There's a great lesson here: Don't build a business around copied content. Instead, empower people to create their own content and help it spread. Can't wait to see the new Muxtape.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 2:00 AM on September 27, 2008

I think she seems nice.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 1:11 AM on September 19, 2008

Hey MeFites, I'm working with HP on MagCloud. I'm so glad you found us. I've been hounding Matt to make a MeFiMag for a while now.

If you're interested in some of the motivations behind the project, you can read my take here. Personally, I think it's the future of magazine publishing, and what we've got online now is just the tip of the iceberg.

And, hey, if there's a magazine you'd like to publish, I've got a few publisher invites left. Hit me... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 2:28 PM on June 23, 2008

I hate to miss out on the drama, but the fact is, the old print vs web debate is irrelevant.

Some people will get all the media they need online, some will live entirely offline, but most of us will be somewhere in the middle. We'll use the web for what it's good at (community, conversation, quickness) and print for what it's good at (permanence, batterylessness, tactile awesomeness).

More and more, "content" (for lack of a better... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 2:54 PM on June 23, 2008

Hey thanks for the link, Dobbs. Yeah, we launched Magazineer with a belly full of good intentions at the beginning of this year, but then life got in the way and we had a brief hiatus.

But thanks to Jessamyn, we're cookin again, and have a few great posts coming up. And, of course, if you'd like to write a review of your favorite magazine, step right this way.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 2:38 PM on June 6, 2008

O HAI. I'm Derek, and all this is my fault. How are you?

First, Pixish is three days old. And as someone thoughtfully quoted above, we're very beta, and that means we're experimenting in public, and that means we might fuck up, and that means there might be a MeFi thread. And here we are. Hi!

We started Pixish because we wanted to give everyone the ability to do what we did at JPG, or what they do at Threadless. When others asked me how they... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 7:59 PM on February 12, 2008

Ahem.

No one owns your work but you, period. You are giving up no rights by uploading your work to Pixish, and you can remove it at any time. If you submit your work to an assignment, you're entering into the terms set by the publisher. We're working on tools to make those terms more explicit, but don't worry, publishers have no rights to your work if you don't win.

See you in Pixish, Eek.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 8:57 PM on February 12, 2008

I'm just gonna say this, and then I'm going to bed.

There's something naggingly elitist about this conversation. If these people are amateurs who are participating out of their own free will, and some of them are making money and winning stuff, and the buyers are happy, and the sellers are happy, who are you to say it shouldn't happen?

And don't give me the "devaluing the industry" line. That's just silly. If the "industry"... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 9:11 PM on February 12, 2008

Again: Pixish is Not! For! Designers!

Pixish IS for people with work sitting around that someone might want. Photographers with harddrives full of awesome stuff that might be right for some publishing project if only someone would ask. Nowhere does it say that work uploaded to Pixish has to be created brand new for that assignment.

This is the problem with tis discussion - I think the issues we're talking about have very little to do with our... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 10:04 PM on February 12, 2008

Hey MeFites! Thanks for linking up this story. (I'm Derek, MeFi user 44 and creator of Fray.) I just wanted to point out that there are lots of other stories from issue 1 online if this one isn't your cup of tea, with even more in the issue, which we should be getting back from the printer next week. (Very stoked.)

On a less stoked note, Michael David Murphy, who wrote and shot this story, recently had his apartment broken into and all his camera gear stolen. So if any... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 8:59 AM on January 12, 2008

Best videogame reviews online are still Zero Punctuation.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 11:00 PM on December 2, 2007

LJ could have handled this so much better.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 4:51 PM on May 31, 2007

Since you asked, here's the story.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 9:53 PM on May 14, 2007

Fantastic! Thanks for the link.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 11:05 PM on May 10, 2007

Hiya! Derek here.

Thanks for the links and the comments, y'all!

It's true, JPG has been around for 2 years. Today is, in fact, JPG's 2nd birthday! Woot!

