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Given how horizontally expansive RapGenius is trying to be (this is the first time I've seen NewsGenius, but I'm familiar with PoetryGenius et al -- there's an
by jmduke 13y ago
Given how horizontally expansive RapGenius is trying to be (this is the first time I've seen NewsGenius, but I'm familiar with PoetryGenius et al -- there's an annotated Iliad that's pretty cool), I'm wondering if they'd be better off as a layer or a plugin as opposed to a stand-alone site. I'm much less tempted to visit the site for each individual story that pops up than I would be to peruse the annotations as I browse normally.
Either way -- stuff like this is a delight to read.
- steveklabnik 13y agoMy understanding was that RapGenius was always a text annotation platform, with the hip-hop stuff serving as an exemplar, rather than being the actual product.
- jere 13y agoAlways a text annotation platform? That's a bit revisionist from what I've read. Fred Wilson initially told them "I think lyrics is a very crowded space and almost entirely reliant on Google for traffic" and they admitted "our pitch back then was a bit too lyrics-focused.." http://news.rapgenius.com/Lemon-how-rap-genius-raised-s18m-in-seed-funding-without-knowing-what-we-were-doing-lyrics#lyric http://news.rapgenius.com/Lemon-how-rap-genius-raised-s18m-i... You can find those quotes in an annotation in the above link (which makes me realize the problem with annotations is you can't ctrl-f them).
- wwarnerandrew 13y agoHere is a permalink for that annotation: http://news.rapgenius.com/1900809 http://news.rapgenius.com/1900809 You can get that by clicking "share" in the annotation footer
- steveklabnik 13y agoFair enough! I don't have a citation for my understanding, I just read waaaaay too much HN, and that's what was stuck in my brain. Thanks for clarifying.
- why-el 13y agoA layer is not a good idea from a business point of view in my opinion, given how most websites (Facebook, Twitter with their API changes, Spotify with their new messaging system and so on) are trying to lock you in. Maybe simply build a way to take you back directly to RapGenius, like a annotate-this-on-rg button.
- tlrobinson 13y agoMost users have no idea what a plugin is or how to use it. That said, it might be nice to have an optional plugin to easily discover annotations and add your own to pages as you browse.
- qwerty_asdf 13y agoFunny you should mention that. Given that that's the defense people seem to proclaim every time someone mentions that disabling JavaScript is now buried as an arcane config flag in Firefox. They say: "just use a plug-in", "just use an add-on"... What they mean to say is: "just don't disable javascript at all... ever."
- nightpool 13y agoMost people, especially those who don't know what a plugin is, should emphatically NOT be disabling javascript wholesale and without exceptions in Firefox. And I disagree that its incredibly hard to google, find NoScript, and follow the directions to install it.
- untog 13y agoThere is a direct connection between people who want to disable JavaScript (and even know what it is) and people who know what plugins are. They are the same people.