BackType

Apr 19th We’re Removing User Profiles

In lieu of recent and upcoming changes to BackType, we’ve decided to retire user profiles – the claiming and user organization of blog comments. It’s a feature we love, but unfortunately does not have a place in the new product. It follows that tweeting comments that make it to your profile will also stop. User profiles will be removed on Wednesday, April 21; we apologize for any inconvenience.

Note: comments will still be aggregated by BackType and accessible through our website; however, users will no longer have the ability to explicitly claim any comments

Tags: backtype, comments

This entry was posted on Monday, April 19th, 2010 at 5:24 pm and is filed under Announcement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

17 Comments 12 Tweets 1 Comment

27 Responses to “We’re Removing User Profiles”

Louis Gray says:

Apr 19th at 5:55 pm

BackType is ditching user profiles.

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

Mike Fruchter says:

Apr 19th at 5:55 pm

BackType is ditching user profiles.

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

Google Reader says:

Apr 19th at 5:55 pm

BackType is ditching user profiles.

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

Akiva Moskovitz says:

Apr 19th at 5:55 pm

Progress!

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

WorldofHiglet says:

Apr 19th at 6:01 pm

So…these changes are a step forward but first they remove the only thing I’ve ever used Backtype for?

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

Christopher Golda says:

Apr 19th at 6:09 pm

Yeah, we’re pretty bummed to have to remove them — but they don’t really fit in our product anymore, nor the new stuff we’re working on

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

WorldofHiglet says:

Apr 19th at 6:21 pm

The only good thing about it is that has reminded me about Backtype. So this new stuff you are working on….? It is good?

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

ppmartin says:

Apr 19th at 6:29 pm

Not cool at all – BackType about to lose it’s soul

Louis Gray says:

Apr 19th at 6:29 pm

Christopher is going to be taken to the woodshed on this one.

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

WorldofHiglet says:

Apr 19th at 7:08 pm

(I looked that up to make sure I understood the meaning correctly.)

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

James G says:

Apr 19th at 7:45 pm

Oh, well that’s a bit of a shame. I’ve been using the RSS feed of my comments to aggregate my activity on other websites on my blog via lifestream. I’m assuming this will be disrupted?

Christopher Golda says:

Apr 19th at 10:13 pm

You can still use the URL profile to do this — you might just need to add more than one feed.

James G says:

Apr 30th at 6:32 pm

Ahh, thanks.

DGentry says:

Apr 19th at 7:55 pm

I’m kinda bummed. Many of the blogs I comment on now use Disqus, but not all. BackType kept track of the various other places I’d commented.

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

Christopher Golda says:

Apr 19th at 8:16 pm

You’ll still be able to keep track of your comments — we’re removing user profiles, but not URL profiles. e.g. here’s mine http://www.backtype.com/url/www.backtype.com%252fcg

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

Christopher Golda says:

Apr 19th at 8:18 pm

WorldofHiglet: Yeah, some really exciting stuff coming — if you’re a blogger or marketer, you’ll love it

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

WorldofHiglet says:

Apr 19th at 8:49 pm

*prepares to love it*

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

Bruce Lewis says:

Apr 19th at 9:46 pm

Sounds like backtype feeds into FriendFeed will still work. What else could anyone want?

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

Christopher Golda says:

Apr 19th at 9:49 pm

The feeds into FF will not work — at least not natively. You could use the RSS feeds for the URL profiles, though.

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

Bruce Lewis says:

Apr 19th at 9:55 pm

Oh, IIUC that means I’ll need to use a separate feed for HN comments vs. other comments.

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

Courtney Engle says:

Apr 20th at 7:49 am

really? But what then will be the service that they are offering?

This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

Seika says:

Apr 23rd at 8:31 pm

So this supposedly great new service, what will it offer us consumers (who give comments) that only want to easily share and track our comments ?
Backtype Connect is aimed to producers (who write articles) so they can gather comments on their writings instead, right ? CMIIW

PS: so, will this new service works in blog providers that doesn’t offer customization (such as wordpress.com) ?

Christopher Golda says:

Apr 25th at 4:07 pm

The new service will extend BackType Connect. It will work for all websites, including blog providers that offer limited customization.

Thanks

wesley says:

Apr 27th at 5:08 am

Meh.. What is the reason exactly?"Note: comments will still be aggregated by BackType and accessible through our website; however, users will no longer have the ability to explicitly claim any comments"

Tbey’re still doing all the server side stuff. This is a feature many people love and they take it away.

They’re also keeping URL profiles but not user profiles. Seems arbitrary.

This comment was originally posted on Hacker News

Purley Quirt says:

Apr 29th at 8:02 am

Your decision to remove the archive of comments is ill conceived. Mine were a means of “direct” commentshare with associates I have globally…without having to connect with me directly.
you have inadvertently closed a ” storefornt presence” on the world that exposed you and your products for further consideration to a global audience.
At the same time, this was a unilateral decision on your part without discussing it with commentshare members… like myself.

How do you think I feel about your service and integrity now?

What do you think the “adverse” ( “flip in McLuhan’s Tetrad )will be for you now?

Whoever did this should check for his name in the dictionary… it is listed under ” stupid”…..

Purley Quirt says:

Apr 29th at 8:14 am

…to top it off… you have deleted registration information as well

NOTE: people reading in the ” commentshare” context will now “assume” the individual is no longer operational because your commentshare feature was uniques in it’s ease of access “to and from” interested parties.

It was the SKYPE of the written world.

In an age where companies create bloge to profile their larger cache of service options…why would you lock and bar the door to your own global market.

stupid…stupid….stupid……..