But today JPG has been reborn. Everything is new. You can now create a membership and upload your photos. Members can directly create the magazine by submitting their work, and voting for other members' submissions. And then there's the magazine itself: bigger, fatter,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 2:45 PM on September 18, 2006

Favorite moments:
The zombie on a cellphone, calling for brains.
The zombie that approached the hot dog cart. "Brains. Braiiins! No? Uh... Sauerkraut. Sauerkrauuut!"
The zombies chasing the Powell Street cable car. "Traiiins!"
The zombie that lurched out at a passerby, making her jump out of her skin in fright, and then laugh hysterically.
The extremely nervous look on the faces of bystanders when the zombies swarmed... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 8:54 AM on August 1, 2005

1. This kicks ass.

2. You're all a bunch of whiners.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 11:57 PM on October 7, 2004

My personal/visual protest.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 12:08 AM on September 3, 2004

Better for you? Certainly. Nothing but MickyD's sure is cheaper, though.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 3:06 PM on August 22, 2004

I use MT at work to run half a dozen blogs with two dozen authors. MT, because it's a great tool, integrates perfectly with our other CMS. That other CMS? We paid a LOT of money for it. A LOT.

There is NO GOOD REASON why a business user like me shouldn't pay a few hundred dollars for this awesome software that does things our very expensive CMS doesn't do. The new pricing plan is aimed at USERS LIKE ME so we can pay what we should to support this innovative company that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 9:21 AM on May 13, 2004

I have to admit, the mandatory TypeKey registration was kinda annoying. But I assume there's a good reason for that.

I also wonder what the logic is in not allowing the free users (read: personal publishers) to appear in the recently updated list. In my experience, it's those users that care about that sorta thing. Business users don't care about a link from movabletype.org that lasts for 3 minutes.

It would have been nice if 6A had some kinda... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 11:08 AM on May 13, 2004

All Fray stories are true.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 12:46 PM on May 7, 2004

Best link all day. Thanks!
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 11:19 PM on March 31, 2004

Best bit:

Franken had Moore on, and Al Gore call in. Then Franken and his cohost prodded Moore: "Don't you have something to say to Al? Come onnnn...." Then Moore apologized in a long, rambling fashion, for endorsing Nader in 2000, ending with "you know what I mean?" Gore: "I have no idea."

Priceless.

(Quotes are rough from memory.)
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 12:38 PM on March 31, 2004

If you're offended by this pilot's actions, be sure you do something about it and say so.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 12:56 PM on February 9, 2004

OMFG I am so sorry. Fray's my site (if you couldn't tell from the username) and the fact that anyone's been spammed as a result of a post there makes me want to piss fire.

Remember back when the web was young and you could post an email address? Sigh.

Anyway, the newer Fray stories don't post email addresses anymore. It's just the older ones, and the email address part has always been optional. Still, I need to remove the addresses from the old... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 11:20 AM on November 21, 2003

Also: Anyone who want to keep these bastards out can add this to their robots.txt file:

User-agent: InternetSeer.com
Disallow: /

I just did for all my sites.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 11:36 AM on November 21, 2003

Seriously, anyone who's received an email from these folks that referenced fray.com, please forward it to me at dmp at the dotcom I just mentioned. I just might have a lawyer who's interested in seeing 'em.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 11:52 PM on November 21, 2003

WAY outdated spoof plus gender stereotyping. Yay.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 3:36 PM on October 16, 2003

Very cool site! Thanks, jdroth!

Gratuitous self-link: If you like personal story sites like this, be sure to drop by Fray's Storyblog where we post stuff like this almost every day!
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 11:38 PM on September 6, 2003

That Digaman ain't no slouch neither. Viva la Cole Valley!
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 6:06 PM on September 6, 2003

It's not "all about the parents" for some of us, though it might take something dramatic to realize it.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 12:17 AM on August 1, 2003

If you like that, check out Storyblog, fray's blog on story sites:
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 11:09 AM on May 28, 2003

I find it really interesting that the oval that traditionally has bordered the portrait is gone. That's one of the defining characteristics of US bills. Can't wait to see one in person.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 12:44 PM on May 13, 2003

"Can Woody Allen and 14 million Jews be wrong?"

