Favrd

May 19, 2008 4:11 PM

Favrd is a list of the best Twitter posts, based on a few simple principles, the most interesting of which is probably "by any means necessary, web-strategy, social-media, online-marketing webcocks - unaware as they are of how toxic their presence is in the arenas they cannot shut up about - must and shall be filtered out of view." That filter results in a surprisingly entertaining subsection of Twitter, a sort of super-short story collection. Original announcement from creator Dean Allen.
posted by scottreynen (48 comments total)

Great post! It confirms I haven't been missing anything.
posted by DU at 4:15 PM on May 19, 2008 [4 favorites]

by any means necessary, web-strategy, social-media, online-marketing webcocks - unaware as they are of how toxic their presence is in the arenas they cannot shut up about - must and shall be filtered out of view

If only this sort of filter could be applied to del.icio.us's front page.
posted by Jimbob at 4:19 PM on May 19, 2008

(Dude's updating textism again? Good to know.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:22 PM on May 19, 2008

Twitter has got to be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard of.
posted by nola at 4:25 PM on May 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

web-strategy, social-media, online-marketing webcocks

It's like you're playing bingo on my pain centers. I doubt I'll ever keep track of Favrd, but on this principle alone I wish it the best of luck.
posted by cortex at 4:28 PM on May 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

I was going to say "Oh great, start the 'LOL TWITTER SUX' comments but nola beat me to the punch.

So yeah, we get it, YOU DON'T LIKE TWITTER AND YOU THINK IT'S STUPID. Great. Feel free to favorite nola's comment or something in lieu of stating the same thing here over and over again throughout the thread.

Just sayin'.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 4:30 PM on May 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

twitter is worse than Hitler times Stalin to the power of 9/11!!!11!11one

Do i win?

Actually twitter is a lot of fun. Nothing on this page is funny or interesting, unfortunately.
posted by drjimmy11 at 4:31 PM on May 19, 2008

¶ I think I finally understand what the hokey-pokey is all about.

Rule for twitterers: show, don't tell.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 4:32 PM on May 19, 2008

Favrd is a list of the best Twitter posts, based on a few simple principles,

Huh. I wondered what he was going to do to keep busy now that he's not playing any more.
posted by dersins at 4:35 PM on May 19, 2008

Normally I pass on repeating comments, but just because CitrusFreak12 said not to...

OMG TWITTR SUX DKNY BLLS!

Seriously. It had potential but the uber-nerd crowd ruined it. They're all twitter shitters. Twitter will go down as a case study in death from the early adopters that kept the service from breaking through to the wider market.
posted by GuyZero at 4:37 PM on May 19, 2008

OMG TWITTR SUX DKNY BLLS!

uh, donna karan is gonna be pissed about that one.
posted by CitizenD at 4:40 PM on May 19, 2008

Feel free to favorite nola's comment

Please do, I'm gonna twitter about it when it hits 100. But I kid the CitrusFreak12, I kid.
posted by nola at 4:47 PM on May 19, 2008

Oh, awesome, now I don't have to like totally waste an AskMe!

NebulaWindPhone, or anyone else really: Who is Dean Allen? I've been reading Textism for a couple months now, and I really enjoy the guy's writing a lot.

However, I get the sense his "fame" comes from something other than his site. What is it?
posted by Ian A.T. at 4:54 PM on May 19, 2008

GuyZero: Wait. It had potential for what? How did the users of the service ruin said potential?
It's like saying a sheets of paper had so much potential but then those three people over there started writing inane things on it so its potential was ruined. Now I'll never get to write that novel...
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 5:02 PM on May 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Nola, you're more than entitled to your opinion. I just hate it when that opinion is restated 1,000 times because it's the cool thing to do, y'know?

And I'm sorry you have no favorites from the comment thus far. I tried. :(
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 5:03 PM on May 19, 2008

I already have a place to go when I have something unimportant to tell the world. Thanks mathowie!
posted by gwint at 5:04 PM on May 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Whatever, haters. I love twitter and I love this site.
posted by desjardins at 5:05 PM on May 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Early adopters use it in completely different ways than the much larger group of later adopters would use it. By making current users happy (such as they are happy) Twitter prevents itself from reaching a bigger audience. I state this as a theory, not as a fact.

Also, it's the same web 2.0 echo chamber. The movement from long-form blog posts to 140 character "tweets" just goes to show how little these people had to say in the first place.
posted by GuyZero at 5:08 PM on May 19, 2008

Twitter sucks like the gaping asshole it is.

Sorry, Citrus, you told me not to SO I HAD TO!

