudson's Weblog : Battle of the Bluetooth Headsets - Plantronics Discovery 665 vs. Aliph Jawbone

Sat, 3 Nov 2007 10:08:17 +0000

Make sure you buy the replacement "ear gels" and not the "mini-gels" - there's a big difference. Also, the gels are had to find at retail - I had to buy them online.

Charles Hudson's Weblog : Twitter and Facebook

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 18:38:22 +0000

Thanks for the comments, man - I appreciate it. And thanks for helping me clean up the typos on my blog.

Charles Hudson's Weblog : Intense Debate Comments Plug-In

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:20:17 +0000

Isaac,

Two things I've noticed already:
1. The importer seems to not be working - I imported my old comments but they're not showing up elsewhere in my blog. Also, the links on the "Recent Comments" plugin on the right link to the posts but the comments don't display.

2. Does Instant Debate need to load a script for any page on which the comments reside? My pages appear to be loading a bit slower.

Nonetheless, I like your product. Keep up the good work.