Because all Jews are Woody Allen stereotypes, right Miguel?

Twit.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 1:03 PM on April 22, 2003

i guess the profundity of bashing other people and their projects escapes me... i've never been compelled to do it til now - superficially, i just wanted to see what "t r a c y" was ranting about - and uhm, so... a lot of people like to hear themelves talk and have others hear it too. so that's pretty routine human vanity stuffs, and definitely something i'd expect from webloggers.

i lost interest after reading 3 diff people and can understand why a person... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 1:19 PM on February 11, 2003

Definitely good advice! If you're interested, there are some amazing trip stories in fray.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 11:47 AM on December 10, 2002

Thanks for the link, Matt. FYI: The permalink to Heather's story is fray.com/is/without.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 8:47 PM on December 1, 2002

Geek Cereal was built around a journal structure, so it doesn't really count as a "blog" per se, but it sure is nice to see those old pages again. And Bianca's was the first web-based chat system, started in '94. So, again, not a blog, but a definite first on the web. (What's with the blogification of everything, anyway?)

Geek Cereal and Bianca's both came out of the same Third Street building that housed HotWired, where I worked in 1996 as a html monkey - my... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 4:01 PM on October 27, 2002

And yet, with all that nifty standards hoo-ha, they're making the oldest mistake of all: running text from one side of the browser to the other on story pages. Long text lines are hard to read. That's why newspapers have columns. Readers don't care about CSS and XHTML - they care if they can read the stories.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 3:16 PM on October 11, 2002

Here is a direct link to the original DfC post that was so delightfully cribbed here.

Here is the archive of the original thread, showing the community in action.

And Nils? Dude. The idea is to write your own posts. If you're quoting, use quotes.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 11:48 AM on July 14, 2002

For anyone who missed it, here's a glimpse of what kvetch used to look like.

It's immensely gratifying to know that I made a site that people enjoyed. Thanks, all.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 9:57 AM on July 12, 2002

Exactly what I was thinking.

Next week in the New York Times:

The Geek-Nerd Divide!
Reference Librarians Miffed at Periodicals Desk!
Subway Drivers Mildly Distrust Bus Drivers!

If the New York Times keeps this up, they're going to put The Onion out of business.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 12:08 AM on June 10, 2002

*applause*
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 4:20 PM on May 22, 2002

Are we having the "the web is dead" conversation again? Hmn. Yeah. Must be spring....

The web is dead! Long live the web!

Seriously, I think Lisa Guernsey probably just needs some suggestions. Come help.

I bet in a month she'll write a long story about this great new thing called "Web Logging.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 3:45 PM on March 28, 2002

Not that Enurv doesn't strike a sour chord, but did you try emailing Leslie or Enurv before posting here? This kinda thing has happened to me a few (dozen) times, and usually it can be cleared up with a little private mediation. Seems to me that calling for a "public shaming" will only entrench everyone and might want to be left for when private communication fails.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 3:31 PM on February 28, 2002

Aha! So it *is* time. Let loose the dogs of war!
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 8:18 PM on February 28, 2002

Where have I heard that before?
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 11:13 AM on February 20, 2002

http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/select.html

"Unlike cost-per-click services, the top advertisement position (located to the right of Google's search results) is not automatically granted to the advertiser willing to pay the highest price. AdWords Select ranking is determined by a combination of ad performance (click-thru rate) and how much an advertiser agrees to pay per click. This advertisement ranking method ensures that users see the most relevant ads first.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 11:06 AM on February 20, 2002

Speaking of Alf, I had a major Alf flashback when I saw the site for Greg the Bunny. I'm still scared. Hold me.
posted to MetaFilter by fraying at 11:53 PM on February 12, 2002