# Hey, try out Flock **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [April 29, 2008, 8:57am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/hey-try-out-flock/136129 "2008-04-29T08:57:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![esceo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/a4c791/32.png) [@esceo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/esceo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 8:57am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/hey-try-out-flock/136129/1 "2008-04-29T08:57:29Z")
Hello,I’m emailing you about Flock. I’m now using Flock as my default browser, and I love what it’s done for my whole Web experience. Flock is a social web browser that uniquely pulls together the people, photos, videos and websites I care about. Check it out, I think you’re really going to like it.You can download it for free at [http://www.flock.com/invited/1209451175](http://www.flock.com/invited/1209451175) Enjoy it! ---
**Author:** ![esceo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/a4c791/32.png) [@esceo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/esceo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 7:01pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/hey-try-out-flock/136129/2 "2008-04-29T19:01:50Z")
On 29.04.2008 08:56, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote: > [Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.] > > Hello,I’m emailing you about Flock. Another spam which has been reported to Google. robert ---
**Author:** ![esceo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/a4c791/32.png) [@esceo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/esceo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 1:07am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/hey-try-out-flock/136129/3 "2008-04-30T01:07:03Z")
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Robert K. wrote: | On 29.04.2008 08:56, removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid wrote: |\> [Note: parts of this message were removed to make it a legal post.] |\> |\> Hello,I’m emailing you about Flock. | | Another spam which has been reported to Google. Not spam, but PBKAC. One should remove mailing lists from these sort of invitation services. * * * Phillip G. Twitter: [twitter.com/cynicalryan](http://twitter.com/cynicalryan) Blog: [http://justarubyist.blogspot.com](http://justarubyist.blogspot.com) Rule of Open-Source Programming #9: Give me refactoring or give me death! -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - [http://enigmail.mozdev.org](http://enigmail.mozdev.org) iEYEARECAAYFAkgXqeUACgkQbtAgaoJTgL+55QCfR2KROU96YHhXFTBEs+awH65U IFMAnRzy86z5OE5e+kTR3Fi3UQRP+wd9 =Vpvr -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ---
**Author:** ![esceo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/a4c791/32.png) [@esceo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/esceo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 4:15am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/hey-try-out-flock/136129/4 "2008-04-30T04:15:23Z")
On Apr 29, 8:06 pm, Phillip G. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > | Another spam which has been reported to Google. > > Not spam, but PBKAC. > > One should remove mailing lists from these sort of invitation services. These services should at least add a legend of what they do with your contact information, or users should be more clever do not enter account and passwords for these when subscribing. ---
**Author:** ![esceo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/a4c791/32.png) [@esceo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/esceo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 4:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/hey-try-out-flock/136129/5 "2008-04-30T04:48:14Z")
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Luis L. wrote: | | These services should at least add a legend of what they do with your | contact information, or users should be more clever do not enter | account and passwords for these when subscribing. All services like that (Though I haven’t used Flock, which is a browser, IIRC), clearly state what they do with the address book you hand over to them. And it is, usually, an extra step to acknowledge that you want to do that, _and_ you need to add your credentials. They also offer you to change the email addresses an invitation is send to, before they are actually sent. If anything, it isn’t Flock’s (or LinkedIn’s, or Facebook’s) fault that the sender didn’t exhibit due diligence. Usability can only get one so far. It doesn’t absolve the user from thinking (it can make it easier, though, and most social-web-2.5 Alpha services are rather easy to understand and non-technical). * * * Phillip G. Twitter: [twitter.com/cynicalryan](http://twitter.com/cynicalryan) Blog: [http://justarubyist.blogspot.com](http://justarubyist.blogspot.com) Youth is the trustee of posterity. ~ – Benjamin Disraeli -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - [http://enigmail.mozdev.org](http://enigmail.mozdev.org) iEYEARECAAYFAkgX3XwACgkQbtAgaoJTgL/FggCgndZy0GYnTeOpoNhJoOX9neVz vssAniWvNr9ItKQSSJfaC4i2tGC7EYgo =wH+H -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ---
**Author:** ![esceo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/a4c791/32.png) [@esceo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/esceo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 7:36am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/hey-try-out-flock/136129/6 "2008-04-30T07:36:35Z")
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Patrick A. wrote: | Unfortunately most people still think the internet is internet | explorer or that “blue e” so don’t expect them to know that kind of | stuff (though I’d expect that a rails subscriber would know that). | Facebook and Linkedin et all do know this is going to happen and it | does happen a lot, so yes, they are at fault too. Twitter I think | doesn’t do this, it just checks if your contacts are on twitter IIRC. If any one is at fault, then us developers, writing applications where dialog boxes are as helpful as ‘An error occurred. The techie tech cannot tech the tech. Try to tech the tech instead? [OK] [Cancel]’ If developers teach users that text on a button, and by extension on the screen is an amount of technobabble to rival your average Star Trek episode, what do you expect? However: Facebook, LinkedIn, et. al. cannot prevent user stupidity in that area, short of enumerating each and every mailing list in existence. And how well _that_ works demonstrates your anti-virus scanner on the weekly update. They do what they can, by making the invitations a two-step opt-in process. They do not blindly fire off emails (well, reputable networking/social sites, anyway) without your say-so. They cannot replace the human. And if we teach the human in front of a computer that they are hard and mysterious, that’s what we get. * * * Phillip G. Twitter: [twitter.com/cynicalryan](http://twitter.com/cynicalryan) Blog: [http://justarubyist.blogspot.com](http://justarubyist.blogspot.com) Ytterby, Sweden begat 4 elements: Yttrium, Ytterbium, Terbium, Erbium -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - [http://enigmail.mozdev.org](http://enigmail.mozdev.org) iEYEARECAAYFAkgYBUkACgkQbtAgaoJTgL/n0wCeIH4lIEvHck1i4VvnKj6Kmh6R 76MAn0f8ej+p9xw2sKTogq8GtA1kcEPJ =rcg6 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ---
**Author:** ![esceo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/a4c791/32.png) [@esceo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/esceo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2008, 6:05am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/hey-try-out-flock/136129/7 "2008-04-30T06:05:20Z")
> If anything, it isn’t Flock’s (or LinkedIn’s, or Facebook’s) fault that > the sender didn’t exhibit due diligence. Unfortunately most people still think the internet is internet explorer or that “blue e” so don’t expect them to know that kind of stuff (though I’d expect that a rails subscriber would know that). Facebook and Linkedin et all do know this is going to happen and it does happen a lot, so yes, they are at fault too. Twitter I think doesn’t do this, it just checks if your contacts are on twitter IIRC.