5 ms·

> Is anyone using these? Annotations? Definitely. At least one member of the Hypothesis team came from Genius (formerly Rap Genius) which is the largest anno

> Is anyone using these? Annotations? Definitely. At least one member of the Hypothesis team came from Genius (formerly Rap Genius) which is the largest annotation service on the web.

lmm 10y ago
Largest on the Web sure. But have you ever seen them on a non-scummy site? I haven't.
- tptacek 10y ago
  Yes, either the NYT or WaPo uses them.
  - mst 10y ago
    I've seen genius annotations of a Trump speech on WaPo.
- tedmiston 10y ago
  Some sites integrate the Genius JS code directly but they don't have to. As a user, you can freely annotate (nearly) any page on the web with the bookmarklet. I made numerous annotations on the famous Bloomberg "Code" article which you can see on the page at [1] or in summary from the page at [2]. For [1] to work, you need to either run the bookmarklet or Chrome extension. This isn't the norm though; most annotated pages can be viewed directly from the genius link, and you can even link directly to a specific annotation, for example [3]. [1]: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-paul-ford-what-is-code/ https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-paul-ford-what-is-co... [2]: https://genius.com/summary/www.bloomberg.com%2Fgraphics%2F2015-paul-ford-what-is-code?unwrappable=1 https://genius.com/summary/www.bloomberg.com%2Fgraphics%2F20... [3]: http://genius.it/7163911/www.theverge.com/2015/6/24/8836087/slack-1-million-daily-users http://genius.it/7163911/www.theverge.com/2015/6/24/8836087/...
- andrewchambers 10y ago
  Why do you classify genius as scummy?
  - echelon 10y ago
    I'm on mobile, and all I'm getting are AMP links (ugh), but there are a lot of results when you google "Rap Genius controversy". They tried dirty SEO tactics that Google ultimately punished them for, and their staff have made off-color remarks in the past. There's a lot more if you search for it.
    - character0 10y ago
      And they promptly fired Mahbod: http://www.recode.net/2014/5/26/11627246/rap-genius-co-founder-moghadam-fired http://www.recode.net/2014/5/26/11627246/rap-genius-co-found... Things at Genius have been pretty controversy-free since 2014.
  - anamoulous 10y ago
    For one, the Genius proxy server violates copyright and does not provide an opt-out.
    - jdavis703 10y ago
      How does a proxy server violate copyright? Maybe I don't understand what exactly Genius is doing, but how is this different from say blocking ad servers in my hosts file?
      - anamoulous 10y ago
        https://genius.it/11417147/news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13740379 https://genius.it/11417147/news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1374...
        cwyers 10y ago
        Derivative works of course being protected by fair use. And if Genius is hosting the page that's annotated, that's one thing. If they're simply proxying it on demand and adding annotations, then I don't see how it violates copyright unless every proxy server violates copyright.
- phailhaus 10y ago
  Genius is a non-scummy site, turned itself around ages ago.

> Is anyone using these? Annotations? Definitely. At least one member of the Hypothesis team came from Genius (formerly Rap Genius) which is the largest annotation service on the web.

lmm 10y ago

Largest on the Web sure. But have you ever seen them on a non-scummy site? I haven't.

tptacek 10y ago
Yes, either the NYT or WaPo uses them.
- mst 10y ago
  I've seen genius annotations of a Trump speech on WaPo.
tedmiston 10y ago
Some sites integrate the Genius JS code directly but they don't have to. As a user, you can freely annotate (nearly) any page on the web with the bookmarklet. I made numerous annotations on the famous Bloomberg "Code" article which you can see on the page at [1] or in summary from the page at [2]. For [1] to work, you need to either run the bookmarklet or Chrome extension. This isn't the norm though; most annotated pages can be viewed directly from the genius link, and you can even link directly to a specific annotation, for example [3]. [1]: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-paul-ford-what-is-code/ https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-paul-ford-what-is-co... [2]: https://genius.com/summary/www.bloomberg.com%2Fgraphics%2F2015-paul-ford-what-is-code?unwrappable=1 https://genius.com/summary/www.bloomberg.com%2Fgraphics%2F20... [3]: http://genius.it/7163911/www.theverge.com/2015/6/24/8836087/slack-1-million-daily-users http://genius.it/7163911/www.theverge.com/2015/6/24/8836087/...
andrewchambers 10y ago
Why do you classify genius as scummy?
- echelon 10y ago
  I'm on mobile, and all I'm getting are AMP links (ugh), but there are a lot of results when you google "Rap Genius controversy". They tried dirty SEO tactics that Google ultimately punished them for, and their staff have made off-color remarks in the past. There's a lot more if you search for it.
  - character0 10y ago
    And they promptly fired Mahbod: http://www.recode.net/2014/5/26/11627246/rap-genius-co-founder-moghadam-fired http://www.recode.net/2014/5/26/11627246/rap-genius-co-found... Things at Genius have been pretty controversy-free since 2014.
- anamoulous 10y ago
  For one, the Genius proxy server violates copyright and does not provide an opt-out.
  - jdavis703 10y ago
    How does a proxy server violate copyright? Maybe I don't understand what exactly Genius is doing, but how is this different from say blocking ad servers in my hosts file?
    - anamoulous 10y ago
      https://genius.it/11417147/news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13740379 https://genius.it/11417147/news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1374...
      - cwyers 10y ago
        Derivative works of course being protected by fair use. And if Genius is hosting the page that's annotated, that's one thing. If they're simply proxying it on demand and adding annotations, then I don't see how it violates copyright unless every proxy server violates copyright.
phailhaus 10y ago
Genius is a non-scummy site, turned itself around ages ago.