Talk:Friendster

Widespread / common knowledge

This article really is less useful without SOME mention of the usage of friendster. I mean, Friendster was once one of the hottest and most talked-about sites of the internet, and is very historically important as an early social-networking site, but it has now almost completely been eclipsed by myspace and facebook. Shalala

Does anybody know of any usage statistics that can reflect this? I notice that back awhile ago there was a "Decline in popularity" section that was deleted due to the unreferenced source Nazis, but it seemed to be right on. I looked for some references, but it just was common knowledge -- I mean, the fact the site was slow was known by anybody that actually used it, but the company obviously does not want to advertise this... referencing blogs is kind of ridiculous, and referencing CNN articles and the like is impractical. This was an important factor in the decline of freindster.

Google search for friendster is slow: [1]

Actually the Alexa rankings quite clearly state that "Average Load Time for Friendster.com: Very Slow (5.641 Seconds), 85% of sites are faster." [2] That seems like a reliable reference. Azoreg (talk) 03:43, 9 June 2009 (UTC)

Yes, very strange that the most important fact about the poor performance of the site and as a result outflow of users is not mentioned in the article. This was like the most important cautionary tale for web entrepreneurs all over the world couple of years back. Do include the facts! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.14.75.136 (talk) 07:00, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

There needs to be a 'decline in popularity' section. it's such an obvious glaring omission. You know The Onion just did a parody news item video. 'Internet Archaeologists Find Ruins Of 'Friendster' Civilization'.Decampos (talk) 17:46, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

I agree that this should be put in, but that a statement about The Onion's ethnocentrism be added. Just because Friendster is no longer popular in the United States doesn't mean that it's time to make archaeology jokes. Lothar76 (talk) 17:50, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't think a statement insulting the Onion is relevant to this article (if that's what you meant). Decampos (talk) 21:22, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't think that pointing out an entity's erroneous assumptions is an insult. It's just that if something about The Onion's report is included in the article, then it should be discussed in terms of The Onion's mistaken notion that Friendster is unpopular only because fewer people in the United States use it. Lothar76 (talk) 00:12, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Good god, Lothar76, you must be a lot of fun at parties. You might also want to mention how ethnocentric it is that the Onion is printed only in English, and is named after a plant not grown in Scandinavia. Seriously, though, I don't think the Onion piece particularly deserves mention in the encyclopedia. I do think someone should compile a more complete history of Friendster's decline in the US. I remember clearly that the site went offline for maintenance for a relatively long time, and it was then that most people seemed to jump ship for Facebook. If there is anyone who can provide a detailed, non-anecdotal narrative for this, I think it would be a valuable addition. TremorMilo (not signed in) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.39.7.174 (talk) 09:53, 5 December 2010 (UTC)

Links

I noticed that there seems to be some disagreement on whether to link to the top page of Friendster's Web site or to link to its login page. After unwittingly participating in the disagreement myself, I decided to compromise by putting the login link in parentheses after the main link. Thoughts? —LarryGilbert 21:15, 2004 Mar 6 (UTC)shalala

Freedom of Expression

"In August 2004 the company behind Friendster reduced its credibility as a virtual community that allows freedom of expression by firing one of its employees who made posts on their blog." Is it me or is there a strong editorial tone here? Since when do employees not face rules in activities related to the company? lots of issues | leave me a message 19:27, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

Tara Reid

How come someone removed the fact that Tara Reid registered as auser on Friendster? It was reported by Inside Entertainment Magazine. She doesn't use it now. There are now many fraud users. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Lil Flip246 (talk • contribs) 01:23, September 3, 2005.

Wikipedia:Cite sources.... Also, your edit inserted qksrv HTML into the article, which I removed. --Perfecto 03:37, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Financial Status

How is the company doing financially?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.12.132.120 (talk • contribs) 10:54, November 17, 2005.

Who's Viewed Me

2/26/06: Did some editing to the "Who's viewed me" controversey, essentially cutting out the more inflammatory assertions about "violating privacy rights" and "causing present boyfriends to get in trouble with their girlfriends about having looked at their previous girlfriend's friendster site." Did so for two reasons: 1) cause the previous language seemed written by a scorned ex-boyfriend, and was by no means objective, and 2) Cause I think it was factually inaccurate that friendster "suddenly" foisted this on people. There was notice - albeit, not sufficient for some. In any event: I welcome comments on the change.Jahenderson

Popularity

Should include some article on the popularity of Friendster over time; how it was intially very popular, but eventually faded and has given way to the likes of Orkut and the currently overwhelmingly popular MySpace. Need to dig up some objective sources for this, though. Pimlottc 18:52, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Maybe, but it's still one of the 20th most popular sites in the world.

