The Strange World Of Gawker Commenting: Now Even Stranger!

Emily Gould — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 13:30:18 EST

"Hey Em, I hear that we may see you during the Thanksgiving holiday. Great," my maternal grandfather wrote to me in an email last night. "Tell me later about the stable of bloggers (?) who do comments on your varying stories. They seem to repeat themselves. Do you liven up the comments by using in house people ? Is this a serous attraction for your readers? Does it build the number of hits to the site? It appears that the commentators view avidly each others comments. A sort of incestuous aura. Take care, stay employed, and have a good retirement plan." My grandfather is so correct (except maybe about the part about staying employed): The Gawker comments do have a sort of incestuous aura. And it's about to get even incestuous-er!.

See, our parent company has now made it even easier for you to keep track of your favorite commenters right from the front page!

First, log in using your comment ID and password in the boxes at the top of the page. If you don't have an ID already, click the "new user" to sign up. Hey, remember when it was sort of a rarefied and special thing to be a Gawker commenter and you felt like the people commenting were insiders with specialized information to contribute? I vaguely do too!

Anyway, once you're logged in, click on your comment ID displayed at the top of the page where it says "welcome." This leads to your commenting home page, and along with updating your picture and screen name here, you can see all your comments and clipped posts and view your current "friends" and "followers."

"Friends and followers, what's that?" you're asking. Well! Next time a comment makes you lol or rotflyourao, you can click the + button next to it and you'll have made a new best commenting friend. This also turns you into a follower. Because who doesn't want to be a "follower," right?

After you have friended someone, links to their latest comments will begin appearing on the front page of the site mixed in between the regular posts.This gives you the ability to scan the page as always, while at the same time keeping tabs on what your imaginary "friends" are talking about. You'll also be notified of any comments your "friends"make across all Gawker Media blogs, so that you can be like "who knew Lolcait was so into porn and gadgets!?"

If you want to see a list of your "followers," just go back to your profile page. You can also un-friend someone by clicking the x button next to their commenter name. Harsh! If you want to see all of a particular person's comments in one place, click on their commenter name. You can even write a personal message on their profile page! It's like Facebook, but even gayer.

If you encounter any problems with these new features, let us know in the comments below or at tips@gawker.com (be sure to note your OS and browser type). Welcome to the new world of Gawker comments! Follow me into this brave new realm! But don't, like, "follow" me because ew.

Is David Bowie Taking Over Manhattan?

Joshua Stein — Thu, 10 May 2007 17:10:56 EDT

If you've been hearing a lot of David Bowie lately (and not just because your roommate is a big Aladdin Sane fan) you might have noticed his polished - presidential even - tone. He's shown himself to be a masterful organizer: his High line Festival, which kicked off yesterday, is THE festival of the year. He's proven himself an adept diplomat, talking his way out of a feud with a gruff Bobby DeNiro and negotiating through the tangle of neighborhood activists eager to protect the High Line. And now his populist streak is on full display. As the Observer reports, Bowie is opening up a burlesque house at former mafia hangout Little Charlie's Clam House. Like any good leader, Bowie first wooed the cultural aristocracy with screenings of underexposed Latin American films and is now making his appeal to the masses through a liberal display of tits and fishnets. Has the moment finally arrived? Is Bowie making his move? Is it time, that is, to turn and face the strange? —Josh

A Different Kind of Clams On Display at Little Charlie's [Observer]

Gawker: ch-ch-ch-changes

The Strange World Of Gawker Commenting: Now Even Stranger!

Is David Bowie Taking Over Manhattan?