Also, I thought the cool thing was to love it, not to hate it?
posted by liquorice at 5:10 PM on May 19, 2008

Ian A.T: Dean created Textile markup language and Textpattern; founded TextDrive, now part of Joyent. Other stuff too. And he's Canadian.
posted by lowlife at 5:51 PM on May 19, 2008

Hey! I spy Lore Sjöberg in there!

And I started paying attention to twitter, but I do it on my phone that knows my location so I only get posts from people in my area and people I know, so it's a little less echo chamber-ish in my case.
posted by sourwookie at 6:02 PM on May 19, 2008

Also, I thought the cool thing was to love it, not to hate it?

It's another manifestation of the never-ending race to get there first.

Whatever it is; wherever there is. (Steampunk,Twitter, LOLcats, Jumping the Shark, and so on; cool to love, cool to hate, cool to ignore).

I don't know the solution.
posted by notyou at 6:09 PM on May 19, 2008

I don't understand all the Twitter hate. It's a medium, like radio or blogging. Everybody's still trying to figure it out. Sure, most people don't quite know how to best use those 140 characters anytime, anywhere. Sturgeon's Law, right? But there's some good stuff going around, if you're willing to figure out what's what. If you don't, fine -- but why all the hysterical hatred?
posted by muckster at 6:40 PM on May 19, 2008

It's interesting and all, but why would you spend all day favoriting things on twitter when you could, you know, go outside?

Some of it is funny, but I'd rather have a life.
posted by Gular at 7:13 PM on May 19, 2008

I was wondering why I was getting a sudden rush of followers.

The odd thing is, I don't think I got a single favorite on Twitter before Favrd came out. I will, of course, now be whoring for them. There's some sort of Heisenbergy thing going on here.
posted by lore at 7:23 PM on May 19, 2008

Favrd

I miss vowels.
posted by chairface at 7:28 PM on May 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

(The main thing about Dean Allen as far as I'm concerned is that every now and again he posts damn good recipes. I read his other blog posts because I find the mix of snarky elitism and snarky anti-elitism kind of charming, but that's probably an acquired taste.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:41 PM on May 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Also, is it just me, or does Favrd look like it should be related to Fafhrd? I'm picturing this gigantic sword-wielding barbarian whipping out his cell phone mid-battle to tap out updates.

Pity I can't figure out how Fafhrd's supposed to be pronounced either.
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:44 PM on May 19, 2008

I don't understand all the Twitter hate. It's a medium, like radio or blogging.

Because most people don't know how to best use those 140 characters anytime, anyway, and use them to say "Oh no I burnt the toast" or "LOL the cat just fell off the windowsill!". And a whole group of people make a big deal about how fantastic it is to read all those 140 characters from people, hour in, hour out.

Meanwhile there's a whole other group of people (of which I'm one) who can't think of anything more boring than reading the tedious minutiae of other people's lives...and therefore think that the people who actually claim to like this stuff are engaging in a case of The Emperors' New Clothes.

Maybe they do really like this stuff. I think it's something that relies upon you having lots of people who are on Twitter and who you care about. For people who move in different circles, it seems truly pointless. I tried Twitter. I tried posting little updates and comments and quotes and thoughts to it, but found that if I'm sitting in an airport waiting for a plane, quite frankly I'd rather be reading a book than sending an SMS telling random people that I'm reading a book.
posted by Jimbob at 7:50 PM on May 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

It's interesting and all, but why would you spend all day favoriting things on twitter when you could, you know, go outside?

Some of it is funny, but I'd rather have a life.

That's a maddeningly condescending binary reduction of the situation.
posted by cortex at 7:53 PM on May 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

I'm registered at twitter AND at favrd as wendellosity and am starting to whore myself out for favorites... NOW!
posted by wendell at 8:21 PM on May 19, 2008

There has to be something I'm missing about Twitter. I mean i just don't get it.

Basically, I have no concept of Twitter.

So you can post these mini-blog things that lend themselves to hipsteresque witticisms... Why? Who would one expect to read them? Who does read them? How do these people read them? Are those people with blackberries always using them to Twit and read the Twitting of other Twitters?? Is this acceptable vernacular??????

I don't even know if I'm asking the right questions here. I need a synopsis of twitter.
posted by cmoj at 8:26 PM on May 19, 2008

I typically wind up mis-using tools, and Twitter is no different...I've been trying to use it lately to track what I'm doing at work, so I can stop practicing my creative writing when filling out timesheets. It's too early to tell if it's going to work out, but considering I completely forgot to note any of the tasks I worked on today, it's not looking good.

Oh and nebula, I think it's Fof-erd.
posted by JaredSeth at 8:36 PM on May 19, 2008

guyzero:Early adopters use it in completely different ways than the much larger group of later adopters would use it.

