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On News Genius q: You can search by linked URL on Twitter, Facebook & Google (which will work regardless of the subject site's Robots.txt).
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So, in that sense, is a list of sites/posts linking to your page on these services different from Genius's list of annotations on your site?
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Mechanically no, IMO. So Genius.it is really about building a layer of people linking to your site with comments & making it visible.
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In same way you might not want to see every post linking to your site on Twitter, so you don't search, you don't pull up your link on Genius
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BUT!!!! And this is a big but. By placing this layer on the site Genius is creating a space that encourages a type of interaction & comment
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And this makes their layer that is placed on top of the site (but not the one that lives in its own page on their site) a commenting tool
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And being a commenting tool brings ethical responsibilities to Genius in regard to the content creators. Specifically control.
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Which is to say: Creators should have tools to moderate the appearance of content in the over-the-site layer Genius creates, BUT...
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...not in the comment layer that Genius houses on its own site. This is just good form and tool-builder ethics. B/c you want buy in from all
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So if a writer wants to nix the ability for users to converse on top of the live site, that should be a viable choice.
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Genius users can still do their thing, in own sandbox on top of site, & have the content live, along with interactions, on the Genius site.
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But to say 'you can't link to my site with your site', which is the reality of completely blocking Genius; I don't think that's a good idea.
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This is totally a complicated issue, because the UX complicates what is happening. No one is wrong, exactly (except asshole users).
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But also *come on* Genius, if a site owner has an interest in helping you keep user-base civil, you should be drooling over the opportunity.
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Publisher tools! This shit should be a launch-day assumption. No commenting tool has ever been used to do *only* good. Build accordingly.
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It shouldn't be this much of a big deal to understand that the same data, code and tools with totally different UX are two separate products
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+From a pure PR standpoint: Genius, you don't have a product without content to comment on, so don't be an ass to the people making content.
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Generally, you should be explaining this shit about how your product works and why, not waiting for the media to get it wrong. Get in front!