Filed under: Internet, Windows, Linux, Social Software, Beta, web 2.0
iComment, because we can't shut up about anything
by Kristin Shoemaker Apr 2nd 2008
We really like snarky comments. Or maybe we just really like the sound of our own voices, if by saying sound we mean "incessant tapping" and by voices we mean "keyboards." So needless to say, when we heard about iComment, we were intrigued.iComment is a plug-in for either Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox-based browsers. The install instructions have a definite Windows slant, but we can verify it seems to work quite dandily in Linux. The idea behind iComment is simple. It allows you to leave your two cents on any website, or photo, or bit of text that appears on a page. You want the rest of the world to know how freakin' annoying a gratuitous bit of Flash on a page is? Tell 'em!
Of course, there are some issues that limit the usefulness of this plug-in at the moment. The first and foremost is the one that really can't be helped -- every plug-in starts somewhere. Through iComment, we are able to see the comments other people have left on a site, as well as our own. Very cool, but it's a bit of a hunt to find sites with comments, as this is a relatively new service. It is sort of interesting to hear, though, that the development team is working on a "friend/private" function where you can share comments with approved friends.
Second, though the iComment page advertises (loudly) that there are no viruses, adware, or spam involved, we are a little uneasy with a few things. First, we don't really seem to have any sort of formal, er, account on iComment. We entered a username, but no password. We gave it an email address (hey, it asked). So we're wondering what's going to stop someone from just saying they're us?
We checked out the Privacy Policy. We skipped over the boring bits, but it seems as though it was actually written for something else and adapted to iComment. They didn't ask for a lot of the stuff they say they do in the policy (just as well, they wouldn't have gotten it). They don't seem to offer some of the services in the policy. With the amount of stuff they did ask for, we were okay with giving them a teeny bit of info. But be careful out there, 'kay?
iComment also wanted to give us money via Paypal, just for leaving useful comments on the web. Nice of them! Honestly, though, in light of the Privacy Policy confusion and no formal account login (and because leaving snarky comments is its own reward), we would recommend anyone using iComment not actually link their comment profile to a Paypal account.
That being said, iComment is an interesting concept. With a friend list and something to put our paranoid minds at rest, it could be endlessly entertaining (and, yes, useful). There's nothing that's going to keep us from playing with it a bit more, anyway. It's not like we entered a real email address.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tom said 8:21AM on 4-02-2008
Interesting. You don't have to have a real e-mail to use iComment, but you do to use comments at DownloadSquad.com. Perhaps you shouldn't ask more of your readers than you do of yourselves?
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Kristin Shoemaker said 8:31AM on 4-02-2008
Ooops, my paranoia is showing. I can say with complete honesty that I would have given a real email to iComment (in fact, I originally did, till I started playing more) if I felt a little more protected.
On the flip side, if I were iComment, I'd be worried about things like invalid email addresses/automated sign ups/throw-away accounts. Does asking for a real email address stop *all* spam from getting on your service? Of course not. But it does at least slow the inevitable flow of it.
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Liz said 9:24AM on 4-02-2008
I believe shiftspace does the same thing. http://www.shiftspace.org
It's the meta-web!
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robotrock said 9:38AM on 4-02-2008
I wish something like this could be tied into AIM or GMail so I can leave notes for and read notes from people I know while avoiding public notes.
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alddah said 8:29AM on 4-12-2008
pleas i need firefox with linux very importing
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sitebaron said 10:42PM on 4-12-2008
Hey, I emailed the icomment folks and they responded that they are working on private comments with a buddy list where you can arrange groups of buds. They said it would have a buddy search and contact import in the next version. Seems they have some great useful ideas. Impressive.
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Mark said 1:57PM on 4-13-2008
This is Mark from iComment. Hello everyone and thank you for all of the comments and support. And thanks for the review Kristin! I just wanted to mention that iComment does assign a unique user ID number to every new user. This unique ID is posted next to the user name on every comment. That stops users from imitating each other. In the upcoming release we are making those ID's mobile. The way it will work is you will be able to select a password and then when you install on a 2nd computer you can grab the same identity with the user ID and password. Our next release will be great for anyone who wants to private comment including corporations or educators who want to give their students web homework assignments, or anyone that wants to add comments to a select audience. There are also about 20 other new features that we really hope you'll like including the ability to import your contacts from various messengers and email clients. Please keep on adding comments. We love your comments and we do really appreciate people that write useful comments that may help others. Thanks again everyone.
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Kristin Shoemaker said 4:27PM on 4-13-2008
Ah, thanks, Mark, for that mobile/account password clarification. That actually sits a lot better with me, then. It's actually quite a nifty little service, and it'll be neat to see it grow.