

Ello mocks Facebook by being creepy - halfimmortal
http://mashable.com/2015/06/25/ello-facebook-ads/

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jarcane
Unfortunately, the Ello ecosystem seems more or less resist any non-artsy
content like an immune system warding off a plague. They've quite thoroughly
positioned themselves as an alternative to Tumblr photoblogs, and little else.
The recommendations and suggested users are all weighted towards hipstery,
partly because the algorithms all seem to be seeded off connections to the
founders, themselves artists.

The end result is that everyone not interested in posting art photos
inevitably seems to get bored and wander away.

~~~
sehr
It's not totally a bad thing though is it? Seems almost natural for a social
network to start with a sort of single focus

~~~
jarcane
No, it's totally a cool place, if that's what you're into.

As a writer and a techie though, I struggled to even find anyone else on the
network with similar interests, and of those, they seemed to wither away over
time.

The end result is less a "Facebook-killer" and more a "Tumblr/Pinterest
alternative for upmarket artists".

~~~
dredmorbius
@ddailey has some amazing SVG examples, I highly recommend him:

[https://ello.co/ddailey](https://ello.co/ddailey)

There's @ellotech: [https://ello.co/ellotech](https://ello.co/ellotech)

And @ellowrites: [https://ello.co/ellowrites](https://ello.co/ellowrites)

Search can turn up people writing on topics of interest, say:

[https://ello.co/search?terms=webdesign](https://ello.co/search?terms=webdesign)
[https://ello.co/search?terms=python](https://ello.co/search?terms=python)
(about 90 posts in 9 months)

Or you can enjoy the art.

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amelius
Somebody should write an open protocol for social applications. Then convince
the governments to enforce companies to use that open protocol (like it is
already the case for telephony, for example).

I think for the European government, this would not be impossible to achieve.

~~~
pvg
That would bring the kind of unbridled, exuberant innovation that typified
telephony for decades to the internet.

~~~
freyr
I think you're trying to make a joke, but AT&T's Bell Labs was one of the
greatest centers of innovation in engineering and applied mathematics of the
20th century. The output was remarkable.

~~~
chris_wot
I guffawed, but then I remembered that these same people gave us sendmail.

~~~
freyr
Sendmail? No, but they invented the transistor. And UNIX. And introduced the
discipline of information theory. Confirmed the wave nature of electrons.
Pioneered cell-based (cellular) communications. Invented the solar cell. And
the laser. Created the first trans-Atlantic communication cable. The first
communication satellite. The C programming language.

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codewithcheese
Those ads will be removed very quickly. The publicity is not from the ads but
from the articles about the ads. And the snake continues to eat its own
tail...

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blhack
Me, and a lot of my friends, really _tried_ to use ello, but the interface is
so confusing that we really couldn't figure it out (not for lack of trying!).

Reading their about page just stinks of pretentiousness, as well, which kindof
leaves a negative taste.

[https://ello.co/wtf/about/what-is-ello/](https://ello.co/wtf/about/what-is-
ello/)

~~~
tim333
Much the same experience. They could do with an easier interface if nothing
else.

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teaneedz
As an avid user of Twitter, all I can say is that Ello has captured my
attention to the point that I'm spending more time there these days (@teanee).
Twitter is still best for in-the-moment news, tracking bugs or product
updates, quirky random asides, and even finding other Elloers. Brevity is the
sweet spot for Twitter. However, privacy and ad tracking (including Twitter's
rush down the Facebook algo path) have made me look at Ello as a bit of an
oasis. I like the company's principles and take on what a social platform
should be. So yeah, I'm loving it on Ello - especially with an app now.

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chris_wot
Ello is beautiful? Guess it really is in the eye of the beholder.

~~~
thomasfoster96
Just went to the Ello website and got greated by a flashing heading and a menu
with a single-digit font size. Not very welcoming in 1995, and a turn off in
2015.

~~~
dredmorbius
What browser/OS if you don't mind?

~~~
thomasfoster96
Chrome on Windows and similar (less usable but better looking) experience on
Safari/iOS8.

~~~
dredmorbius
Thanks.

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aw3c2
I don't get those banners... First I thought they were placeholders not
removed by my blocker.

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mahouse
Ello? Does that still exist?

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fwn
I will def. give it a try after they published their Android app.

~~~
dredmorbius
That's being worked on.

[https://ello.co/cacheflowe/post/VCub0RNsU-
EkEzPd4dKmpQ](https://ello.co/cacheflowe/post/VCub0RNsU-EkEzPd4dKmpQ)

~~~
fwn
Yes, that is why I'm waiting. I'm on that list.

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paulpauper
The joke is on anyone who invested in this company, thinking it would be even
1/100 a successful as Facebook. Remember bebo?

~~~
teej
I remember when Bebo sold to AOL and made its investors and founders
incredibly wealthy.

~~~
dredmorbius
AOL: [http://techcrunch.com/2008/03/13/aol-buys-bebo-
for-750-milli...](http://techcrunch.com/2008/03/13/aol-buys-bebo-
for-750-million/)

~~~
teej
Thanks

