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Capture your personal sports highlights with Fancred
Recently we have seen a growing number of sports related apps that provide an opportunity to connect with other fans of your favorite teams or to engage in a distribution of photos, gifs, and comments about games and teams more than they provide stats, scores, or background on upcoming games. Fancred is another app along those same lines. It is a free universal app that requires iOS 7.0 or later. The push from the developers for the app is that it is the perfect app to capture your own personal sports moments such as a selfie at the game, or a photo highlight, or anything tied to the event you are attending. That is easy to do and works well. In fact the entire app is easy to navigate and even for someone like me who shuns social media outlets, I figured it out pretty quickly. First you need to set up a profile with the usual information, name, email, and password. Then you select your favorite team or sport. Once that is accomplished you will start receiving a separate feed for each of your favorites. In that feed you will receive comments and gifs from other fans of that team or sport. Some provide new information while others are personal opinions on the team, its players, it performance, or the outcome of a game. I set up four teams and did get some input in the feed that I found useful. You also will get a general news feed that includes the same types of items, gifs, photos, and comments, but covering sports in general. So you may see a posting about the Lakers and Kobe Bryant, or Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, or Maria Sharapova swing changes. Some of these postings are complete articles.. The ones I saw were all features rather than hard news. In both feeds it is easy to share any of the postings with others through Facebook and Twitter. The "cred" part of the app is in a feature called Fancred Score. Each user has their own score ranking from 1, the lowest, to 100. Users increase their Fancred Score each time they post to the app or interact in some way with other users. So if you want to max out, get in there and start sharing. As I indicated earlier, I am not a social media user so Fancred doesn't hold much appeal for me. However, I am positive a lot of you regularly use social media to stay in touch with friends and family every day so this app would work well for you. Now instead of connecting with your friends and family members you can be building a new family of Patriot fans, or Blues fans, or fans of any of the more than 2700 teams included in Fancred. Happy sharing!
Brace yourselves: Facebook stickers are coming to comments
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, but even when it's not, you can still use 'em. After popping up in chat and Messenger windows in the past, Facebook is employing stickers in comments for both mobile and the web. Use the small pictures to visualize your reaction to Timeline, Group and Event posts when you'd rather keep things succinct. Unfortunately, if you want to express your feelings with an image for a regular post, you'll still have to upload one the old fashioned way.
Over 3 million comments on net neutrality registered with the FCC
It looks like a lot more of you have strong opinions on net neutrality than initially thought. The FCC has just announced that it's received more than 3 million comments on the topic, which blows away the previous estimate of 1.48 million and is more than twice that of the hubbub caused by Janet Jackson's "Nipplegate" back in 2004. Of course, seeing as net neutrality has gained quite a bit of coverage thanks to John Oliver and the recent "Day of Action" campaign, it's not exactly surprising that citizens everywhere are up in arms about the issue. If you want to chime in as well, you had better do so soon (either via this form or emailing openinternet@fcc.gov) -- comments on the topic end in just a few hours. [Image credit: Washington Post/Getty Images]
SOE relies on players to report inappropriate posts
If you see something, SOE definitely wants you to say something. EverQuest II CM Linda Carlson responded to a post on EQ2Wire to say that the studio depends on its players to help police the "meeelions" of comments in its forums. "Unless we are actually perusing the forums when something comes up, we do indeed rely on players helping to keep the forum community a reasonable and comfortable place to post by reporting disruptive or inappropriate posts," Carlson said. Carlson went on to give advice on how to constructively post on forums and avoid unnecessary conflict with other posters, including "Never post angry. Never post drunk." and "Two trolls do not make a right."
Care about an open internet? Tell the US government on Twitter today
Rumors that the FCC would let ISPs like Comcast or Verizon give an internet "fast lane" to well-heeled customers has become a debacle, with Google, Yahoo and a hundred other companies denouncing the idea. The FCC and chairman Tom Wheeler have been in damage control mode ever since, and now want to hear what you think about net neutrality. Starting at 2pm ET today, FCC Senior Counsel Gigi B. Sohn will take your questions over Twitter, submitted using the #FCCNetNeutrality hashtag. Then, you'll just need to search Twitter using that same hashtag to follow the resulting dialogue. For instance, we're curious to find out how it could allow such fast lanes without slowing down everybody else, something they've sworn not to do. And that's just the tip of the iceberg -- given the sudden swarm of interest in the subject, it should make for a fascinating hour if you can spare it.
Ask Massively: You get a gold star
Since the introduction of the new "featured comments" highlighting in Massively comments section, several community members have inquired about how it works, who selects the comments, and what the point is other than to give seemingly random people a mild internet ego boost. These are excellent questions whose answers do affect our community, and I posed several of them myself in a meeting with a Livefyre rep just a few weeks ago. Let's talk about how it all works in today's Ask Massively and create a convenient link to add to our growing site FAQ.