7FlushSetzer 21:38, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Dear Pimlottc, just because you don't know people that use it, doesn't mean that it is unpopular. It lost almost all its popularity in the western world, but it seems to be quite a big hit in asia, and you might know that quite a lot of people live there. I think that not many of the silicon valley startups realize the full potential of these communities, and mostly get surprised by their success out there. -- Mipmip (talk) 22:07, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

2 years later... yes they've continued to decline, and I've just changed the page to reflect that they are no longer in the 100 most trafficked websites any longer. Sometemple (talk) 04:23, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

Members 63 million

Friendster.com ceo announced on bloomberg.net 10/10/07 that friendster has 63 million members... and esp growing fast in asia... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.195.77.150 (talk) 17:55, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

List of social networking websites on AfD

List of social networking websites is currently an AfD candidate. You are invited to partake in this discussion. Czj 18:53, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

Friendster Patent: Will it apply outside the USA??

Does anyone know what will happen to similar sites in the UK or in the rest of Europe? Does this US patent cover the EU? Much appreciated, thanks!—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.133.33.120 (talk • contribs) 16:22, September 27, 2006.

NO, there are no software patents in Europe. it's because every piece of code has been written before, this is the logic about EU law and is why there are no software patents. Markthemac 04:03, 11 November 2007 (UTC)

I Believe in Friendster

I believe in Friendster. I think the company can get back on the track. It is the original networking site and its name is still more striking than the competition. It definitely has lots to improve in terms of its features, but with a little more push from creative minds, it has a chance to win back people.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 210.5.121.190 (talk • contribs) 05:47, October 25, 2006.

Work for Friendster, do ya?

I believe in Friendster too, and you don't have to work for them to believe in them, I've been using Friendster for four years now, and I've never had a problem with it, but in MySpace and Facebook, I encountered very nasty viruses, I think Friendster should be noted as a safe environment... - 122.2.224.11 12:26, 5 November 2007 (UTC)Joshua

Cleanup

I removed much of the problem text from the article and added a couple sources. One part still needs a source, and if one isn't found in a week I'll remove that paragraph until such a time that it can be sourced.--Crossmr 20:41, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Logo

Anyone noticed that the quality of the logo seems to be crap? I'm sure the fair use "low resolution" requirement isn't quite that strict and there's got to be better versions around.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.20.5.93 (talk • contribs) 13:27, December 28, 2006.

If you can find a better low resolution version please submit it, but the requirement is to be held to. Wikipedia is very strict about that.--Crossmr 15:25, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Server Synchronization

I think something should be said about the problem Friendster had for the longest time (I don't know if this has ever been fixed since I quit using it because of this) That friendster used a multiple server system where the servers would take some time to synch, so that you would write and send a message using one server, and receive messages on another server, and your homepage would be on yet another server, so that they would be out of synch constantly, and sometimes they would go out of synch again later so that a message you deleted would reappear. People were sending me messages, it would say I have 2 messages, I would open the Inbox and there would be nothing. A week later the messages would be there. I hope they fixed that, but that was right around the time myspace became the fastest growing networking site. I think they fixed this with the final release version of the site, but they also introduced all the advertising elements and redesigned the previously simple interface into the confusing monster it is now. So fact finders you have your mission, GO! 71.56.121.28 02:08, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Do you have any reliable sources from which that information can be drawn?--Crossmr 14:52, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I totally agree. Also, *something* should be said about what is generally agreed on one of the biggest negative aspects of Friendster during its popularity, that is it was ***SLOW***. Back in 2003-2005 it would take over 10-12 seconds for a page to load, and this made many users, including myself, very frustrated. Facebook and Myspace never had this problem. I remember a previous wikipedia entry about this had this information -- I think people are being a bit too aggressive about deleting information. This was central to the downfall of friendster in popularity... --gsm996 10:09, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Unless it can be verified with reliable sources it can't be in the article.--Crossmr 14:33, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

first hit on google for "friendster server" http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/2003/10/24/why-friendster-is-so-slow-one-of-our-readers-responds/

the slow speed really was a huge turnoff back in the day, which is probably why their first market in the US turned away around that time. By doing just 1 min of google searching on "friendster speed" you will find hundreds of links more. can you please now be so kind to introduce it in the article? Mipmip (talk) 22:02, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

Hacked...i think

hello! i think my account was hacked... The E-mail changed... the friendster Help dont help that much as they wont respond to it! so much for costumer service... What am i going to do>?????? It says that the email is not a valid friendster log-in :( —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.148.97.69 (talk) 21:33, 6 April 2007 (UTC).

This talk page is for discussions around the improvement and changes to be made to this article. Its not a general discussion page for the subject. You'll have to find somewhere else to get help with your issue. Contact Friendster or start with google.--Crossmr 02:59, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

"It's Complicated"

It seems that friendster had trademarked the term "It's Complicated." Anything on this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 218.186.9.1 (talk) 15:07, 12 May 2007 (UTC).

I can see a total of 1 blog via a google search commenting on this, which isn't usable as a source. There is a TM stamp on the term in the edit profile section. That's all the information there is.--Crossmr 15:46, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

CNN article no longer there...

...just something I noticed - citation should be removed OR someone should find the article...:) Tehniobium 22:42, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

screenshot

Should be .png or .gif. Lossy formats like .jpg are not good for screen shots. 75.36.229.136 09:57, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

What the.....? Even Jimmy Wales has his very own friendster?!? OMG!!!

