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Steve Ivy's Weblog - Since 1999 - XII Ed.

The Daring Fireball App

Maybe someday there will be a Daring Fireball app, but I still haven’t thought of a reason to make one that would be better than just reading DF on the web.

When I read John’s comments in his latest Fireball post, my initial reaction was to completely agree. Daring Fireball is a well written, simply designed, and great blog. Almost immediately thereafter, however, I had a thought: what if there was an app that, once purchased, allowed you to comment on Fireball posts? Sort of pay-for-play if you will. The app would:

  • Handle some kind of authentication
  • Send push notifications of new Fireball posts
  • Allow the user to comment on posts
  • Send push notifications of new comments for any post that the user commented on

Importantly, the comments would only be available in the app, not on the public web, similarly to how Instagram works. I think this would raise the bar on who is going to comment and what they say, in that 1) only other paying DF App users would be participating in the conversation, and 2) no publicly-visible comment view to attract trolls.

Good idea? Bad idea? Too much like the “get our app” popups on the big media sites?

My name is Steve Ivy and I write about technology, the open web, social software, and general nerdity on monkinetic.com. You should follow me on Twitter or subscribe to this blog if you like what you're reading. I spend my days hacking Movable Type, python, Django, and various other efforts at Wallrazer. This is my personal site.