YouTube flips the switch on its new conversation-style comment system powered by Google+
Back in September, YouTube revealed its plan to overhaul comments on the video site with the helping hand of Google+. Now, that new system has gone live. Conversation-style commenting that ranks based on a number of key factors (like people you know), allows private notations solely for those in your Circles and serves up easy moderation in order to quell the naysayers like word filters and auto-approval. The new Google+-powered system should be popping up on YouTube channels that you frequent soon as the global roll out has already begun.
Ask Massively: Nick Burns edition
Today's Ask Massively letters come from David and Abionie, both of whom wrote us over the summer with comments about, well, our comments. This first one's from David: I'm probably not the only one who is generally displeased with the state of trolls on the internet today. You know them: doomsayers, hatespreaders, the "HAHA company X is failing, finally!" types, the kind of people for whom the hatred of a video game or company has become more addictive than playing the game that company made. Unfortunately, the internet gives soapboxes to people who probably don't have much of a relationship with soap. I would like to see more moderation towards keeping an articles comments on the topic of the article. It's becoming tiring to open up an article talking about something I am interested in, only to fear scrolling down too far and inadvertently opening up the comments to see "FAIL GAME IS FAIL COPYING X GAME IS LAZY" and the many hundreds of comments like that. We hear you, David, and not just about the soap. But also that.
Facebook to join Twitter in providing TV networks with user data
Now that Facebook has granted broadcasters access to your public wall posts, it wants to give them even more of your data -- but anonymously this time. Zuckerberg and Co. told the Wall Street Journal it'll supply the likes of ABC, NBC, FOX and others with detailed analytics on how much buzz a show is generating in terms of likes, comments and shares. It'll mine that info from private postings as well public ones, though it said that the data will be aggregated without revealing anyone's identity. Of course, Twitter and Nielsen have been supplying networks with such info for a while now, but Facebook claims its results are more meaningful, since viewers must ostensibly use their real identities. One CBS exec added that Facebook's wider demographic also seemed to jibe better with actual audience numbers, meaning that programming could become less affected by tech-savvy types and more by your mom.
YouTube teams up with Google+ to turn comments into conversations
Comments on the internet: often a haven for trolls and axe-grinders, but comment threads also give rise to some insightful and entertaining commentary. In an effort to encourage the latter and to provide users with an improved experience, YouTube's rolling out a new commenting system that integrates deeply with Google+. What does that mean, exactly? Much like that other social network's News Feed, comments in YouTube will be based on relevance, not how recently they were posted. So, comments from people you know, celebrities and video creators, plus positively rated comments will percolate to the top of comment threads according to Big G's ranking algorithms. Additionally, replies will be nested beneath original comments to better enable conversations. Like Facebook, should you find the idea of automated comment curation unsettling, you can always switch back to the old way of having the most recent comments show up first. The integration with Google+ also broadens your commenting boundaries; post a comment on YouTube, then share that video on on G+ and comments and replies made on either site will show up in both places. You can also control who gets to read comments you make by choosing which circles will see them, so you can even have private conversations. As for content owners, the system borrows features from many other commenting platforms. To deal with comments at scale, channel admins can build user whitelists and blacklisted words and phrases to make moderation easy. YouTube Product Manager Nundu Janakiram tells us that the comments system has been in the works for over a year, and that these features are only the beginning. His team plans to provide even better tools for users and content creators to let them filter out the noise and increase the quality of comments. Initially, folks will be able to test out the new comments in the discussion tab on any YouTube channel's home page, after which it'll roll out to individual videos in the coming months -- and we'd be shocked if these G+ enabled comments don't make their way into many other Google properties eventually, too.
The Soapbox: Community or comments
If there's one thing gamers love doing, it's insult games they don't play. Any news item, editorial, hands-on, review, or general pile of text dedicated to a few key games -- normally those with high profiles -- receives an instant and visceral response from a collection of commenters who seem to exist only to insult a particular game and berate its fans. Much of the time, these commenters have no actual experience with the game in question. Here on Massively, EVE Online and World of Warcraft seem to be the biggest magnets for such tomfoolery. Guild Wars 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic attract these behaviors as well, and WildStar is well on its way to becoming the next troll-favorite comment piñata. There's nothing wrong with not liking a game, of course. And a little conflict is good; why allow comments if everyone's going to have the same opinion? There's just one problem: If your opinion of a game is based on preconceived notions and not actual experience, that opinion is adding nothing to the dialogue. In short, you are trolling.
Ask Massively: Taboo topics
In the US, we have a joke about how you never discuss politics or religion with friends if you want to keep those friends, which is a shame since those are usually the most interesting subjects, especially when it's three in the morning and you're out of jello shots. Today's topic might seem as if it's about religion and politics on the surface, but it's really not. A reader named Ediz wrote to us with the following question: While browsing the official Neverwinter forum guild recruitment section, I noticed several guilds openly advertising their religious orientation. I think this is really bad, even if they accept non-religious members. This type of behaviour should be strongly dealt with by community managers. The last thing I want in a game and especially MMO is to see people's religious, sexual, or political orientations openly advertised as it just ruins my immersion. I politely complained about it on the thread, and my post has been casually removed by the moderators. What is wrong with these guys? Short answer? Nothing at all.