Is this for real? 218.111.2.87 20:26, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

After Wales invented the internet, computers, laptops and invented wikipedia.net completely alone, you must be silly to think that Wales did not invent friendster.com, my space, you tube, facebook, etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.195.77.150 (talk • contribs) 17:53, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

Does Jimmy Wales really claims himself to be the inventor/founder of such popular websites you aforementioned as well? I do not think so. But if they were, then you must be even sillier than you thought others to be because definitely he was not inventing Friendster.com in real life. Secondly, not many people at that time realise that he has an account page in Friendster. 219.95.206.245 17:21, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

SixDegrees

Isn't it true that Friendster was originally designed and created based on the SixDegrees website that tried a similar thing for business networking? I thought I had read that all the original source code came from an acquisition of that company. ChrisStansfield 19:26, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

im very like ths page so no komen —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.52.16.185 (talk) 07:35, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

HTML Codes in Friendster

HTML codes can be used in Friendster. This can be applied at About Me, Who do You want to Meet, and at posting comments

The following HTML codes are used in Friendster: 1. To change the text output:

<FONT FACE="insert font face here" SIZE="size number" COLOR="color"> TEXT HERE </FONT>

2. To insert bold text

<B> TEXT HERE </B>

3. To insert italic text

<I> TEXT HERE </I>

4. To underline text

<U> TEXT HERE </U>

5. To strike text

<S> TEXT HERE </S>

6. To center texts or images

</a> <center> </a>

7. To insert links

<A HREF="URL LINK"> name you want to put aside from the link </a>

8. To make an optional image setting with optional width (this is a stand-alone code)

<IMG SRC="IMAGE URL HERE" WIDTH="100" HEIGHT="100" />

Cross-browser friendly fonts: Arial, Arial Black, Comic Sans, Courier New, Georgia, Times New Roman, Trebuchet, Webdings. Cross-browser friendly colors: aqua, black, blue, fuchsia, gray, green, lime, maroon, navy, olive, purple, red, silver, teal, white, and yellow. (Want more colors? Use a HEX code.) --Miamachi (talk) 10:15, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

I believe that this post must be put in here... Someone inserted this into the wrong sectionTriadwarfare (talk) 10:34, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

page corrupted

Some idiot has changed lots of names and some other information in this page. I found the revision in which this was done: http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Friendster&diff=next&oldid=269932517

Now that other changes have been made, I don't know an easy way to undo the changes apart from by hand one by one, so if someone does know an easy way please can you undo these corruptions. Thank-you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.217.119.41 (talk) 06:09, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

reverted to before the vandalism --Versageek 06:35, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Press releases??!!

A lot of the "citations" on this entry link back to the company's own press releases, yet they're presented as though they were true. Surely that's cheating? I tried to remove the offending claims but ending up messing the article up (don't really know HTML!) so I reverted it back to how it was before I tried to edit it. Might it be appropriate for someone more knowledgeable than me to excise any claims that can't be backed up without reference to *independent* sources? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jimbledon (talk • contribs) 20:27, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Second User: I agree, this article reads like a press release. It does not sound unbiased. Most people at this point associate Friendster with the defunct social networking site, not its just-launched social gaming platform. The article should reflect that.

Headquarters

CNN said that they moved to Sydney, but their website still says Mountain View. I emailed them to see what was up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.175.214.72 (talk) 01:14, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

Lack of History

Looking back through the archives, this article now concentrates unduly on the "relaunched" Friendster and its features - with little or no consideration of the site's history. Friendster dates back to 2002 - but there's no real mention of its early incarnation at all. Much of the material can be found in earlier revisions; it looks like it has been deliberately excised. The article that is here seems more like advertising. This section needs a significant check and overhaul. Mr Twain (talk) 13:09, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

I agree. There can and be a discussion of how it started off as one of the first pioneering US social networking sites, and then fell off in American popularity while taking off in Asia, without falling prey to the ethnocentrism that is the justification for the careful editing of the article to remove any hint of a decline anywhere.--65.96.184.95 (talk) 03:05, 9 June 2010 (UTC)

Cleaned up more vandalism

I cleaned up some more vandalism, but I suspect there is still more. This article definitely needs a major fact check and clean up by somebody more familiar with the topic. Clemwang (talk) 23:51, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Number of users contradiction

In the second graf of the lede, it says Friendster has 115 million registered users. In the box on the right side of the page, it says Friendster has 8.2 million users. Quite a discrepancy. Which is correct? If someone is using different definitions of "user" that should be noted somewhere. Wlegro (talk) 00:57, 17 January 2011 (UTC)

Cleaning house?

"...Friendster, a 2003 start-up now seen as a relic, is planning to wipe out its trove of photos, blog entries and messages." from today's NYT. 211.225.30.91 (talk) 09:31, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

"...they already did. May 31, 2011. but preserved existing users, contacts and basic information" --Thinkbeforeyoupost (talk) 18:36, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

Checked my Friendster account and my thousand-photo album was intact. Alexius08 (talk) 03:52, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Mine wasn't Dumaka (talk) 18:25, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

File:Friendster home page.jpg Nominated for speedy Deletion

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File:Friendster Logo.jpg Nominated for speedy Deletion

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