DISQUS

Scobleizer · 1 year ago

Shel Israel is no longer part of http://www.fastcompany.tv. That is correct. The changes we made to http://www.fastcompany.tv/workfast-tv were made due to community feedback, in particular due to Dennis Howlett and Allen Stern's criticism of that show. We made several changes in reaction to their feedback. As to the guy who says "fastcompany.tv sucks" that's great, but why not be constructive? I'm very interested in constructive feedback and am working to make our shows the best available. Today we have several exclusives, including lots of interviews with members of congress. If that's "sucking" well, then, I want more "sucking." This is content no other tech video blogger is bringing to you.

ontarioemperor · 1 year ago

One question - perhaps I missed the announcement, but I've searched high and low and haven't found any. Why was there a delay in announcing Shel's departure from http://www.fastcompany.tv ? The first that I heard of this was via a tweet and a FriendFeed post from a person whom is...um...not connected with FastCompany. I believe it would have been better for all concerned if this had been stated at the outset.

Scobleizer · 1 year ago

Why didn't we announce Shel's leaving? Because I don't believe in announcing people have left. Microsoft didn't announce it when I left, either. I made it very clear that there were some major changes to the show coming (I Twittered and FriendFeeded that several times on Thursday) and astute viewers could see for themselves what the changes were in live time and we even had an open live chat room after the show where people could have asked about the changes they saw (we made several changes to the latest WorkFastTV show).

platypibri · 1 year ago

Just so there is no confusion, I will also not be appearing on Workfast TV. I know this is disappointing (certainly to my mother), but the simple fact is, I really don't work fast, and therefore have no place on the show. Robert's a great guy(as far as I can tell), and I wish him all the success. And to all my fans, I don't believe you exist.
B

ontarioemperor · 1 year ago

I can confirm that there are advantages to relative anonymity. At least you don't end up on puppet shows. :)

Loren Heiny · 1 year ago

I saw a comment by Robert Scoble before the last show indicating that there would be changes that some people would be interested in and was based on community feedback. If you were in his place would you say more publicly? I wouldn't. What goal would it serve? I'd just move on and focus on the next shows and making them better.

Steve Mann · 1 year ago

Dennis Howlett and Allen Stern do not a community make...do you have any other feedback?

dahowlett · 1 year ago

That's correct Steve but it got a heck of a lot of attention at ZDN. Much of the original and early comment on the FW.tv website was negative. Some was un-necessarily uncomplimentary IMO but the common theme was the same. Interestingly, one person told me privately that it made a better podcast.

A Former FastCompany.TV viewer · 1 year ago

If you are so interested in constructive feedback, why did you delete all of my comments?

Scobleizer · 1 year ago

We deleted comments that were not constructive and a couple that were because our team was too aggressive in deleting comments -- we have a policy of not allowing comments that attack other people, or call them names, or get personal. This is a business site and we won't allow comments there that are like the anonymous comment above. Sorry, that's what FriendFeed and Twitter and other people's blogs are for. We've added several comments back that were constructive, albeit negative. We also were bitten by a spam filter, too. That deleted several of MY comments. I'm personally watching the commenting area now, though, and if you feel your comments were deleted inappropriately, please email me at scobleizer@gmail.com or phone me at +1-425-205-1921 and I'll dig through and see if I can figure out what went wrong.

ontarioemperor · 1 year ago

I see that the comments pages now link to FastCompany's Terms of Service. Good step.

Scobleizer · 1 year ago

I love the New York Times' approach to comments, by the way: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/faq/com... -- yesterday I was talking with Kathy Sierra who just participated in a session about comment moderation with lots of other bloggers. She said that all the bloggers she talked with are considering moderating comments because of the unhelpful attitude of many commenters, like "Anon" above. Myself, I have started just blocking people like "Anon" out of my life from Twitter and FriendFeed and have started removing comments from my own blog that aren't constructive. Jerks have no place in my life anymore and hope that more bloggers will take a strict line against people who are trying to destroy the communities we participate in. We wouldn't let these kinds of people into our homes, so it's time to say that if you want to be a jerk you should do it on your own blog and not expect anyone to read your commentary.

JD Lasica · 1 year ago

You mean there are still some bloggers who *don't* moderate comments? I hold all mine for approval because of the incredible amount of spam and junk comments. Still looking for a solution to let them go live faster and to elevate the thoughtful ones.

ontarioemperor · 1 year ago

JD, this blog is not moderated. I normally don't get this amount of comment traffic. However, as mentioned elsewhere, I use some Disqus features to control what goes in.

ontarioemperor · 1 year ago

Disqus allows blocking of certain text strings, which is helpful. The comments to this post on the death of Pat Lampard got ugly, but they could have gotten uglier if the text blocking wasn't in place.

dahowlett · 1 year ago

As one of those who was particularly public about the show which I thought was unwatchable, Robert reached out to me yesterday, asking me to see 'what happened next.' The following show was a VAST improvement. Of course it can be better but then so can all shows. As a result, I revisited the topic on my ZDN blog. Yes, I made further comment, but in the end FastWork.tv is a LOT better than it was and like him or not, Robert will make this thing work.

Give Robert a break. It takes courage to respond to critics. It takes even more courage to act.

ontarioemperor · 1 year ago

Heck, it takes courage to LISTEN. Some of us even fail to do that.

Jay Cuthrell · 1 year ago

While the Tim Ferris interview was pretty lacking in substance initially -- I doubt that one interview was the sole reason behind any lineup changes. I could be naive of course.