Ask Massively: Everything in moderation
Happy Fourth of July, Americans, and happy new columnist day to Massively! Yes, it's official: Anatoli Ingram will be joining the Massively staff this month as our new Guild Wars 2 columnist. Those of you who dwell in the land of comments and trolls might recognize him from his erudite posts as Ring Bonefield. We're thrilled to have him on board to lend a pen and a critical eye to such a popular game, and we were equally thrilled at the impressive pool of applicants. Thank you all for applying! Speaking of commenters, we have comments on the brain today in Ask Massively. Let's review how -- or more specifically, when -- we moderate the comment section.
Ask Massively: No one loves blog comment systems
Welcome back to Ask Massively! Today, let's beat our heads against some totally valid emails relating to Massively's adorable comment system, which we lovingly call "Hey, Livefyre is down again!" Chris wrote, "Is there some way to create an ignore list? I'm irritated by a few people in certain articles who try to make the comments entirely about themselves. I primarily read this site at work, and the work network is garbage, which means that the browser freezes up when I try to load more comments. Is there some way to filter out certain users' posts?" This is a good idea!
Ask Massively: Why we cover what we do, part one
Welcome back to Ask Massively. We're all aboard the yacht this week, answering your questions while dressed like characters in Scarlet Blade. Because that's pretty much what the characters in Scarlet Blade should be doing rather than, you know, mortal combat in a thong. Yes, today we're talking Scarlet Blade. In between all the crazed commenter ranting, several of you guys posed legit questions about why we covered it in the first place. Let me try to answer you without turning this into a debate about sexism. Why? Because it's not really about any one specific -ism.
Google+ extends its reach into Blogger comments
We haven't been hearing a whole lot about Blogger amid all the changes at Google in recent months, but the company hasn't entirely forgotten about the pioneering blogging platform it acquired way back in 2003. It's today introduced Google+ Comments for Blogger, a fairly self-explanatory new feature that will let you bring G+ comments to your Blogger-based site. Blogger users can enable that feature in their dashboard, which will let them see both comments left directly on their blog and those made about their blog on Google+. Notably, it will also let users chose to either comment publicly or privately to only those in their Google+ circles -- and, conversely, choose to only view comments from their circles instead of the teeming masses.
Google starts giving more developers the ability to reply to Google Play comments
Google first gave some leading developers the ability to reply to user comments on Google Play last year, but it looks like it's now letting considerably more devs in on the act. While it's not yet clear when (or if) all developers will be able to do so, a spokesperson has confirmed to The Next Web that the feature is now "gradually expanding" to additional Android app developers. On its developer site, Google further clarifies that developers will only be able to reply to any comment once, and it outlines a few fairly straightforward posting guidelines -- namely, that developers should "make it clear and relevant," "be nice," "don't solicit or promote" and "keep it clean." Users will also receive an email notifying them of the developer's reply, and be given the ability to update their original comment and rating (presumably with the goal of avoiding one star reviews for issues beyond their control). Google also adds that the ability to comment is "a privilege, not a right," and that apps and accounts can be suspended if developers violate the guidelines.
Ask Massively: The one where we talk about our 2012 awards
Welcome back to Ask Massively. Here's your present: an edit button! What? You say you didn't get us anything? Awww. Well, let's get back to the important things, like your telling us how wrong our opinions are. thatchefdude (and zaithnoc and cbv1020) asked: How can Guild Wars 2 be your game of the year and also runner-up for biggest disappointment of the year? I understand no game is perfect, but I would expect game of the year to not have enough disappointments in it to warrant it a place as runner-up for disappointment of the year. Because voting. OK, also because of a few other things.
Massively's comment system gets an upgrade: Yes, you can has edit button [Updated]
As several of you have noticed, the Joystiq network's tech team has just pushed through the latest version of the Livefyre comments system. The update comes with a comment edit option with a timeout, meaning that yes, you can finally edit your posts (if you're quick -- it's apparently six minutes). Woot! The new features also include formatting tools like bullet points, bolding, italics, and embeds for links, images, and videos. There's also a little floaty widget to help you stay on top of the busiest threads. We're still digging through the update and chronicling the cool stuff and the bugs ourselves. Let us know what you like and don't like so we can pass it on to the tech guys and gals! [Update 12/21/2012: Readers have alerted us to the fact that the comment system is not functioning for users of older versions of Internet Explorer -- specifically, 8 and 9. Chrome and Firefox appear to be working well. Upgrade to IE 10 if you can! Tech is aware of the problem and investigating a fix, but we have no ETA.]
Ask Massively: Yes, we have heard of your game
Welcome back to Ask Massively, the place where Bree dispenses random thoughts about the sitemeta because you guys are cheaper than a shrink. About 20 people asked: Hey have you guys heard about Pathfinder Online and also why aren't you writing more about Pathfinder Online. P.S. Your coverage of Pathfinder Online is inadequate to my needs. And have you heard about Pathfinder Online?? Yes, we have heard of your game.
