Looks like it’s going to be YET another emergency PlurkCAST today. Eric is off the grid and I don’t even have internet at my house(single tear). Luckily as per usual the rock when it comes to PlurkCAST’s KDFrawg is going to run it again.
For full details please visit Plurkiverse. Also even if you’re not into the PlurkCAST go check out Plurkiverse anyways; if you like plurk chances are you’ll like the blog.
Although Eric and I missed it, once again KDFrawg held down the fort and ran an entertaining and informative PlurkCAST.
Click below to listen to the entire recording.
Coming up most likely next week will be some more Plinks and other bloggeries I’ve been thinking of. Why wasn’t Eric there? He’s part of a political movement gathering major steam. Check his plurk’s for further details.
Stay tuned for more things Plurk,
- Rob
EDIT: Turns out Amix was listening in. So Amir… Does this mean we can pick your brain on an upcoming episode sometime? 
Just last night Plurk released the new community badges and made some interface tweaks. Woke up this morning and the A-Team is at it again. The latest upgrade is the ability to reply to someone via their info overlay. I really like this feature.
When I first got in to twitter, (B.P - Before Plurk) I never got into using 3rd party apps. One of my biggest “pet peeves” about twitter was that I had to type in the persons user name each time I wanted to reply. Some people have REALLY LONG or complicated names and on top of that you have to spell it 100% correct or it won’t have the desired effect. This is coming from someone who types well over 100 words a minute; I wonder what this was like for the 2 finger typists and everyone in-between?
Now you can simply click next to the persons name until the down arrow appears; click that and choose to do an @ reply. Doesn’t get much easier than that!
Stay tuned for more things plurk,
- Rob
I was going to go to the bar but somehow here I am blogging about Plurk. First thing I noticed when I routinely clicked “profile” and checked what was new were the new icons below karma. After seeing the community badges, I noticed the star appears there as well and no longer on the avatar on the timeline. I immediately started a plurk to see if anyone had noticed any other tweaks to the user interface; nothing.
Curious what a Plurk Community site is? At first I assumed it’s the “Unofficial Plurk Blog’s” listed on Plurk’s Official Blog; however Amix set the record straight. I’d assume qualifying websites are those that have really embraced plurk and are dedicated solely to it and have been for some time. It’s cool to be recognized by the designers; not aware of any other networks where the admins show appreciation like this. I’m curious what’s going to happen now… Everyone who received a badge the first go around is genuinely a plurk enthusiast as most of these sites were started within a month of the initial “Plurksplosion” into the scene in early June. Where will the line be drawn that determines if a site is eligible or not? I think largely it has to do with the definition of “community”; which typically involves some sort of defined purpose and level of activity. Will this create more work as the requests start flooding plurk’s inbox? Will this turn off people who for whatever reasons tried to get the badge but got rejected?
I’m undecided on the badge idea and my prediction is that the vast majority of plurker’s won’t care about or notice the new badges. I also believe a small group will make a big deal out of it being unfair while many more will apply for the badge whether they qualify or not.
I think this recent user interface could be a great transition towards a system geared more at the casual once a day or so plurker. (We addicts aren’t going anywhere; we love the platform) In this system the badges, stars and other symbols of participation levels(even karma) are visible but not the center of attention. Most plurkers won’t get a star, a badge or reach nirvana so why make them front and center like the star used to be and karma still kinda is? Where plurk goes from here is anyone’s guess but I’m looking forward to it.
Stay tuned for more things plurk,
- Rob
Recently most die hard plurkers noticed when they woke up that Karma had stopped updating. Essentially the karma system was broken or at least stalled. Of course there was a million plurks about it; some being thrilled, others frustrated, upset or annoyed and everything in between. As the day progressed and the issue continued I kind of liked knowing that I would not be penalized for not plurking. Also I wonder how much less noise everyone’s time-line would have if people only generated new plurks when they generally have something interesting to share?
I thought I’d mention this as it was the night before Karma froze that I decided I wasn’t going to bother adding a generic “Good night Plurk zzzzZZZzzz” and it was awesome to wake up to the same score I left with. If I really wanted to increase my karma I could of posted; but to not post and feel see no repercussions was pretty cool. I barely use twitter anymore but one thing I really do like is that if I’ve logged in today or two weeks ago it’s just glad to have you back.
Eventually the A-team became aware of the issue and as per usual found a remedy shortly thereafter. One incident that happened during this karma freeze/stall/whatever was that some people’s Karma was actually changed; below is an actual screen shot of someone who thought they hit the jackpot!
How would you feel in the morning if you woke up to a clean 99.99 karma? I am just glad syktek mentioned it and that I got a screen shot. I think it’s going to be a little while before WendyKnits most likely hits it!
While we’re on the topic of “karma oddities” I’m going to attach another image which happened after Plurk had it’s “New Shoes” for those of you that remember. “New Shoes” was a recent update that originally state ~1 hour took most of the day. This could explain the large jump seen in the screen shot below but I’m not totally convinced. After the new shoes were successfully on some people had increased; others decreased so I don’t think everyone went down. Either way within ~12 hours of the event I logged in and to my surprise saw +1 Karma. Most of us know that once you hit 60 it typically climbs in intervals of ~0.09% and sadly drops in ~0.09-0.15%. What’s weirder: going up 1 or going up 1 to exactly 66.66?
Apart from this Plurk has been running rather well lately; I’m interested to see where it goes in the next few months. Next time they update their karma algorithm it would be great if they started viewing plurk through the eyes of a casual, average internet user. If Plurk is to stick around and hit critical mass it will be highly dependent on the group just mentioned. Early adopting, always online, tech evangelists by no means represent the majority of the social media / networking crowd.
Stay tuned for more things plurk,
- Rob
P.S Be sure to tune into our weekly PlurkCAST, every Wednesday at 5PM EST.