I met Robert Scoble at SXSW and while my initial impression was hockey player or football player turned AV geek... I think he's better behind a camera than in front of one because he can control the flow. Rober Scoble in front of a camera it seems as though the shot is canned and might speak more about the lack of placement by a director or camera person.

I never met Shel Israel but he seemed as though he was thrust or forced into being in front of a camera.

Maybe Robert Scoble can incorporate cooking or something with the hands of him and guests. Like, an interview while something quick, easy, and healthy is whipped up in a kitchen. That would give everyone something to focus on while conversation trended away from mundane or centered around the moment before the meal. Concept: Fast Eats with Fast Company

Digg already does beer and Gary V does wine so maybe Robert Scoble can be the Emeril of Tech Internviews?

Before anyone laughs... this is what I mean by an effortless room

http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/technology/13...

ontarioemperor · 1 year ago

Or maybe Paula Deen could be a co-host... :)

It sounds like some of the previous criticism indicated that the chat room seemed to be a distraction during the interview. So probably the less extra stuff the better - unless, of course, it fits in with the topic. For example, if Jane Doe is talking about the SuperWidget, then Jane and Robert could certainly use the SuperWidget during the program.

Jay Cuthrell · 1 year ago

Hah! Paula Deen rocks.

Matt Rissell · 1 year ago

Interesting observations... I'm interested to see what you thought of the show itself! :)

ontarioemperor · 1 year ago

Matt, I confess that I only listened to the first couple of minutes - I'm a short attention span type of guy - but I'll make some time to listen to the entire thing at some point.

anon · 1 year ago

Working with Scoble is frustrating. Try to find anyone who has worked with him to say anything "off the record" that is positive. He is a self-promoter with no regard for his coworkers and little for his clients.

platypibri · 1 year ago

That's the kind of claim you need to back up with some facts. It's real easy to spew that kind of stuff out when your name's not attached. I think your just a hater.

JD Lasica · 1 year ago

It also happens not to be true.

Robert, fastcompany.tv should employ a filter so that those of us who don't have time for nonsense can filter out all comments posted anonymously, if that's possible.

ontarioemperor · 1 year ago

Just a note of clarification for those who don't realize it. These comments are associated with the mrontemp blog, which is not related in any way to fastcompany.tv. As such, they are subject to my comment moderation policy, and since this is not a business blog, I have more latitude here than a business comment area would have. I would like to keep the language in these comments such that my daughter can read them (this hasn't been a big problem, outside of my Pat Lampard post), but I have no objection to anonymous comments per se. Personally, I think that some of the "anon" comments speak for themselves... :)

ontarioemperor · 1 year ago

I spoke too soon. Just had to delete one of the comments because of the name that the commenter chose to use. Ah, the price of fleeting fame...

Aaron Strout · 1 year ago

Yeah, I have to disagree with you too @anon. I've done a couple of podcasts with Scoble and talked with him several times in person. I've also talked in depth with @rocmanusa who produces Scoble (without Scoble present) and he had nothing but nice things to say. BTW, why don't you man (or "woman") up and come out from behind your anonymous handle. It's easy to cast stones when there are no repercussions.

Aaron | @astrout

anon. · 1 year ago

FastCompany.TV sucks.

ontarioemperor · 1 year ago

Clarification - as I noted above, I like to have comments that my daughter can read. Someone asked the question "Why did you delete my constructive comments?" I didn't have any problem with the question, but I did have a problem with the anatomical name the commenter chose to use. And again, this is me (Ontario Emperor), and not Robert Scoble or fastcompany.tv, that made this choice.

ontarioemperor · 1 year ago

Disqus users may be interested in the question that I posed here.

Shel Israel's Shriveled Dick · 1 year ago

Why did you delete my constructive comments?

Rick · 1 year ago

"We deleted comments that were not constructive and a couple that were because our team was too aggressive in deleting comments"

Obviously Fast Company has no idea what they're doing.

Scobleizer · 1 year ago

We won't allow comments from people who are obviously jerks. There's a line there somewhere and our team deleted two too many comments and in further review we put them back. Note that everyone who is complaining isn't signing their names here. That's the first signal that their claims aren't correct.

Vinny · 1 year ago

I read a lot of those comments before they were deleted. The implication that they were anonymous or "hateful" or personal attacks is simply not true. One of the comments deleted made a very constructive point: Don't make the guest wait 4 minutes while you engage in forced uncomfortable looking banter. That was the entirety of the comment and it was deleted. You guys have every right to delete every single comment for any reason you want, but don't outwardly lie about the content of what you're deleting. Your assertion that it was all personal attacks is simply not true.

And just for the record, Vinny is my real name. I'm Vincent Ferrari. The guy who canceled his AOL account. I'm well-known enough that you can easily verify this is me. I'm not hiding behind anything or obscuring my true identity.

ontarioemperor · 1 year ago

Vinny,

I've only seen one of the deleted comments, which was preserved in Google's cache. As I previously noted, if it were me I would have left the comment up. I'd characterize that one as a constructive comment with a disrespectful tone; there's probably a better way to say "...go away. You're making a fool of yourself."

Then again, there are comments which, although they contain constructive content, cross the line in other ways. I had to delete one of these from my own blog post because, while the comment was constructive, the poster chose a user name that included a derogatory reference to the anatomy of a certain person. No matter what constructive point the person was making, the positive benefit was pretty much wiped out by the penis reference.

And heck, that's just my personal blog. Business blogs have different standards, and apparently FastCompany decided that "go away" was not the professional tone that they wanted to set.