Could you extrapolate please? How do/would they use it differently? Thus far you're only speaking in vague generalizations.

For me, I mostly just post inane things that I would be texting to someone else (and often times I do send things to both Twitter and a friend from my phone).

As far as blogs go, I think I always kinda psych myself out. I go to update and think "wow this really isn't worth reading" and just scrap the whole thing. That's why my last blog update is in early April and the one before that is I don't know when. I never update it. But twitter? The bar is much lower, and it's really just for little tidbits about your day and what not.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 8:39 PM on May 19, 2008

Cmoj: So you can post these mini-blog things that lend themselves to hipsteresque witticisms... Why?

Dunno about hipsteresque witticisms. What's a good example of that?

Who would one expect to read them? Who does read them? How do these people read them?

The vast majority of the people who I follow and who are following me on Twitter are fellow mefites! I have only two real-life friends on there, mostly because none of my friends are very tech-savvy/dorky/geeky/what have you.

Are those people with blackberries always using them to Twit and read the Twitting of other Twitters??

I'm not sure. I expect a lot of people probably use iPhones, the bastards.

Is this acceptable vernacular?????
I think it's "tweet" and "tweets," unfortunately, or perhaps "twittering."

I need a synopsis of twitter.

See my above comment. I update things I would text my friends. I read the tweets of MeFites because they're usually people I talk to on MetaChat or in the MetaChat IRC (which I have not been in in forever). So they're pretty much all people I talk to on a semiregular basis with the exception of Jessamathowitex as well as dooce and her husband. Mathowie usually has something funny to say every other day so that's why I follow him, and Jessamyn is always traveling or talking about library stuff or how high the snow got that day or someone's inability to use a computer. I find it all very interesting.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 8:46 PM on May 19, 2008

I used to read Textism regularly, back in the day (Dean Allen's from my hometown, we crossed paths once or twice at parties). I'm glad to see he's back.
posted by jokeefe at 9:09 PM on May 19, 2008

We just had this conversation two weeks ago. In fact this post should've just been a comment in the last thread. I'm not gonna bother having the same argument again.
posted by loiseau at 9:17 PM on May 19, 2008

It's interesting and all, but why would you spend all day favoriting things on twitter when you could, you know, go outside?

Some of it is funny, but I'd rather have a life.
posted by Gular

Your idea of a life might be different than mine.

You have a blog. GET A LIFE.

You're writing on metafilter telling others you'd rather have a life when you could be outside WITH A LIFE.

The irony is mind-blowing.
posted by gtr at 9:23 PM on May 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

When I was at the park last night, a few hipsters noticed the doggy drinking fountain (looks like a bowl, ground level) in the park. One of them said, "I'm going to twitter the shit out of this!" I was baffled. I guess I'm not cool enough to get the whole Twitter thing.
posted by wastelands at 9:35 PM on May 19, 2008

(Thanks, lowlife!)
posted by Ian A.T. at 9:51 PM on May 19, 2008

Wastelands: If I run that through my translator, he pretty much just said "Huh, that is interesting to me. I am going to write something on my twitter about it." Pretty unremarkable.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 10:57 PM on May 19, 2008

While I love a short sharp sentence, I just can't get past the word "twittering". Twits nattering. Little birds chirping. Nothing to say, saying it anyway. Ugh.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 11:07 PM on May 19, 2008

Well I kind of liked this.
posted by !Jim at 11:24 PM on May 19, 2008

I need a synopsis of twitter.

Shameless self link to why I tweet.

Thanks for the favrd heads-up, scottreynen!
posted by davemee at 12:55 AM on May 20, 2008

sourwookie "... but I do it on my phone that knows my location so I only get posts from people in my area and people I know"

Wait what? When did this new feature appear and how do I make that happen, that's exactly how I wanted to use twitter from the start but I kept getting tweets about what everyone across the planet were having for lunch when it was time for me to sleep so it annoyed me to no end.
posted by dabitch at 4:08 AM on May 20, 2008

I don't like Twitter and I think it's stupid.

Current Location: Metafilter
Current Mood:☺Amused
Current Music: Van Halen - Jump
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 12:12 PM on May 20, 2008

Isn't there a site to comment upon here? One that isn't Twitter, exactly?

Myself, I want to complain about Favrd's utter lack of an RSS feed.
posted by JHarris at 2:07 PM on May 20, 2008

Wondering how many of the twitter haters in this thread used less than 140 characters in their withering attacks. I guess I'll go outside instead of counting.
posted by philoye at 6:17 AM on May 25, 2008